Predictions:
Yale 67, Dartmouth 54
Dartmouth (3-17, 1-5) is actually pronounced Leon Pattman; shut him down and the Big Green offense is about as exciting as the Hanover, N.H. nightlife. Yale (8-11, 3-3 Ivy) has put the clamps on big scorers before — Jeff Schiffner, Ka’Ron Barnes and Cody Toppert — and I think they’ll do it again against Pattman. I hope Matt Minoff ’04 smothers him as he did Schiffner.
Yale 78, Harvard 69
Harvard (2-17, 1-5) has been close in a lot of games against good teams recently, most notably the double-overtime loss to Princeton. They’re still not a good team, though, particularly because of their inside weaknesses — which Yale should be adept at exploiting. Close losses have proved that this team battles. But if the Bulldogs fall to the Crimson now that Princeton’s loss has given Yale renewed title hopes, I’d be surprised.
Dartmouth
Backcourt
It’s obvious how good Leon Pattman is. In the past five games he has averaged 23.8 points per game. The problem is that he has also accounted for his 41 percent of his team’s points over that same stretch.
Mike McLaren and Steve Callahan are the other two guards. Callahan, the point guard, hasn’t done a good job creating for teammates. Both are decent outside shooters, but neither averages more than eight points a game.
EDGE: Yale
Frontcourt
David Gardner is actually the team’s second leading scorer and a good passer, but Pattman gets more rebounds that him. That’s unacceptable for a center.
Forward Calvin Arnold is a terrific shot blocker — the second best in the Ivy League. He does a marginal job on the boards, but doesn’t score much at all. He also gets in a lot of foul trouble.
EDGE: Yale
Harvard
Backcourt
Kevin Rogus is the “fill-in” for Patrick Harvey. Harvey was a first-team All-Ivy shooting guard in addition to an academic disgrace. Rogus is a good shooter and he leads the team in scoring, but he’s no Harvey.
Michael Beal is the point guard and so far he has proven himself to be a pretty poor shooter. He’s also not so good on passing. Why is he starting, one might ask? The answer is one that Yalies have known for decades: Harvard sucks. Not a single player on the Crimson squad, including Beal, has more assists than turnovers.
Captain Jason Norman is one of the more athletic players in the league and a serviceable 3-point shooter. He’s not so good from the line, though, which can be important at the end of games — but this game shouldn’t even be close.
EDGE: Yale
Frontcourt
Bad, very bad. Brian Cusworth, projected by some as a second-team All-Ivy selection this season, is done for the season after taking a medical redshirt. That has left Harvard with two 6-foot-8-inch players starting in the frontcourt. Yale will absolutely dominate them inside if anything is right in this world.
Matt Stehle hustles a lot for the Cantabs and gets a good share of rebounds and is even scoring in double digits. He also leads the league in blocked shots per game. But he still gets in way too much foul trouble — averaging almost four per game. Finally, Stehle has an incredible propensity for turning the ball over — 63 turnovers against only 18 assists for the season.
Graham Beatty, who is eating up the minutes Cusworth was expected to occupy, is also foul-prone. Unlike Stehle, he is close to worthless on the offensive end.
EDGE: Yale
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