With the Big Green Teams
PAUL MOORE'S version of the fast break is serving dinner to 1200 Charter Day guests in Leverone Field House - in 35 minutes. Moore is the manager of Thayer Hall and director of the Dartmouth Dining Association. He's been at the stand since 1964. During these past five years he has been one of Dartmouth's best basketball fans — a species threatened with extinction while the Indians suffered through the doldrums of defeat. But the reward for several seasons of misery appears to be at hand.
The rejuvenation of basketball at Dartmouth began two years ago when Dave Gavitt succeeded the late Doggie Julian as coach of the Green. In 1967-68, Gavitt brought the Indians to an 8-18 record, best since the last winning record (14-9) in 1959-60. Last year his forces finished with a flurry of three wins to post a 10-15 record, another step on the road to recovery.
During the past summer, Gavitt left his alma mater (he was a guard with Rudy LaRusso et al. on Julian's great teams from 1956 to 1959) to become coach at Providence College. His successor is George Blaney, a veteran of three great seasons of basketball at Holy Cross where he scored more than 1,000 points and was a superb guard. Blaney inherited the entire 1968-69 squad (there were no seniors) plus several outstanding players from last year's freshman team that was better than a 9-9 record would indicate.
For the past two years, the Indians have relied on a couple of players to carry the scoring load. Most of it has fallen to Alex Winn, the 6-7 senior forward from Saugus, Mass., who has a pretty fair chance of becoming Dartmouth's all-time scoring leader (he entered the season with 799 points. Steve Spahn scored 1206 from 1960 to 1963). Because of the limited offensive capability, Gavitt utilized a controlled offense and an aggressive defense. Now, Blaney has the benefit of better size and a couple of guys beside Winn who can score with some consistency.
After three games, the Indians stand 3-0. Tack that onto the three straight wins at the end of last season and you have SIX IN A ROW!!! Pretty heady stuff for a team that had become used to winning two or three games in a season.
The writer will be the first to note, however, that this string of victories is destined to be short-lived. This winter review is being prepared on the eve of the annual holiday trek for the basketball and hockey teams and the first foe for Blaney is Purdue, ranked among the top five teams in the United States this season and the team that battled to the finals of the 1969 NCAA Tournament before losing to UCLA.
After Purdue comes the Vanderbilt Tournament at Nashville, Tenn., and then a visit to Memphis State University. Each encounter is a toughie but the Indians can approach every one of the games with the assurance that they are more than lambs being led to the slaughter.
It is George Blaney's fate to sustain the program that has been put on a steady foundation by Dave Gavitt. There seems little question he is bent on doing that and more. The season got off on a shaky right foot against a deceptive Worcester Tech team that was beaten, 67-58, in a game that was not as close as the score might indicate but, then again, wasn't the breeze that people had anticipated. Then came a strong showing at Vermont where the Indians broke away to win handsomely, 91-73. After enduring the short end of 67-65 and 65-63 scores for the past two years, the victory at Burlington was the first hint of things to come.
What came next was Harvard, a team that has been rated in the preseason polling to finish somewhere in the middle of the Ivy League race with Dartmouth (Penn, Columbia and Princeton are supposed to have the top of the pile to themselves). While Dartmouth had won its first two games, the Crimson had been beaten by a strong St. John's array. Before the game was five minutes old, it appeared that Dartmouth might have the best team in the East as the Crimson suddenly found themselves trailing, 17-1. The devastation was reversed in the minutes that followed as Dartmouth lost the services of Jim Masker, the 6-10 sophomore center of whom much will be heard.
By halftime, the score was tied at 44-44, and in the first minutes of the second half, Harvard pushed ahead by four points. Then the Indians came to life, pulling away steadily to win one of their finest Ivy League efforts, 100-85, as Paul Erland, another sophomore, led the way with 27 points.
One of the things that has people turning their heads is the presence of four sophomores in the starting lineup, but Blaney is quick to point out that 13 members of the 15-man squad have seen action during the first three games. Winn is the only senior and he's shooting better than ever before. He also is an able rebounder. The sophomores are Erland, from Nashville, Tenn., Masker (Vernon, Conn.), and guards Ed Wisneski (Weymouth, Mass.) and Gary Dicovitsky (Elizabeth, N. J.).
The next question you're about to ask is, "What happened to Greg Pickering?"
Pickering, the two-year captain who has led the Indians in rebounds and assists for two seasons, is very active although Blaney has chosen to open the game with Masker (six inches taller than Pickering) in the center spot. The overall height picture is revealed in the three-game rebounding statistics that show Winn with 32, Erland with 26, Pickering with 24, and Masker with 17.
Erland and Masker are the biggest (literally and figuratively) reasons for the strong start. Erland had 22 points against Worcester Tech. Against Vermont he had 20 and against Harvard it was more of Erland with his 27 points and 15 rebounds. Masker is one of the best-coordinated big men to come along in some time. He has the agility to range beyond the immediate vicinity of the basket and Blaney is contemplating a new statistical category labeled "blocked shots."
Most of the names mentioned so far, with the exception of Winn and Pickering, are completely new to Dartmouth basketball. The great asset that Blaney has in his hip pocket is the presence of players like Joe Cook, John Ryzewic, Bill Jacobson, Jerry O'Brien, Karl Steinmanis, and Van McQueen. Each saw duty in the starting lineup at one point or another last year and each has already contributed to the early season success.
If there's one thing that this Dartmouth team will generate this winter, it's excitement. They can score points, they make the big play and look commanding when they do it. They have an average of 86 points per game after three starts - an average of 23 points better than they scored last season. In this era of high-scoring basketball, it's also extremely noteworthy that the 100 points scored against Harvard represents a record for a Dartmouth team. Never before in the 70 years of Dartmouth basketball had an Indian team reached three figures.
Comparing notes about the winter season, which promises Big Green improvement,are hockey coach Ab Oakes '56 (left) and new basketball coach George Blaney.
Greg Pickering '70 of Hampton, N. H.,is in his second season as captain ofDartmouth's reviving basketball team.
