Zach Ingbretsen / The Dartmouth Senior Staff
Patrick Beilein, current graduate manager at University of Michigan, was hired by newly-instated head coach, Paul Cormier, as an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team. Beilein leaves Michigan after two years of working alongside his father and Wolverine head coach, John Beilein. “I wanted him to go out and experience other coaches and learn from other coaches,” John Beilein told Annarbor.com. “Patrick wanted to get on the floor.”Graduating in 2006 from West Virginia University, Beilein played for four years for the Mountaineers and finished his career with 1,001 points. Opting to continue playing after graduation, Beilein got a taste of professional basketball after a one-year stint with UCD Marian in Ireland from 2007-2008 before settling to work under his father at Michigan. The assistant coaching position at Dartmouth is Patrick Beilein’s first coaching stint. He will join Cormier in his first season coaching the Big Green after a subpar 2009-2010 campaign that saw former head coach Terry Dunn step down mid-season.
Doug Gonzalez / The Dartmouth Senior Staff Why there isn’t more chatter about Dartmouth’s Brittney Smith ’11 as the women’s Ivy League Basketball Player of the Year is beyond me. Not only is Smith averaging a double-double on the season with 12.4 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game, she also notched her fifth and sixth double-doubles of the season this past weekend en route to being named Ivy League Co-Player of the Week. Smith helped demolish Cornell with a Dwight Howard-like effort, scoring 22 points, while pulling down 12 rebounds. She also contributed four steals and three blocks. As if that weren’t enough, Smith contributed 18 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and two steals in the tough 72-59 loss to Columbia on Saturday. In other women’s Ivy League basketball news, Harvard had a solid weekend, posting two encouraging victories against Columbia and Cornell. Aided by Co-Player of the Week Emma Markley, the Crimson was able to secure a victory in its home Ivy League opener against the Lions on Friday and fend off the Big Red on Saturday to continue its undefeated season at home. Markley’s weekly honor was well deserved, as she averaged 14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocks… Read more »
Courtesy Of Hoophall.Com Former member of the Big Green men’s basketball team, Richard J. “Dick” McGuire ’44, and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame passed away today at the age of 84. McGuire spent most of his collegiate career with St. John’s University in New York but played five games with the Big Green as part of a Navy training program. Following his career with the New York Knicks, “Tricky Dick” has his number 15 retired in the rafters at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks’ home. In his 11 seasons in the NBA he was an all-star seven times. He still ranks third on the Knicks all-time assists list, 2,950. He was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. After playing in the NBA as a guard, McGuire retired and went into coaching for the Knicks. At the time of his death, he was a consultant with the Knicks organization and living on Long Island. McGuire is survived by his wife, Teri, four children and seven… Read more »
The Dartmouth The NCAA and its broadcasters have been meeting to discuss a potential expansion of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament from 65 to 96 teams, according to the Sports Business Journal. The move would effectively incorporate the current National Invitational Tournament into the NCAA tournament, and could result in an additional Ivy League team playing in March Madness. Under the plan, the top 32 seeds in the tournament would receive byes, and the 64 additional teams would play an extra game before the field is trimmed from 96 to 64. This may be good news to perennial also-rans in the ACC or Big 10. Even a die-hard sports fan would be hard pressed to name the winner of the NIT this year (Penn State). But even with 96 teams in the tournament, it is unlikely that the Ivy League would receive a second tournament bid. The move is being pushed by power conference schools that face strong schedules but often miss out on tournament bids, Cornell men’s basketball head coach Steve Donahue said in an interview with The Dartmouth. Donahue, whose squad has captured the Ivy League’s automatic bid the past two years, is not a fan of the… Read more »
The Dartmouth After another week of basketball action, the Ivy League released its weekly hoops awards on Monday. On the men’s side, Player of the Week honors were shared by two players for the second consecutive week. The league honored Columbia sophomore guard Noruwa Agho (New City, N.Y.), who posted back-to-back 20-plus point games this week. Agho, who is shooting 61.5 percent from the field and 73.3 percent from three-point range, currently leads the nation in three-point field goal percentage. Agho shared this week’s honor with Cornell senior Ryan Wittman (Eden Prairie, Minn.). Wittman averaged 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals as the Big Red went 3-1 over the weekend at the Legends Classic tournament – good enough to gain him tournament most valuable player. Wittman’s weekend efforts also helped him grab a new Ivy League record for career three-pointers, at 288. Rookie of the Week went to Brown freshman guard Matt Sullivan (Wilmette, Ill.), who is averaging 10.3 points per game for the Bears. This week, he scored 12 points against Bryant University, and then followed that effort by contributing 11 points and dishing out a career-best seven assists against University of the Sciences. In women’s… Read more »
Akikazu Onda / The Dartmouth Staff Every Tuesday, The Dartmouth will summarize the weekly awards given out by the Ivy League for strong individual performances in several sports. Brown senior wide receiver Buddy Farnham and Penn senior linebacker Jake Lewko were named joint Ivy League Football Players of the Year on Tuesday – the first time the award has been split since 1970, the prize’s inaugural year, according to an Ivy League Sports press release. The Big Green didn’t walk home empty handed, though – running back Nick Schwieger ’12 was named first team All-Ivy, while defensive backs Shawn Abuhoff ’12 and Peter Pidermann ’10 both got second team nods. Tight end John Gallagher ’12, place kicker Foley Schmidt ’12, wide receiver Tanner Scott ’11 and offensive lineman Alex Toth ’10 were all given honorable mentions. Offensive player of the week was awarded to Harvard junior quarterback Collier Winters (Claremore, Okla.), who threw two touchdown passes in the waning moments of the fourth quarter to lead the Crimson to a 14-10 victory at Yale in the teams’ 126th meeting. Rookie of the week honors went to Columbia freshman quarterback Sean Brackett (Brooklyn, Conn.) as he rushed for a season-high 171… Read more »