Harvard coach Tommy Amaker has seen it all in his coaching career. He was a member of Duke's assistant coaching staff for two NCAA championships, made the Sweet Sixteen as Seton Hall's head coach and won the NIT title with Michigan.
And now he knows how it feels to lose to Dartmouth.
The Big Green beat up on the Crimson 73-56 in Hanover, N.H. last Friday to salvage the second half of a season split. After blowing out Dartmouth six days earlier in Boston, Harvard probably didn't count on too much of a fight from the Big Green- perennial Ivy doormats and the preseason pick to finish last in the league.
After a seven-game losing streak, the Crimson had looked to be on the upswing, winning two straight to begin 2008.
But the loss to Dartmouth is a definite step backwards, especially given Harvard's 35-percent clip from the field.
"We were horrendous shooting the basketball," Amaker told The Harvard Crimson.
"We were 17-for-26 from the foul line, 3-for-16 from three, 18-for-52 from the floor, five assists, 17 turnovers. You pick it, it was the total opposite from a week ago. Not very good, to say the least."
The bigger loss for Harvard, however, took place shortly after tip-off. Sophomore forward Pat Magnarelli - a double-digit scorer and the team's leading rebounder - injured his leg and left the game on crutches.
The Duxbury, Mass., native was sidelined for most of his freshman season because of a back injury, and this injury could put a dent in both a promising college career and the Crimson's rebuilding season.
Snowvertime. Though the Dartmouth football team is certainly accustomed to battling the harsh northeast weather, it's not often that the hoops team has to fend off fearsome flurries.
But Monday's game in Durham, N.H., against New Hampshire was postponed due to a snowstorm, and replayed Tuesday.
The Big Green probably didn't mind the wait too much; they ended up coming back in overtime to win 65-60.
Down 59-57 with 1:43 left to play, Dartmouth rode a Marlon Sanders jumper to an 8-1 run to end the game.
The Big Green wouldn't have had a chance in the first place if it hadn't been for junior swingman Alex Barnett, who sent the game into overtime with a jumper with two seconds left.
"It's not over until the whistle blows," Dartmouth coach Terry Dunn said after the game. "The guys did a great job understanding that tonight."
Preying on the weak. Penn may have fallen to Florida Gulf Coast, but the rest of the Ivy League did a decent job of beating up on non-conference opponents over the past few weeks.
The New Jersey Institute of Technology, which is currently 0-18, was beaten by Penn, Columbia and Cornell, who thrashed the Highlanders by 31.
Even Division-III opponents were on the chopping block. The Big Red stuck it to Alvernia last Friday, nearly doubling them up by a score of 91-46.
Columbia ended 2007 with a 109-63 win over Polytechnic, and Yale crushed Oberlin on Saturday, 92-41.
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