"I'm not going to let it [a loss in the Dartmouth rematch] happen this time," said Harvard Coach Kathy Delaney-Smith defiantly on Saturday. "If I can do anything to prevent that I will."

Last year, Dartmouth staged one of the most dramatic season turnarounds in Ivy history. The Big Green started just 6-6, but finished the year 20-7 overall, and earned a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament--the highest seeding ever for an Ivy team. The season culminated with the team falling just short of an upset against defending national champion Purdue.

After the victory over Harvard that closed out the regular season, Courtney Banghart--Dartmouth's nationally-recognized three-point superstar who graduated last year--attributed the Big Green's amazing turnaround entirely to the rippling effect that the Harvard loss in January had on the team.

"As much as losing to Harvard is always a bad thing, it was the best thing that could have ever happened to our team," said Banghart, surrounded by a massive crowd of adoring grade-school girls while towing a bouquet of flowers for every record she had broken that night. "We changed everything. Everyone stepped up. We're just a whole different team now."

The graduation of Banghart, however, will make it difficult for Dartmouth to repeat its dramatic turnaround.

"I think [Dartmouth] is young, and they miss Courtney Banghart--not only for her ability to score, but she's an emotional leader for them," Delaney-Smith said. "I'm not sure who their emotional leader is."

The Harvard coach does, however, hope that the Big Green improves enough to deal some losses to the Crimson's rival opponents.