Harvard’s Coaching Change

Harvard to Make Coaching Change after Sixteen Years

by Jay Pearlman

In a conference and at an institution where little changes over time, on Monday of this week Harvard Athletic Director Bob Scalise announced his decision not to renew the contract of Head Basketball Coach Frank Sullivan. In addition to ending Sullivan’s sixteen-year tenure as head coach, Scalise’s decision will most likely also end the tenures of long-time assistants Bill Holden and Lamar Reddicks.

For people close to the Harvard program, the announcement wasn’t a complete surprise. Still, the decision hits hard, particularly to those of us who admire Sullivan professionally and personally. Having seen every single Harvard game these last two years, it’s something I can speak to.

As Ivy League Commissioner Jeff Orleans (who is also an attorney) once advised me in connection with another matter, there are times when a reporter is too close to a situation to be objective, and this is surely one of those times for me. Frank allowed an ex-assistant coach and New York lawyer to produce his games on radio and serve as analyst, and recommended my company to Bill Coen of Northeastern in the same capacities. But while my non-objectivity is now on the record, certain things can be reported.

First, this is the first firing (“non-renewal”) of a Harvard basketball coach since I became close to the program around 1975; Satch Sanders left for the Celtics, Frank McLaughlin for Fordham, and Peter Roby for Reebok en route to his current position at the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern. And in fairness, while Frank Sullivan’s 178 Harvard wins make him the winningest coach in program history, admittedly his 245 losses also make him among the losingest.

Second, while the non-renewal happened this Monday, the decision was surely based on events of February 2006, over a year ago. More precisely, the decision was based on high expectations unfulfilled. It was predicted in many circles that the 2005-06 Harvard basketball team possessed talent second only to Penn in the conference. Senior forward Matt Stehle was projected as a Player of the Year candidate, and seven-foot center Brian Cusworth was considered ready; the two were deemed to constitute the league’s most formidable front court. And while I cautioned on radio on more than one occasion that success in low-major leagues is even more guard-dependent than at higher levels, I must admit that I, too, smiled at their prospects with Stehle and Cusworth scoring and rebounding.

The non-conference season in the fall of 2005 went well, but imperfectly. There was Cusworth’s annual injury, though he would return for the conference schedule. There was a non-competitive loss at Lehigh, a team not picked at the very top of the Patriot League. Cusworth’s absence could not be overcome in a loss across town at BU, also not the best in its conference. And while wins in Chestnut Hill against BC and over SMU in Dallas were never expected, those losses were very one-sided, evidence of a physical and particularly mental fragility that had been masked by earlier wins against lesser teams. Harvard returned from that one-sided loss in Dallas, in which it suffered a 26-0 run against, with a non-league record of 8-5.

With two wins against Dartmouth in January to start the league, those dreaded post-Christmas exams, a tough but exciting loss at Yale, and wins at Brown and Columbia, the Crimson had a 4-1 Ivy League start and a 12-6 overall record, which restored earlier expectations. And while one loss should not a season make, then came the most damaging loss I’ve ever seen a team have.

Leading all the way at Cornell, when Lenny Collins’ desperation last-second shot hit the side of the board, it appeared Harvard had held on for a second straight win on America’s worst road-trip. But the errant shot fell right into the hands of Cornell’s Andrew Naeve, whose put-back with under a second forced overtime. After three starters had fouled out (and deeper into the night on America’s worst two-day trip), Harvard fell in overtime.

That was followed by an expected (but non-competitive) home loss to Ibrahim Jaaber and Penn, and then for the second straight Saturday, victory was turned into defeat in the last second of play, this time on a corner jump shot by Princeton’s Noah Savage.

From there the team’s fragility took center stage, and it took 3 more weeks and 5 more losses to recover. In the process, a team predicted to finish second and harboring hopes of challenging Penn was 5-9 and tied for 6th in the league.

Unfairly, this year was an afterthought. One of the most improved players in the conference for the eighteen games he played, Cusworth could finally dominate inside and be the primary cause of a Harvard win. And at least in the non-conference season, sophomore point guard Drew Housman showed signs of improvement. But Stehle was gone, the remaining forwards unproductive, and opposition coaches figured out how to guard spot-up shooter Jim Goffredo. Even with Cusworth, this team wasn’t predicted to be strong, and true to form, in the eighteen games with Cusworth, the team finished 9-9, 2-2 in conference. With Cusworth gone, this writer feared no more games would be won; miraculously Frank Sullivan’s undermanned team won 3 of the remaining 10 games.

Quoted in the March 6 Boston Globe, Yale coach James Jones told John Powers that “He loses Cusworth and they still win three Ivy games. To be honest with you, I didn’t think they’d win any. But Frank reinvented the wheel and maximized the talent he had.”

Obviously, some things have changed in the sixteen years Sullivan coached Harvard. Tuition, room and board more than doubled to an annual $45,000 (remember, no Ivy scholarships), and the academic requirements for admission became even stiffer. Like lots of fellow alums, I’m not certain I’d get in today. Consistent with those truths, the quality of play dropped noticeably, not just at Harvard but throughout the Ivy League. Witness this season’s Princeton team, perhaps the least athletic in America, with Brown not far behind. And watch Penn closely as this crop of seniors graduates to see if the team playing in college basketball’s most storied arena falls back to resemble a Division III team in the coming years.

And, quite obviously, it’s easier to fire a coaching staff than make other, broader changes. Bill Fitzsimmons, Harvard’s Dean of Admissions, is world-renowned in his field, honest, brilliant, fair, and a friend. He admitted to this writer on the radio that something called Academic Indices doesn’t really level the playing field among Ivy League schools. By this writer’s observation, while basketball was Harvard’s third-most important sport when I was in school (behind football and hockey), it is now at best fourth, and perhaps further down the list (women’s hockey is now ahead, and perhaps women’s basketball, and various squash and crew teams). Harvard has one less paid assistant coach than most other schools, and respectfully, it has also been this reporter’s observation that most of the things surrounding the Harvard’s men’s basketball program are done in so unassuming, non-competitive, egalitarian a manner as to show that program not very important at all. So just firing the coaches is hardly the answer.

We’re rapidly reaching the limit of what I can report even after acknowledging my lack of objectivity. Like everywhere else, the main issue at Harvard is recruiting. To facilitate recruiting (for the next coach), at the very least Harvard must show more flexibility on admissions (academically), not require that basketball applicants jump through “hoops” other institutions smooth over, and allow basketball applications to be submitted through April or May rather than January 1. And while fellow alum, member of numerous university committees, and program booster Tom Stemberg reported to me that the brutal post-Christmas exam schedule will be corrected “next year or the year following,” I have yet to hear definitively from either Scalise or the Dean of the College if or when Harvard exams will be moved up to mid-December.

Finally, notwithstanding last season’s unfulfilled expectations, I can tell you that Harvard is losing a good coach, and a very good man, a man each of us would be proud to send our sons to play for, knowing that the most positive examples were being set. I for one hope this good man stays in basketball, stays in the college game, and – selfishly – stays in Boston. On behalf of my fellow alums and those who love Harvard’s basketball program, thank you Coach Sullivan.

Ivy League Notebook

Ivy League Notebook

by Jay Pearlman

It’s All in the Family, as Joe Jones’ Lions Deal James Jones’ Elis Crippling Defeat

Coming into this penultimate weekend in the Ivy League, the focus was in fact on old Payne Whitney Gym in New Haven, home of James Jones’ second-place Yale Elis. One game behind Penn in the all-important loss column and with sights set on next Friday’s showdown at the Palestra (winning which could cause a one-game playoff), Yale needed to win both games this home weekend, and specifically beat Cornell and Ryan Wittman on Friday night.

Well, in what was expected to be the weekend’s big game in the conference, Yale did beat Cornell on Friday, 68-55, with Casey Hughes returning to play 26 minutes and score 18 points, Eric Flato matching that 18 in all 40 minutes, and even Sam Kaplan returning to play 9 minutes. Andrew Naeve’s stellar effort (14 points on 6-11 shoting, 10 boards) couldn’t overcome Wittman’s subpar night (9 points on 3-13 shooting, 5 boards), and on Saturday, everyone in the league was talking about Friday’s showdown in the Palestra.

Everyone, that is, except Joe Jones’ Lions.

What seems like eons ago (but is barely two months), this writer deemed Columbia’s talent second in the league to Penn’s, focusing on the additions of Niko Scott and particularly Patrick Foley to John Baumann, Brett Loscalzo, and projected Player of the Year candidate Ben Nwachukwu. Well, Big Ben has hardly had a Mark Zoller-type season (8.5 points, 5 rebounds per game), leading to Columbia’s 4-7 conference record after falling to Brown Friday. And with Foley ill and unavailable against Yale Saturday night, it was time to book hotel rooms in Philly next Friday.

Well, not quite.

In what turned out to be the biggest game in the conference all season long, finally we got a glimpse of that talent Columbia has. Finally, the team that would have pushed Penn, the team that can shoot, rebound and defend, the team with size and depth, played to its potential. That came with present star and future conference Player of the Year Foley absent.

In a one-sided win by the road team (and by the younger Jones brother), Columbia out-rebounded Yale 31-20, out-shot them 60 to 45 percent, had 22 assists to 10 turnovers, scored 15 straight points early to lead 15-5, and were never seriously challenged. Steady John Baumann scored 20 on 7-12 shooting and Big Ben finally showed his stuff on offense, scoring 14 on 7-7 shooting. Kevin Bulger scored 17 on 6-9 shooting, with 6 assists, while Mack Montgomery scored 10 with 5 rebounds, Loscalzo had 9 assists, and Joe Bova had 8 rebounds.

In a season in which Penn has consistently been underwhelming, including a lackluster showing in Friday’s 83-67 win at Harvard and barely surviving 80-78 Saturday at Dartmouth, Yale is now behind by two losses and all but eliminated from the race. Cancel your hotel rooms in Philly next weekend, because no matter what happens between Yale and Penn Friday night, Penn will still be up a loss, with only Brown at home and hapless Princeton away separating it from another crown.

So while Columbia’s Joe Jones targets .500 in conference and 16-12 overall with home games against Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend, James Jones must agonize over Saturday’s crippling home loss to his younger brother. With one win already against Penn, and a real shot down in Philly, the erstwhile showdown next Friday at the Palestra now will be just another game. A win over Penn would only show what might have been absent Saturday’s loss.

Ivy League Notebook

Ivy League Notebook

by Jay Pearlman

Yale Survives Must-Win Weekend without Hughes

The entire season lay before them, fifteen minutes to go. They were down 9 at home to Leon Pattman and Dartmouth. Sam Kaplan is long gone. Casey Hughes left in the first half with a foot injury. They’d dealt Penn (now 8-1) their only loss earlier at home, lost by one at Cornell (now 7-3), and stumbled badly at home to Brown. Four winnable home games (winnable with a healthy Hughes) remained before the rematch at Penn on March 2. And now this. If ever Coach James Jones’ team needed to show grit, it was this night.

And they did.

Sophomore forward Ross Morin had the offensive game of his life, scoring 15 points including 9-9 at the line. His seven rebounds were three more than anyone else on either team. Junior guard Eric Flato scored 21, including 4-7 in three’s, and had three assists. Caleb Holmes had 10 points and three rebounds, and Travis Pinick 12 and four. And in the last fifteen minutes of play, the team assumed Jones’ personality, guarded Pattman and Alex Barnett, and won their most important game of the year, 69-64 over Dartmouth. Then, after beating Harvard rather easily on Saturday night (86-71), Yale has reached 8-2 in the league, still breathing with two weeks to play.

Having called last night’s Yale-Harvard game on radio, this writer has nothing new to report on Hughes’ injury. If the league’s best athlete can’t come back, or comes back at half-speed, Yale will have trouble beating both Columbia and Cornell at home, and will have little chance March 2 at the Palestra. But not knowing yea or nay on Hughes’ return allows us do what we sports fans enjoy most, play the “what-if” game: what if Casey Hughes can play this coming weekend (or at least at Penn) at or near 100 percent? That makes for a most interesting scenario.

Yes, Penn has been cruising. Yes they have last year’s Player-of-the-Year in Ibrahim Jaaber, and this year’s likely Player-of-the-Year in Mark Zoller. Yes, they hardly ever lose a game in the Palestra, rarely in conference, and almost never against anyone but Princeton. But they’ve been lethargic in recent home wins against Harvard and Princeton, and no less an authority than the Governor of Pennsylvania (Penn basketball’s biggest fan) told this reporter that Glen Miller’s team doesn’t yet guard the way Fran Dunphy’s teams did. And of course, Yale beat them once already, so even though they have two losses, assuming both teams sweep next weekend, the winner of the March 2 game wins the league. Period. Of course, that’s playing the “what-if game.”

So even though conference tournaments will have started (this reporter would love to be in Richmond that day, but won’t be), and all eight Ivies are playing that night, circle March 2 in your calendars. Wherever you are that evening, keep an ear open for the Yale-Penn score from the Palestra. And if Casey Hughes is right, it’s just possible you’ll hear about one of the biggest road wins ever in that hallowed arena, and that James Jones’ Elis will represent this old league in this year’s NCAA tournament.

Ivy League Notebook

Ivy League Notebook

by Jay Pearlman

Through Two Friday/Saturday Weekends, Ivy League More Interesting than Ever

Coaches say the lower the level, the tougher the road. And even NBA teams have trouble the second straight night away from home in a different city, all the more so after winning the first. Throw in some late-arriving wintry weather, and through two full weekends plus, the Ivy League is an absolute mess.

First the good stuff. Yale (5-1, 9-10) has the league’s best athlete, Casey Hughes (10.3 points, 51 percent from the field, 6.6 boards, 1.6 assists, 2 steals per game), who is much improved as a basketball player. On Saturday, they had their biggest win since beating Rutgers in Piscataway in the NIT (arguably bigger), as James Jones’ crew bested Penn at home 77-68, completing a rare sweep of Princeton and Penn. But for stumbling at home against travel partner Brown, they’d be 6-0 and alone atop the standings. And aside from that hiccup the second consecutive night away against Yale (after a win on Friday against Brown), Penn (3-1, 12-8) is cruising along, with a home date against Yale circled on the calendar on Friday, March 2.

Now the not-so-good. With Lenny Collins graduated and sophomore Adam Gore out for the season, Cornell (4-2, 11-9) has gotten great play from two freshmen, Randy Wittman’s son Ryan (15.3 points, 2.7 rebounds), and diminutive Louis Dale (12.8 points, 50 percent from the field, 48 percent on threes, 4 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1 steal), in the process dominating the Rookie of the Week column. But after a split of Princeton/Penn weekend at home (you can tell easily enough which game was the loss), rousing back-to-back wins against travel partner Columbia, and a workmanlike 74-61 win at Dartmouth on Friday night, just as Penn did that very night at Yale, Cornell stumbled badly at Harvard on Saturday. With snow and ice en route from Hanover the night before, and freshmen being freshmen, Cornell stumbled against the Brian Cusworth-less Crimson in Boston, suffering a heartbreaking last second loss 65-64. In that loss – the biggest loss by any team in the conference so far – Cornell provided the opportunity for Drew Housman to find Evan Harris for the winner with 0.8 to play when its star freshmen missed three crucial free-throws: 95% shooter Wittman missed both in a two-shot opportunity, and 92% shooter Dale missed one of two. But for that loss, the 4-2 Big Red would be 5-1 and alone atop the standings.

There is more not-so-good. Blessed with the second best talent in the conference (behind Penn), after splitting Penn/Princeton weekend at home, Columbia (3-3, 12-8) managed to lose both ends of its home and home series with Cornell, in two nearly identical grinding games (49-45 and 56-51). They did get back to .500 by taking out their frustrations on Harvard and Dartmouth away this past weekend (90-70 and 61-55). Coach Joe Jones had better be ready for elder brother James as Yale visits Friday in what surely is Columbia’s biggest game of the year so far.

Now the bad: for the first time ever, Princeton (0-4, 9-9) has lost its first four to start the conference, suffering its most embarrassing defeat Saturday night at Brown 63-48. The second night in a row away shouldn’t have caused the loss, in which Brown scored 20 of the last 24 points (after all, Princeton lost the night before), and neither should the reduced minutes of swingman Kyle Koncz, who just returned from injury. Additionally, the article in this space a week ago comparing Coach Joe Scott to Bill Belichick shouldn’t. But with this practice week likely the toughest ever on Princeton players, seven of ten remaining league games at home, and undermanned Harvard and Dartmouth arriving this weekend, it’s still too early to call this a lost season. It won’t be early any more if they don’t sweep these next two. (Yogi must have been talking about this conference when he said, “It gets late here early”).

Less bad (or less unexpected), the Pattman-Barnett combination wasn’t able to beat either Cornell or Columbia at home this weekend, and like Harvard, Dartmouth (2-4, 7-12) travels to Penn and angry Princeton this weekend. As for the Crimson (3-3, 10-10), with no expectations post-Cusworth they surprised to the good on Saturday in beating Cornell, and if they can somehow repeat at winless Princeton Friday night, they’ll be assured of being at least .500 eight games into the league season. As for Brown (2-4, 7-14), though the win over Princeton must have been sweet indeed for head coach Craig Robinson (two-time Ivy Player of the Year for the Tigers), a most difficult weekend at Cornell and Columbia looms ahead.

Still, all in all, particularly on Saturday nights for traveling teams who won on Friday, nothing is secure in this old league, and no conference tournament at the end leaves little margin for error going forward. It should remain most interesting.

Princeton Coach Joe Scott

With Coach Scott, Even at 0-2 Princeton Could Push Penn

by Jay Pearlman

After catching a game his first year at Princeton (’04-’05), and three last year, I thought I was getting an idea about Coach Joe Scott. Undersized and tough as a point guard and senior captain for Pete Carril. A graduate of Notre Dame Law School, just long enough at a law firm to realize he wanted to coach (that hit close to home). An eight-year assistant to both Carril and Bill Carmody, improved Air Force over his four years as head coach, and now in his third leading Princeton.

Last season I watched a team that lost at home to Carnegie Mellon on December 28 still alive for the Ivy title into March, and then beating Penn in overtime on March 7; a team with either zero or one Division I-caliber player (depending on how I felt about Noah Savage on any given day) that improved more through its conference season than any team I’d ever seen. Smart and tough, to be sure, but I don’t think I really knew Joe Scott, until yesterday. Now I know him slightly.

While we’ve never met (still), Scott called in response to my request for an interview, and after a couple of days of telephone tag (an hour on the phone with Coach Carril is certainly a good reason to delay an interview), there he was on my cell phone yesterday for a half hour. And as I questioned and listened, I began hearing another voice through the phone; halfway through I thought I was talking to Patriots leader Bill Belichick. And whatever you think of Belichick’s wardrobe, at least in this reporter’s eyes, that’s a compliment of the highest order.

No, I’ve never met Belichick personally either. But I’ve lived in New York when he was defensive coordinator, in Cleveland when a brilliant head coach wasn’t quite homogenized, and in New England recently. Quite obviously, Bill is brighter than everyone else in his profession; so, too, is Joe Scott in his. Bill is so bright that he’s been able to simplify the game (not out of disrespect to the media, but because only the simple and straightforward can be taught or communicated). “Block and tackle,” “play hard all the time,” “compete,” “compete,” “compete”; those are invariably the answers no matter what the question might be. Ok, he also has to manage the salary cap.

I asked Scott about the improvement of last year’s team. He answered that half-way through the year he realized that we were “gonna do it my way”; that we were “gonna compete and play as hard as we can, and if we go down, we’re gonna go down competing.” I asked what it’s like having to break for exams after Christmas in January, rather than in mid-December (only Princeton and Harvard still have that calendar), and after recognizing both that exams are rigorous at Princeton and that his players break while others are playing, he responded that “after exams end, our kids have to work hard to get back in game shape; they have to get back to competing.” And “maybe, once they resume competing, maybe their legs will be fresher than their opponents’.”

I asked Scott about the development of Justin Conway (7.7 pts, 46%, 3.8 bds, 35:26 asst/to), a former walk-on who is now team captain. After correcting me (“he’s no longer a walk-on”), Scott told me that “he’s always been consistent, would do anything to be part of the program”. He added that he “competes harder than anyone else, takes shots he can make, shows everyone else how to play hard, does things on the floor that make his teammates better.” When I analogized to Penn’s Mark Zoller, he agreed with the comparison, adding that “Zoller competes harder than anyone, and makes shots.”

When I asked about Noah Savage (3.3 pts, 1.1 bds, 10.9 min), a starter and the team’s best player the last two years, Coach told me that he had off-season sinus surgery, and he’s “still not sure it was completely successful”; also that junior forward Kyle Koncz (9.6 pts, 46%, 44% threes, 2.2 bds, 1 asst) has developed into a really good player. Focusing on Savage, Joe told me that “we don’t need Savage to play 30 or more minutes, we need him to compete for us for 3 minutes, then for 4 minutes. If he does that he’ll help us win.” He continued that even with Koncz now injured, “we still just need Noah to go out and compete hard, for 3 minutes, for 4 minutes; that’s what we need from him.”

I closed my eyes for a minute (I was parked, not driving), and heard Bill Belichick out of Joe Scott’s mouth. Not because he thinks I’m stupid, not because he keeps secrets from the press, not because I couldn’t be trusted, but because everything else he might have said, all that voluminous stuff we’ve come to expect coaches to say, all those “X’s and O’s,” are just silly details, irrelevant to a truly honest answer to any question about his team. It’s just about “competing”. Okay, about “competing and making shots.”

Anyway, I expect the starting freshman guard tandem from De La Salle High School in California to be improved, as senior forward Luke Owings (8.2 pts, 47%, 40% threes, 2.9 boards) from Maryland is already. And that Conway kid, not afraid to finish, or to set screens that get his teammates open for shots. They lost the opening conference game at Columbia, a game I said on the radio could determine second place in the Ivy League (Columbia’s talent is second to Penn’s), and then lost badly on the second half of America’s worst road trip at Cornell. But if Koncz was able to use exams to mend, if the freshmen from California continue to improve (and don’t hit a wall), and if Savage mends both his sinuses and his psyche and just competes, Princeton should be just fine after they play Seton Hall Monday and return to conference play on Feb 2.

With Scott having simplified things, distilled them down to competing hard, taking good shots, and making some, I’d love to watch one of his practices, and wish I were in the NYC area later this week as exams end and the team prepares for Seton Hall (even though I broadcast for Harvard, I think he’d allow that). But alas, that little pleasure will await February 9, perhaps even next preseason. Even with the Tigers at 0-2, the rest of the Ivy League should be wary of Princeton, under Coach Joe Scott.

Dartmouth’s Leon Pattman

If Pattman Stays Healthy, Dartmouth will be Better

by Jay Pearlman

Seeing them play three times last year (a win at Army and two losses to Harvard), I realized what Coach Terry Dunn surely knew about his Dartmouth squad: that as goes guard Leon Pattman, so go the Big Green. And Pattman was never quite right physically all of last season. Thus, while Pattman was recruited by the preceding staff, Dunn needed him healthy and productive for this his senior year, both to win games and to recruit his replacement. And while it hasn’t exactly worked out as planned, Pattman appears relatively healthy as conference play begins, giving Dartmouth a legitimate chance at the top half of the conference.

I wasn’t around three years ago, but I hear that when Pattman arrived in Hanover from White Station High in Memphis (the second of three following that route), everyone in the league cringed. A 6-4 lefty guard who could run well, get his own shot, rebound and hit threes, he was Ibrahim Jabber before Ibrahim Jabber. And even now, after more time injured and off than playing in college, when healthy he may be more versatile than Jabber (and equally effective) offensively, and the better rebounder. Now a senior, like Brian Cusworth at Harvard his career and improvement limited by injuries, Pattman has one thing left to give Coach Dunn that Cusworth can’t give Coach Frank Sullivan: eligibility through the end of this season.

Well, to no one’s surprise, hip and groin injuries kept Pattman out of Dartmouth’s first six games this season, all losses. Even after returning, he’s a threat to limp off every second of every game – as he did with a minor ankle sprain in the first half of the TV game against Quinnipiac. (Pattman could be the poster-boy for the phrase, “a minor injury is an injury to someone else”). But since his return, Dartmouth has won six of seven, Pattman has scored 20 or more four times, and his second half and overtime play earned a home win against Harvard in the first conference game. He finished with 27 points in that game (10-17 shooting, including 2-4 from long range), along with two rebounds, two assists, four blocks and a steal, all necessary to overcome Cusworth’s big game for the other guys. Then they have a return engagement at Harvard tonight, with a chance to repeat that performance on the road and go 2-0 in conference.

Now, Dunn doesn’t have the big men to compete with Cusworth (who graduates in three games), Danley and Zoller at Penn, or Bauman and “Big Ben” at Columbia. But with DeVon Mosley on the point (10 pts, 2 assts), and swing men Alex Barnett (9 pts, 5 bds) and Johnathan Ball (8, 5 rebounds; also from White Station High) along with Pattman (18.5, 5), Dartmouth’s guard contingent is the best in the league. And that should serve them well against the bottom four in the conference, Cornell, Yale and Brown, in addition to Harvard.

Coach Dunn was happy to talk about Pattman, happy for his program that he’s played the last month, and happiest of all for Leon’s personal growth over a difficult career. When the coach arrived on campus Pattman’s sophomore year, the first-year coach was rather “demand in practice,” and because of injuries to his hip and nearby tissue, “he was unable to do what was asked [of him].” He played just one game that year, then “by mutual agreement” between coach and player left the team, with no certainty ever to return. Somewhat surprisingly, Pattman was back as a junior, but didn’t play as much or as well as he had as a freshman. Only now, after missing six games to begin the year, are we seeing glimpses of the Pattman we missed for 2+ seasons.

Dunn was philosophical about the injuries, preferring to call them “a blessing in disguise.” For his program, injuries to start the year will allow a fresher Pattman for conference play, without all of the pounding his body might have taken.

“His legs are fresher now than if he would have played,” the coach said by phone, no doubt smiling. They also had a chance “to play younger guys in key situations, and watch them grow. But now with Leon back, he provides us (players and coaches) with a ‘sense of security,’ and “he can [still] take over a game.”

Focusing on his oft-injured star, Dunn said matter-of-factly that “if Pattman had been healthy, he would certainly have been all-conference all four years.” But now back after all the injuries, “he is more respectful of players around him, more willing to share the ball.” Thirteen conference games to go, hopefully to stay healthy, and perhaps to see just how good a Pattman-led Dartmouth can be.

Great Day Of Hoops In New York

Penn Poised to Take Ivy League Again

by Jay Pearlman

It was a great day of college basketball in New York City, my kinda day, any fan’s kind of day, I think. The two most talented Ivy teams visited two Big East also-rans: Penn (now 6-5) at Seton Hall (now 7-2) in the afternoon, and Columbia (now 7-4) at St. John’s (now 8-3) at night. Two terrific games to watch, both won (barely) by the host Big East school, in each case requiring a super effort by one player to secure the win.

First in the afternoon, the fans in the Meadowlands were treated to the coming-out party for Seton Hall’s super freshman from Queens (NY) Christ the King, Larry Davis. Davis shattered his previous high of eleven points, scoring 27 in 30 minutes on some excellent shooting: 5-5 in two’s, 3-5 in threes, and 8-9 from the line. Davis grabbed 10 rebounds, made 2 steals (one spectacular), and blocked 3 shots. I don’t know how Coach Bobby Gonzalez is going to keep the Big East’s new Quincy Douby off the floor very much going forward. And the Pirates needed every one of those points, rebounds, steals and blocks to win 94-85 over a good and gritty Penn team, the best team I watched all day.

Of course, Penn has a new head coach in Glen Miller, who came over from Brown when Fran Dunphy moved to Temple. And while it’s not yet clear whether Miller can recruit the way Dunphy did (or whether the Penn name does that for any coach), Miller is more than capable enough to win with the senior-laden team Dunphy left behind. In that senior class, Miller has the league’s most talented player (and returning player of the year) in Ibrahim Jabber, the league’s toughest kid and best rebounder (and its current leading scorer) in 6-8 Mark Zoller, and experienced center Steve Danley, who scores in double figures without shooting much. They can play fast or slow (they didn’t play just slowly against Seton Hall), half-court or full court. For the first time, Jabber is a pass-first point guard, generally waiting for the second half to score. Zoller runs the floor, hits open 3′s, picks and rolls to the goal, and rebounds at both ends. He doesn’t look special at any one part of the game, but because he is utterly unafraid, he gets the absolute most out of his body. And because he’s tougher than anyone else in the conference, other teams (and their announcers) sometimes don’t like Zoller very much, even calling him dirty. From a neutral perspective, that’s not true; he simply plays a physical brand of basketball rare in the league, and if the man he’s guarding can’t or won’t match it, that man has no chance.

Columbia headed to St. John’s in Queens for the nightcap. It took a monster game from the Johnnie’s big man, Lamont Hamilton (36 points on 11-13 shooting and 14-16 from the line), just to stay in the game. Columbia led the entire first half, and went to the locker room tied at 29. And while Hamilton pushed Ben Nwachukwu around, causing him to foul and limiting him to 8 minutes, John Baumann played Hamilton better by matching his five rebounds. And even when things got away in the second half, Columbia fought back. A 7-14 showing on three-pointers in that half bringing Columbia within 4 in the final minute.

Now, I’ve only seen half the conference so far. And we now know that Princeton has found a new Pete Carril in Joe Scott, who will get more out of less at his alma mater for as long as he stays there. But this group that Joe Jones has at Columbia is really good and getting better. Freshman guard Patrick Foley was the best player in the game other than Hamilton. He doesn’t start, but shot Columbia to its first half lead, and in 29 minutes scored 12 points on 5-6 shooting, including 2-3 three-pointers, and dished out three assists. Baumann had 13 points to go with his five rebounds. And while outclassed and pushed around by Hamilton, “Big Ben” should be absolutely dominant in the post and on the boards in conference play.

So circle Friday Jan 12 on your calendar (Princeton at Columbia), and for that matter Penn at Columbia the next night as well, after the Quakers bus down from Cornell the night before (the second half of America’s most brutal travel weekend). Regrettably, this writer has radio assignments in Boston Friday night and Saturday afternoon, but if the latter broadcast ends by 3:30, that leaves three and a half hours to get to Penn-Columbia – it just might be worth the drive. To see the Ivy League’s second-most talented team (Columbia) play the most talented at home, under the toughest conditions possible. Yes, that just might be worth the drive.

Brian Cusworth

On the Charles, Cusworth Shows What Might Have Been

by Jay Pearlman

He’s in his fifth year, and there are few of those in the Ivy League, fewer still at Harvard. There is no redshirting in this old conference, not even for medical reasons. You play your first 8 semesters “in residence,” then you’re done. And with exams after Christmas break putting 18 games into first semester, that’s the semester in residence for Brian Cusworth. 6-4 through ten games, with just eight to go.

Injuries have slowed Brian’s progress over the years; and somehow reading period and exams after Christmas seem to hurt this program more than Princeton’s. So for the three years I’ve been there, and two before, there was Brian Cusworth, the poster-child for potential, all seven feet of him, running well, jumping reasonably well, and a soft touch from the outside – potential never quite realized. Not the best player in the conference, not even the best player on his team, unlimited potential, never quite influencing the outcome of games – until now.

Brian’s not the best Harvard big man I’ve ever seen. He certainly hasn’t had the career of gentle giant Tony Jenkins, who by the time I “coached” him was in the joint program at NYU Law and Princeton’s School of Public Administration. He’s no Joe Beaulieu, who just a few of us remember played Freshman ball Satch’s last year, before transferring over to BC. And as I’ve said a time or two on the radio, he’s no Brian Banks, the enigmatic center of the late 70′s, as often confused as academically ineligible, who was Harvard’s best basketball athlete ever, may have been the conference’s best, and should have spent 15 years in the NBA.

Banks was 6-11, could run and jump, was smooth as silk, a terrific mid-range shooter, with good hands and a quicker jump than Orlando Woolridge. In a Christmas tourney in 1977, Banks waited until Detroit’s Terry Tyler left the ground, than caught him in mid-air and blocked a bunch of his shots. Dick Vitale was AD but no longer coach, yet his fear of Brian Banks filled the arena. Another “what might have been” story.

Back to our Brian, last name Cusworth. This is another time, perhaps the Ivy League more like “I-AA” basketball than it was then. But this giant of a man has now overcome injuries each of the last two years, four years of post-Christmas exams, and the shadow of Matt Stehle, and for nine games and nine more, for the first time he is determining the outcome of games. He’s averaging 16.6 points (third in the conference behind Mark Zoller of Penn and teammate Jim Goffredo), shooting 57 percent (behind only Zoller and Ibrahim Jabber), 8.2 boards (league-leading) and 2.5 blocks (also leads the league, and it would be more if they paid attention at the table at Colgate).

But more than that, Brian is now dominating games. Recently, after scoring over 20 for three straight games, LIU’s Coach Jim Ferry set his entire game plan to frustrate Brian, playing one man behind, one in front, and attacking with guards after post-entry. Well, in addition to a hard-earned 11 points and eight rebounds, by his very presence Brian caused the perimeter to be open, resulting in great looks for Goffredo (27), Drew Housman (15) and Brad Unger (15). Again, Brian determining the outcome of a game.

It’s all bittersweet, as Cusworth won’t be around to battle for a league title. It’s most bittersweet for Frank Sullivan’s coaching staff, who haven’t had Brian for a healthy season in forever, to now lose him after four Ivy League games and never bemoan the irony. And simply put, be it injuries, late exams, Stehle’s shadow or just his own pace of development, during last winter’s conference schedule Brian could not yet win games. Now he can, and puff, he’ll be gone. Oh, what might have been.

Columbia’s Missing Link

Lions Ready to Roar after Adding One Piece

by Jay Pearlman

Something was amiss, and I couldn’t quite get my arms around what it was. I saw a good shooting team, reasonably athletic from an Ivy League perspective, well-coached. Yet coach Joe Jones’ Columbia Lions lost all three times I saw them play last season, all to mid-major opponents and twice at home. I even said on radio in Boston last March that center Ben Nwachukwu (for obvious reasons I call him “Big Ben”) would challenge Ibrahim Jabber as Ivy Player of the Year this season.

And yet something was missing.

I had the Columbia game at Providence in my calendar for weeks, providing a first opportunity this season to consider the question. Now, while Providence was too strong for Columbia at home in the Dunk that evening, one player caught my attention and all at once both solved the puzzle of last season and showed promise for this his freshman year: 6-2 guard Patrick Foley from Blue Point, Long Island (attended the “other” St. Anthony’s High School).

It’s all crystal clear now – what was missing, and what’s now on the roster. Al McGuire used to say that the lower the level, the more important guard play is. He meant college as compared to the NBA, but the same is true for mid-major compared to BCS conference teams, Ivy as compared to mid-major, Division III as compared to Division I. And while few teams in the Ivy League have a guard on their roster who can go get his own shot at most any time, Columbia didn’t have such a player. (Jabber can at Penn, Leon Pattman at Dartmouth when he’s healthy, the younger Damon Huffman at Brown, and Drew Housman at Harvard come to mind as players who can; Cornell’s Freshman of the Year Adam Gore probably can’t, and Princeton seems to be the only team that can succeed without such a player.) Incumbent point guard Brett Loscalzo is a nice Ivy player who passes first and can hit an open jumper, but is simply not in that category. Enter Foley.

Foley is a wiry and athletic 6-2, handles well, runs well, and can go to the basket without a block. He’s not a pure shooter, but he’s a good shooter; because his shot has to be honored, he’ll have lots of opportunities to penetrate. He can cross in front, beat his man, shoot or dish. And he’ll make every other player on the Lions – including Loscalzo – better. He is already averaging 20 minutes per game (to Loscalzo’s 23), so look for Foley to start by the beginning of conference play, and certainly to play closer to 30 minutes per game.

And now, look for Columbia to finish in the top tier of the Ivy League, even challenge for the conference title. Now, this Columbia team isn’t as imposing as the one I saw with Alton Byrd, Rickie Free and Juan Mitchell, and certainly has no Jim McMillan on the roster, but just the thought of a team talented enough to compete with Penn and Princeton up on 116th Street is pleasant indeed.

Columbia head coach Joe Jones was gracious enough to call us (twice, in fact) to talk about Foley. It’s not that Jones wouldn’t have called us back on any other player, or in furtherance of any request, but I could hear a certain excitement, an enthusiasm clearly not manufactured, in his voice when we talked about his freshman. “Throw-back point guard” and “son of a coach” were the first two phrases out of Jones’ mouth, then he compared him to a player I don’t know, Sean Kennedy at Marist, and one most of us have heard of, then thought better of the second name, and asked me to keep it confidential.

Without committing to starting Patrick this season, Jones told me he’s already on the floor for most “big moments,” and made clear most would soon be all. “Understands the game” (what a great comment about a freshman), “makes great post-entry passes” were also phrases used to describe his play. When I asked what needs improvement, Jones said Patrick’s defense (a standard conservative answer, but I think true in this case), and then that Patrick “thinks too far ahead” on offense rather than letting a play develop and trusting his instincts.

Jones won the recruiting battle for Foley against Davidson, Yale and Harvard, and more than one coach at a slightly higher level may already be sorry he didn’t jump in. He told me the young man is academically brilliant and had a “near perfect” SAT. When we compared him to Ivy players, Jones dismissed Jabber as too athletic, and Huffman as more of a jump-shooter. Jones’ closest comparison was to Housman, though Foley is a couple of inches bigger and might be faster. Whatever the comparison, Foley is going go be a handful in the conference for four years, and could well bring a title to 116th Street before he’s through.

Talented America East Freshman Guards

Promising Freshman Guards of the America East

by Jay Pearlman

Just like coaches, in this day and age radio and TV analysts rely on tape (“discs” we call them now), and rarely travel to watch games out-of-town. But for season-openers there’s no useful tape, so there I went up to Orono, Maine last Monday evening to watch an exhibition game against the University of New Brunswick to prep for Maine-Harvard yesterday afternoon. I expected to see Kevin Reed, back for his senior season off a medical redshirt year, raining three’s, John Sheets handle the ball and shoot a high percentage of threes, and Philippe Tchekane-Bofia (say that three times fast) pound the boards and score inside. What I didn’t expect to see was 6-4 freshman point guard Junior Bernal, the best player on the team before even a single game was played, and everyone in the gym knowing it.

Kudos to Maine’s third-year coach Ted Woodward for keeping this future star in-state. A New York kid, Bernal attended high school at the Hyde School in Bath, then a year at well-known Maine Central Institute. Now, he doesn’t shoot outside yes (if he did he’d be playing at Duke and draftable this spring). But he does everything else, and I mean everything. A big point guard with terrific speed, long arms and big hands, he’s lightning quick, jumps, dribbles with both hands, sees the court to distribute, crosses in front to get a shot (mostly left to right for now), penetrates, slashes, posts up with moves like a center, rebounds, and will score, score, score!

For rather obvious reasons, Coach Woodward downplayed the young man’s abilities, speaking of him as merely one of a nice group of freshmen, hoping he can blend in and help the team in his first college year. Showing my age, I compared Bernal to Walt Frazier at Southern Illinois – that’s Frazier before he was a terrific shooter – and I could see the little smile sneak onto Coach’s face as he deflected the analogy. Now, to teach him to shoot.

Then there was Friday night at Boston University’s Agannis Arena, watching the season-opener against George Washington in that great gym too little used for basketball. I was surprised to hear that Corey Hassan transferred, in addition to graduations of Kevin Gardner and Shaun Wynn; I was looking forward to seeing former Notre Damer Omari Peterkin rebound. Veteran coach Dennis Wolff has five freshmen to blend in, including two guards and a swing-man. He started Newton North’s Corey Lowe at the point in his very first college game, and also started Milwaukee’s smooth 6-3 ½ lefty Sherrod Smith at the three. But somewhere along the way, in came that other Maine guard, 6-2 ½ Carlos Strong from Deering High School in Portland, and he proceeded to light it up from way out, often without a dribble, keeping his young team in the game with last year’s near-perfect GW. I have BU on the radio Tuesday evening (expect Strong to be a starter by then), so I know I’ll get a chance to speak with Coach Wolff. But knowing him just a bit, like his counterpart at Maine, Wolff is going deflect both compliments on his recruiting and praise and pressure bestowed on his freshman.

Now, don’t be deceived by Maine’s and BU’s opening losses. Bernal is a freshman point guard who opened up 260 miles from home (trust me on the mileage). They’re picked second in the America East, could win 20 games, and Bernal should be a conference Player of the Year candidate as a freshman, competing with the likes of Albany’s Jamar Wilson and Vermont’s Mike Trimboli. As for BU, opening with GW provided both a difficult test and the opportunity for Wolff to search for a lineup. We can assume Strong will be a part of that the rest of the year, and likely the leading scorer.

So New England hoops fans will have a treat these next few years: watching these two terrific guards from Maine, Junior Bernal and Carlos Strong. It will be less of a treat for opposing America East coaches.