Harvard Basketball?
January 25th 2011 20:00
Harvard Basketball
When someone attends an Ivy League school, academics come first. However, in the past few years, they have shown they can play basketball, too.
Last season, the Cornell Big Red put together a team that rivaled many top programs in the nation. They had a go-to-guy in Ryan Wittman, a tough point guard in Louis Dale, and a big man in the post in Jeff Foote. They had all the necessary players to make a run in the Ivy League. The real question was – what could they do in the NCAA tournament?
Cornell was given a 12 seed in the tournament and ended up beating fifth seeded Temple, then fourth seeded Wisconsin. The next game against Kentucky proved to be too much when the John Wall led Wildcats used their athleticism and pace to take it to Cornell. The Big Red made a great run and bowed out in the sweet sixteen.
Other than Cornell, the Ivy League has been dominated by two other teams for awhile now – Penn and Princeton. Unlike most other conferences, the Ivy League does not have a conference tournament at the end of the season. The team with the best conference record in the regular season is given an NCAA tournament birth.
Is it finally Harvard’s turn? For a school that is known for fine tuning some of the smartest people mankind has ever seen, the fact that Harvard hasn't reached the NCAA tournament since the 1945-46 season isn't so far-fetched, but that may be changing.
Jeremy Lin was the heart and soul of the Harvard team that finished 21-8 last season and 10-4 in the Ivy League. Losing Lin to the pros would seem like a loss that many Harvard teams in the past wouldn’t be able to rebound from, but not this season.
The Crimson are 13-3 so far this season with losses at George Mason (15-5), at Michigan (11-9), and at UCONN (16-2). Their biggest win came at Boston College by a score of 78-69.
Former Michigan head coach and now Harvard head coach, Tommy Amaker has a well balanced group this season with five of his players averaging at least nine points per game. Big man Keith Wright is averaging 14.3 PPG and 8.3 RPG, to go along with his 58.6 FG percentage.
Freshmen G Laurent Rivard has been huge for the Crimson off the bench this season by contributing 12.6 PPG and sports one of the best free throw percentages in the NCAA at 93.3 percent.
G Christian Webster is averaging 13.7 PPG and G Oliver McNally is pitching in 10.6 PPG. Both are having their best college season’s thus far and continue to get better for a Harvard team that has multiple scoring options.
Harvard can compete with any team in the Ivy League, but can they win it? The conference seems wide open with four front runners in Harvard, Columbia, Yale, and Princeton. All have legit shots at winning the title and going to the NCAA tournament.
Prediction: 9-3 the rest of the way to finish at 22-6 (11-3) and having to have a one game playoff at a neutral site with Princeton. Harvard wins this game and goes to the tournament as a 14 seed and loses in the first round.
Harvard: Facebook, smart people, Tom Green? Soon to be basketball?
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