Dartblog

Acting AD Bob Ceplikas ‘78 stood up for Datmouth’s basketball players in a Letter to the Editor after a recent Valley News story criticized the skills of individual members of the varsity team. This writer has observed that in the Dartmouth Athletic Department’s own sports reporting, players are almost never identified by name after “defensive miscues,” etc. Ceplikas’ letter:

To the Editor:

On behalf of Dartmouth’s coaches and student-athletes, I am writing to express our deep disappointment in the Valley News for including such personally humiliating comments about individual student-athletes in its coverage of last Saturday’s men’s basketball game. We respect the media’s responsibility to report on achievements and failures alike, and we understand that the media will not always share our perspective. We are truly dismayed, however, that the Valley News found it necessary to publicly insult the athletic abilities and intelligence of individual amateur athletes using such unduly harsh terms as “hapless”, “limited basketball sense”, and “hands of stone”, among others. We are hopeful that the paper will treat these dedicated student-athletes with more respect and dignity in the future.

Robert A. Ceplikas
Acting Director of Athletics & Recreation
Dartmouth College
Hanover

And the offending sections of the VN article:

Green Drops Home Finale
By Tris Wykes
Valley News Staff Writer

Hanover — One of the worst seasons in recent Dartmouth men’s basketball history concluded its home slate in typical fashion last night, the Big Green losing 76-57 to Brown…

[Brown pivot] Mullery’s dominance, much of it against hapless freshman center Matt LaBove, drew other defenders to him and allowed his Bears teammates leisurely time and space to set up and follow through. Brown made 10 of 24 attempts from 3-point range, held a 24-12 rebounding advantage in the second half and improved to 11-18, 5-7…

Dartmouth’s list of deficiencies is lengthy. The Big Green has no go-to scorer, no true point guard and no paint player with any true combination of grit and finesse. Guard Jabari Trotter needs work on his left hand, forward David Rufful is hot one game and ice cold the next and forward Mbiyimoh Ghogomu might be the team’s best athlete, but is out of control half the time he’s on the floor.

Under the basket, junior Clive Weeden is a warrior but more comfortable away from the lane. Conversely, LaBove can’t regularly score from outside five feet and has such a high center of gravity that he’s constantly being knocked off-balance. Sophomore Herve Kouna is a physical specimen with hands of stone and limited basketball sense.

Never one to spare the rod, Dartblog has to conclude that Cep has something of a point here — especially given the overarchingly condemnatory nature of these personal criticisms. The basketball program has struggled for a while, and journalism like this does not help anyone.