Reports: Brendan Barry to return to Dartmouth

Brendan Barry has averaged 9.8 points and three assists per game in his three seasons at Dartmouth. (Dartmouth Athletics)

In a huge boost for Dartmouth, reports emerged Monday that Brendan Barry will return to the Big Green rather than play elsewhere as a graduate transfer.

Jeff Borzello of ESPN reported that Barry would take off the final quarter of this academic year and graduate next spring, allowing him to play a fourth year for the Big Green, who missed his ball distribution and three-point shooting last season.

As a junior in 2018-19, Barry led the Ivy League in three-point percentage (44.1%), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) and minutes per game (35.5), averaging 13 points and 3.2 assists per contest.

Without Barry in 2019-20, the Big Green’s three-point shooting percentage plummeted to 31.1% (285th nationally) from 35.6% (105th nationally) the season before.

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Full Leede Arena makes Dartmouth dream, even in loss

Let’s be honest with ourselves, the Ivy League is never going to win any Division I attendance titles. But what some of the homely and aging facilities in the Ancient Eight lack in size or amenities, they can make up for in old-school college basketball atmosphere, which anyone who has attended a big game at Lavietes Pavilion (home of this season’s Ivy League Tournament) or Lee Amphitheater can attest to after their ears take a couple of hours to adjust to normality.

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Dartmouth frustrated by Bryant, but not discouraged

Saturday afternoon’s 64-60 loss to Bryant at Leede Arena left a bitter taste on the lips of Dartmouth as it breaks for the holidays.

And rightfully so. The Big Green (7-6) have overachieved for much of the first two months of this campaign, and if they are going to contend to compete in the Ivy League Tournament for the first time, they should be able to handle an NEC team – particularly a banged up one – at home.

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Dartmouth bests Florida Gulf Coast, moves to 2-0 for first time in 23 years

It doesn’t take a deep dive into the recent history of Dartmouth men’s basketball to see that finding positive material can be quite difficult, most prominently not having been to the NCAA Tournament since 1959, the longest active drought for any team that has actually appeared in the Big Dance.

So here is an incomplete list of accomplishments the Big Green has already gotten to after holding off Florida Gulf Coast 55-49 on an icy night in Hanover to move to 2-0 on the young 2019-20 season:

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Ivy League player carousel

The biggest story of the off-season was Miye Oni being selected in June’s NBA Draft.  The Yale junior and reigning Ivy Player of the Year decided to leave school early and leave his name in the draft.  Despite falling to the late second round, a perilous spot to making an NBA roster, Oni impressed in the Summer League and earned a guaranteed contract with the Utah Jazz.  He is playing just as well in the pre-season and looks to be a real steal for the Jazz.

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Catching up on the Red & Green preseasons

The Cornell men opened the 2018-2019 preseason with their annual Red & White scrimmage a week ago Friday, followed by an exhibition against their Division III neighbors from Ithaca College on Tuesday. The Red team, led by assistant coach Donovan Williams, came away with the 74-63 victory in the intrasquad matchup, and the Big Red defeated the Bombers, 98-61.

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New Dartmouth recruits arrive to change the fortunes of men’s hoops

Coach David McLaughlin and his Dartmouth men’s basketball team were one day away from the start of the 2017-18 season when news broke that would drastically change their year. Star junior forward Evan Boudreaux, the 2015-16 Ivy Rookie of the Year and two time second team All-Ivy, announced that he was leaving the program so he could graduate early and retain his last two years of eligibility as a graduate transfer. If that wasn’t enough, the second leading scorer in 2016-17, junior guard Guilien Smith, was lost to a season-ending injury after the third game of the year. Less than two weeks into the season, the second-year head coach had to get his team to accept their adversity and find a way to build upon the previous year’s 7-20 overall and 4-10 Ivy records. After completing last season with another 7-20 record and an eighth-place 3-11 league finish, the coach and the team need to take a step forward in 2018-19.

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