Dartmouth Goes on the Lost Weekend

They used to call the road trip to Penn and Princeton the Lost Weekend. Visiting coaches would lose both games and then drink themselves to oblivion.

Dartmouth Coach Paul Cormier probably feels a bit hung over after he and his men got wasted this weekend.

The Big Green traveled to Princeton over the weekend as tops in the Ivy League with an unblemished 6-0 record. But the high-scoring Dartmouth attack got stalled, quite literally, by the Tigers on Friday, who ate Cormier's men alive, 66-43.

Princeton junior Bob Scrabis fired in 23 points to lead the Tigers, while the Ivy League's leading scorer, Jim Barton, was held to 10 points.

The next night, the Big Green was in Philadelphia, where the Quakers--helped by a pair of freshman Ben Spiva's free throws with seven seconds left--polished off their guests, 70-69.

The weekend spankings dropped Dartmouth (now 6-2) into second place, while allowing Cornell (7-1 Ivy) to move into sole possession of first place in the Ivy League.

The Big Red bashed Brown, 86-78, Friday, and edged Yale, 69-62, on Saturday. Mike Millane had 19 points and 12 rebounds Friday for Cornell, while James Paul pumped in 16 points against the Elis.

And in the big one, Columbia--behind Matt Shannon's 19 points--edged Brown, 87-84, to move out of the cellar.

Princeton and Penn are now tied for third place in the League with 5-2 records while Harvard holds fifth place at 4-4.

The Split Weekend: Harvard's trip was far better than Dartmouth's.

Splitting the Penn-Princeton road trip--and almost sweeping it--is better than most teams usually do, especially when you consider that the Crimson didn't have Coach Pete Roby at practice the week before the trip. Roby was busy becoming a father.

"My assistant coaches did a great job of preparing the team while I was with my wife and daughter," Roby said.

Harvard Assistant Coaches Steve Bzomowski and Tom Thibodeau have done a fine job getting the team ready for contests all season long. Last week, the two assistants had to go it alone. But they were more than equal to the task.

"Under normal circumstances, the three of us are all involved in sharing ideas of how we should get ready for our opponents," Thibodeau said. "[Roby] includes us in the preparation."

That preparation includes viewing films of the Crimson's next opponents. Occasionally as much as eight hours of film in a single day. As much as Siskel and Ebert.

"Everyday we try to watch a couple of films," Thibodeau said. "You never feel so prepared that you can't benefit from seeing the films one more time."

Dana Mania: Freshman point guard Dana Smith played two of his finest games for Harvard this weekend. The rookie was 5-for-5 from the field on the weekend, and netted a career-high seven points against Princeton.

Roby was so pleased with Smith play that he let the freshman play down the stretch in both games, and Smith handled the ball well.

"He gives us a lot more versatility when he's handling the ball, because it lets Mike Gielen move to the shooting guard spot," Roby said.

With Smith bringing the ball up the court, Gielen can free himself for good shots without worrying about dribbling. It's basically the same strategy that Roby used a year ago, when he would bring Gielen into the lineup to free Co-Captain Keith Webster for outside shots.

"I like the fact that when Dana is in the game, I get a rest from handling the ball," Gielen said. "When it gets late in the game, I want to handle the ball myself, but I want to have him on the court because he plays smart."

Sexy Outfits: Tri-Captain Kyle Dodson is mentioned in this week's Sports Illustrated article about Duke's Danny Ferry. Who would have thought that the 6-ft., 4-in., 215-lb. Dodson would be the first Harvard student to appear in the swimsuit issue?