Gallant Crimson Heads for Dartmouth; Cagers Clash in Big Green's 'Chapel'

To the Green Chapel come, I charge you." --Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

If this year's Dartmouth basketball team is anything like last season's--and there are indications that it could be worse--Satch Sanders's Crimson may not even have to mount their steeds, much less make a charge, at the Big Green tonight in Hanover, N.H.

Dartmouth's "Green Chapel," the Alumni Gym, is no stranger to mediocre tournaments and futile joustings in recent years. First-year mentor Tom O'Connor rallied the Big Green in a losing streak last February that even national sportswriters could not ignore.

Dartmouth's valiants galloped into sixth place in syndicated columnist George Nadel's "Top Ten Worst Teams in the Nation" with a 128-86 loss to North Carolina, and defended their station with honor till the season closed.

The Big Green finished with a 6-20 slate, and an Ivy League ranking undercut only by Nadel's number-one ranked team in the country, Cornell.

What's more, the future bodes perhaps darker omens for Dartmouth's "Green Knights." O'Connor will floor a predominantly sophomore team of guards Bill Raynor and Jim Beattie, forwards Adam Sutton and Bill Healey, and 6 ft. 8 in. big man Mark Donoghue.

The Big Green is "building hopes for success on improved rebounding ability," said sports information director Jack DeGange, a man unlikely to underplay Dartmouth's cage strength.

Tally Ho

Hanover's hoopsters did manage an 85-71 triumph over Acadia University in a preseason "international exhibition contest," DeGange was quick to point out yesterday.

The Big Green returned to form at Holy Cross last Friday night, though, dropping their season opener, 81-70. Donoghue and reserve Bob Calcaterra shared scoring honors with 12 points each.

With due chivalry, Sanders refused to dismiss Dartmouth as a threat in a practice session yesterday. "They're all easy until we meet them," Sanders said. "I thought UMass would be weaker than they were, and we lost that one, so I'm not making any predictions."

Dartmouth has a sophomore-ridden team, there's no doubt about that, but they might have had first-game jitters [against Holy Cross]," Sanders said. "I'm new at this business, you know. You get the band playing and the crowd roaring, and any college team can win."

The Crimson fell to the Minutemen in Saturday's debut at Amherst, 74-65, UMass outshot Harvard, with a 52.1 per cent field goal percentage, but the real story was on the boards, Sanders said.