Athlete of the Week: Brady Merchant '03

As its captain, senior Brady Merchant was always expected to lead the Harvard men’s basketball team—just not in scoring.

But with All-Ivy senior shooting guard Patrick Harvey struggling, last year’s sixth man has become this season’s star.

The player Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said would “compete for a starting job” when the season opened now leads the Crimson with 15.6 points per game (ppg) and is leading Harvard (5-2) on its best season-opening stretch since 1997.

The 6’3 swingman is making noise on the court, and still saving some breath to instruct his team alongside it.

“He’s done a great job stepping into the top leadership role for us,” said freshman center Brian Cusworth. “He’s always the one who has the last word in the huddle. He’s the glue that keeps our team together.”

In both of the Crimson’s road wins this week—which improved its road record to 4-0—Merchant cashed in.

The Lebanon, Ohio native knocked down a school record-tying seven three-pointers on his way to a career-high 25 points in a triple-overtime, 85-82 defeat of Rider last Tuesday. The final trey broke a two-minute scoreless drought in the third overtime, providing an exhausted Harvard squad a much-needed jolt of energy. A minute later, senior point guard Elliott Prasse-Freeman drained the game-winning three-pointer.

Merchant followed his career performance with a team-high 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the Crimson’s 76-71 victory at Colgate last Friday. He finished the week with a statline (21.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 53.3 percent shooting) good enough to earn Ivy Player of the Week honors.

The numbers are even more spectacular considering Merchant’s ho-hum Harvard history. Before the season began, Merchant had not started a game since his freshman season. In 2001-2002, the senior averaged 7.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in just over 18 minutes of court time per game.

His production has more than doubled, but it’s still not good enough to surprise the teammates who elected him captain last spring.

“I watched him the last couple years come off the bench,” said senior center Brian Sigafoos, “and he’d score and give us great defense. This is really nothing new for him.”