Men's Hoops Tabbed for Seventh in Ivy Media Poll

Thursday, October 23, 2008

PRINCETON, N.J. ? The Ivy League released its 2008-09 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll on Tuesday, and the Dartmouth Big Green were picked to finish seventh in the eight-team conference. Cornell was unanimously selected to repeat as the league champion this year after a perfect 14-0 campaign in 2007-08.

Dartmouth (10-18, 3-11 Ivy in 2007-08) returns three starters, including senior forward Alex Barnett (St. Louis, Mo.), a second team All-Ivy selection last year and one of the favorites to be the league's player of the year. The 6-6 wing was fourth in the conference in scoring at 15.6 points per game while leading the loop on the boards with 7.3 rebounds per game. Barnett also ranked among the top six in the Ivy League in blocks (1.22 per game) and free throw shooting (.817).

“Alex has continually improved and added to his game since arriving on campus,” said Big Green head coach Terry Dunn, beginning his fifth year at the helm. “He has become a threat from long range (36.1 percent last year), developed his mid-range game and increased his court awareness. That court awareness will be important as opposing teams will key on him.”

Co-captains for the Big Green are senior Jarrett Mathis (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and guard Robby Pride (Denver, Colo.). Mathis is a 6-8 power forward with great rebounding ability, but has had to fight his way back from numerous injuries throughout his Dartmouth career. Pride is a 6-1 guard who played in all 28 games last year, playing 11.3 minutes while scoring 3.0 points per game.

Along with Barnett, the other returning starters are senior Marlon Sanders (Cleveland, Ohio) and junior Elgin Fitzgerald (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Sanders, a 6-1 guard and one of the team's best defenders, has solid ball-handling skills and untapped potential from the perimeter. The 6-9 Fitzgerald really stepped up his game the last few weeks of the 2007-08 season, averaging over seven points a game in league play.

Dartmouth opens the season at Army on Nov. 15 at 4 p.m., while the home opener takes place the following week against Colgate on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. One of the highlights of the non-conference slate is a trip to California to play in the Golden Bear Classic hosted by Cal-Berkeley on Dec. 27-28. Ivy League action starts up with a home contest against Harvard on Jan. 10.

2008-09 Ivy League Men's Basketball Preseason Media Poll

Team (first-place votes)		Points
1.	Cornell (16)	128
2.	Penn	110
3.	Yale	80
4.	Harvard	77
5.	Brown	75
6.	Columbia	45
7.	Dartmouth	33
8.	Princeton	28

Schedules