Under the Radar Game of the Day – Saturday, December 19: Dartmouth at New Hampshire

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Dartmouth at New Hampshire, 1:00 PM Eastern, WBIN/Fox College Sports-Atlantic

The Granite State.  New Hampshire.  Of the 48 states that have places a team in the NCAA Division I Tournament, the longest drought currently belongs to this state.  Dartmouth last earned a bid in 1959.  New Hampshire, which has played D1 basketball since 1962, has never danced.  In fact, New Hampshire, in hosting an America East quarterfinal game last season, had earned the state’s first ever home postseason tournament game.  The Wildcats will try to contend again this season in the America East, with the dream of finally getting that first tournament bid.  Although they are a longshot with the likes of Albany and Stony Brook in their conference, a dance ticket is certainly within the realm of possibilities.  But before either of the Granite State teams can begin to think about the postseason, or even their conference regular season, they must first get through their own rivalry matchup this afternoon.  Today marks the 63rd matchup in the history of this series, with UNH entering play today with a 33-29 all-time lead.

The New Hampshire Wildcats enter play today with a record of 6-4, a mark that ties last season for the best start in school history through 10 games.  They are led by Iba Camara, who is averaging a double-double.  His best games came in a win at Holy Cross when he scored 14 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, and in the season opening win against Lyndon State when he scored 15 while pulling down 20 boards.  Camara is joined by Daniel Dion, who has scored in double-digits in four straight games, and was one of only a few bright spots in a 98-44 loss at SMU back on December 5.

The Dartmouth Big Green enter the game tonight with a record of 3-5, having gone 0-2 over the past week in a long road trip to Stanford and Cal State-Bakersfield.  Evan Boudreaux continues to lead the way for the Big Green including a 14 point effort in the loss earlier this week at Bakersfield.  However, the most important part of the Dartmouth team has not played a single minute all season.  Of course, we are talking about the Dartmouth mascot, perhaps the greatest mascot in the history of college athletics.  We are talking about Keggy the Keg.  When Keggy is there to cheer your teams on, even when you lose — you win!