King James Bible: Don’t Look Past Crimson

If you’ve been reading any Ivy League men’s basketball previews, you’ve probably been seeing statements that run along these lines.

“After the loss of its five seniors, Harvard has only two players left who have seen or touched a basketball before.”

“The Crimson basketball team will come in seventh…in the B-league IM basketball tournament.”

“Play basketball? Harvard doesn’t have enough talent to run the concession stand.”

Maybe the critics have a point. The five seniors who were supposed to lead the Crimson to the upper-echelon of the Ivy League last year could only muster a 4-10 league record and a 12-15 mark overall.

Now, Harvard has even younger players—no-names that wouldn’t even ring a bell if you had a roster sitting in front of you. So it should follow that the Crimson will be worse than last year.

That’s where the logic falls apart.

How can you judge a group of players whom you’ve never seen play except in garbage time? Experience may be valuable—and Harvard definitely lacks it—but talent is even more important. And no one, not even coach Frank Sullivan himself, knows how talented this team is.

“I would think people would pick us in the bottom half only because there’s so much unknown and there are some teams with a lot of All-Ivy players coming back,” Sullivan said.

What if those unknowns realize their potential? What if Kevin Rogus plays strong defense to complement his deadly-accurate jump shot? What if Brian Cusworth returns from injury to become a menace in the paint, blocking shots, snatching rebounds and tantalizing opponents with a tricky hook shot? What if Matt Stehle and Michael Beal continue to perform like they did in the exhibition game Nov. 9?

If those pieces fall into place, the Ivy League will have no choice but to take notice. If the Crimson can realize its talent, it will be able to stick with teams and keep games close down the stretch. That will play directly into Harvard’s strength—its depth.

One of the major problems with last year’s team was that it couldn’t finish. By the time the end of the game rolled around, the starters were so exhausted that they would fall victim to late surges by fresher opponents.

This year the Crimson has a deeper, more experienced and more talented bench that should allow the starters to stay rested, increasing their ability to close out games that fatigued seniors surrendered last season.

And then there’s the whole expectations thing. Last year, Harvard was picked as one of the first-half surprises by ESPN.com. Heading into the Ivy portion of its schedule, the Crimson appeared poised to break the Penn-Princeton death lock on the conference title. Then, the wheels fell off the wagon.

This year is shaping up to be the exact opposite. Harvard has a slightly more ambitious non-conference schedule. Combine that with the fact that Cusworth might not see significant minutes until late December, and the Crimson could find itself well under .500 heading into the Ivy season.

The rest of the teams in the Ivies might begin to treat Harvard like they treat Columbia. But the Crimson will be twelve games more mature and cohesive as a unit regardless of its record, it will have its star player back and it could use the shelter of the underdog to shock some people.

Of course, the previews don’t take that into account. They don’t examine each team and speculate on what could logically develop throughout the season. Previews sell; their content doesn’t.

“There was a time when those [college basketball preview] magazines would call you,” Sullivan said. “They would want to know who’s on the court, who’s doing what, what the league looks like. Then, they would draw up a consensus of opinion. Now, the magazine racket is all driven by one thing—first on the market. They don’t have time to bother with the Ivy League.”

For those of you who remain unconvinced—those of you that will consider this season a success if Harvard can just sweep Columbia—I’ll be waiting to see the expression on your face when this team far exceeds your lowly expectations.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.