First Preseason Magazine

It isn't even May June and first preseason magazine is out. Defending champion Penn is carrying the flag for the Ivy League at a surprising No. 13 ranking in the annual Athlon publication, now on grocery shelves everywhere.

It should be no surprise that Penn is the Ivy team getting the most love, but that the Quakers are starting out at No. 13 is a welcome show of respect for the Ancient Eight.

New Hampshire, which had been on the Big Green schedule for this fall until Sacred Heart bumped the Wildcats, is the only other current or recent Dartmouth opponent in the rankings, coming in at No. 14.

Defending national champion Villanova is No. 1.

Former Dartmouth assistant Pete Lembo has Elon at No. 6 in the Athlon rankings. Elon, by the way, is nicknamed the Phoenix and given Lembo's rebuilding success that seems fitting.

In the five years prior to Lembo's arrival, Elon went 14-42, winning as many as four games just one time. He's gone 29-17 with the Phoenix. Lembo's career record as a head coach at Elon and prior to that, at Lehigh:

Elon
2006 – 5-6
2007 – 7-4
2008 – 8-4
2009 – 9-3

Lehigh
2001 – 11-1
2002 – 8-4
2003 – 8-3
2004 – 9-3
2005 – 8-3

Career Total: 73-31 (.702)

Lembo coached tight ends and offensive tackles at Dartmouth and was on the staff when the Big Green went 10-0 in 1996. The 2001 Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year is also the answer to a trivia question he enjoys teasing people with:

Who played center at Georgetown between Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning?

The answer would be Lembo, and no, he's not 7-feet tall. But he was a Georgetown center. A football center. Trick question.

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Dartmouth defensive back Chad Hollis gives some "props" to former Big Green football players Chris Burns and Evan Nogay for their coaching of a sorority flag football team. Scroll to the end of this story in the Daily Dartmouth.

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How is Dartmouth baseball staying sharp in anticipation of the NCAA Tournament? The Daily Dartmouth has a story.

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Interesting story out of Princeton about how the school uses its waitlist. The Princetonian reports that perhaps 100 of the 900 applicants currently on the list will gain admission. Here's an excerpt from the story:

The admission office forms a committee to examine demographic deficiencies within the new class — academic, geographic and extracurricular — as students begin to matriculate and then turns to the waitlist to fill gaps, (Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye) said. “If we see that we need more electrical engineers or we’ve missed a few states or any instruments in the orchestra, we’ll go to the list. It’s really not that big given what we need to put together.”

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Kudos to the Hanover Green Machine youth baseball team for winning the Lebanon 3-Pitch Tournament over the weekend with a 6-1 record. It's a great group of kids that is a pure joy to coach. The Green Machine is 6-0 in league play at the midpoint of the season.

Like old friend Pete Lembo, the Green Machine is the answer to a pretty good trivia question: What youth baseball team has the sons of two former Olympians on the roster?