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 Last season it took a 75-61 play-in victory over Harvard for Dartmouth to earn a trip to the NCAA tournament. The Big Green faced the unenviable task of facing the defending national champ UConn and was eliminated in a 95-47 loss in the Huskies home of Storrs, Conn.
Despite the NCAA loss, Dartmouth is the unanimous team to beat in the Ivy League’s 2005-06 women’s basketball preseason media poll, receiving all 16 first-place votes. The Ivy League co-champions from last year, the Harvard Crimson took second-place in the poll with 95 points. Also receiving high numbers were Princeton (93) and Brown (87). Penn and Yale received fifth-and-sixth place, respectively, and Columbia and Cornell rounded out the voting.
Dartmouth’s dominance in the polls could have something to do with the fact that they return the core of last year’s NCAA tournament team. First team All-Ivy center Elise Morrison returns after averaging 15.9 points and 8.9 rebounds a game last season. Controlling the ball for the Big Green will be four-year starters Jeannie Cullen and Angie Soriaga. Cullen has already tallied her 1,000-career point and Soriaga dished out 110 assists last season alone.
Harvard returns two starters from last season in second team All-Ivy guard Jessica Holsey and six-foot-one senior Shana Franklin. Holsey, averaged 11.9 points a game, and Franklin, chipped in 7.4 points a game. Crimson coach Kathy Delaney-Smith hits the hardwood for her 24th season at Harvard.
Maybe the biggest surprise in the preseason poll is the Princeton Tigers’ third-place pick. The Tigers finished tied for fifth place in the Ivy League last season, but will have experience abound, returning 12 players from their 2004-05 roster, including nine of the teams top 10 scorers and all five starters. Senior Becky Brown returns as last year’s leading scorer (14.8 points per game), shot blocker (22) and shooter (.518 field goal percentage) and Ivy League Rookie of the Year Meaghan Cowher will look to improve on her 11.1 points per game last season.
Brown will have to adjust to the loss of first team All-Ivy center Holly Robertson and team co-captain Andrea Condrad, but a strong core of backcourt players returns from last year’s 10-4 team. First team All-Ivy guard Sarah Hayes average 14.4 points a game last year and finished among the nation’s leaders in steals per game with a League-high 2.9 average.
Penn finished in fourth place with an 8-6 League record last season but will have a new look after graduating five seniors. Second-year head coach Patrick Knapp will look to senior center Jennifer Fleischer to hold down the inside for the Quakers. The six-foot-foot-four center averaged 10.8 points and 10.6 rebounds a game last season.
The Yale Bulldogs may be somewhat of a mystery in the League season with the arrival of veteran coach Chris Gobrecht on the sideline. Yale finished seventh in the League last season with a 3-11 record, but Gobrecht enters the Ivy League with more career victories than any other active coach in women’s or men’s basketball.
Columbia will also look to a new leader to improve on last year’s 5-9 record in new head coach Paul Nixon. The Lions will need their youth to guide them as there is only one senior on the 2005-06 roster. Cornell will also look to its underclassmen to rebound from last year’s 1-13 Ivy record. Guard Lindsay Krasna was a unanimous selection to the Ivy All-Rookie team and lead all Ivy freshman in points, rebounds, assists and steals in League play.
The Ivy League women's basketball season tips off on Nov. 18 with a slate of five games. All eight women's team start the season that weekend.
Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll:
1. Dartmouth, 128 points (16 first-place votes)
2. Harvard, 95
3. Princeton, 93
4. Brown, 87
5. Penn, 69
6. Yale, 51
7. Columbia, 27
8. Cornell, 26 |
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