BASKETBALL '06: Two for the Show

Russell had Cousy. Kareem had Magic. And it was always Stockton to Malone.

The deadly point-to-center combo historically produces basketball’s greatest.

But a couple of guards from Harvard University are looking to change this fate.

Meet captain shooting guard Jim Goffredo and sophomore point guard Drew Housman: the Ivy League version of basketball’s dynamic duo.

With the captain knocking down threes while looking to lead the team in scoring, and the young point guard creating and distributing, the two seem poised to spark the Crimson—with backcourt dominance.

“We potentially have two all-league players at the one and two [positions], with [Goffredo] and [Housman],” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan says. “So while we’re young, I think we can be good.”

Goffredo will be the primary target in this lethal combination—both for Housman and for his Ivy League opponents.

As a result of the captain’s breakout season last year, Housman will be focusing on getting Goffredo the ball, especially after senior Brian Cusworth’s eligibility runs out at the end of January. With Cusworth out of the lineup, there will be even more pressure on Goffredo to produce as he did from the start of his junior year.

This past season, Goffredo exploded onto the Ivy radar when he tallied an Ivy League season-best 33 points in the team’s first Ivy game, a win over Dartmouth.

En route to finishing second on the team in points and first with a 14.9 ppg average, he was a constant threat from long range, Only Cornell’s Adam Gore had more three-point field goals than Goffredo’s 62 among Ivy shooters.

But with great skill comes great defensive pressure.

As last season’s conference schedule progressed, and as Goffredo continued to improve, he was no longer a surprise in the Ivies—he was a threat. Teams focused on shutting him down, and up until the team’s last tilt, a victory over Columbia in which he scored 22, they were generally successful.

This year will be no different—but Goffredo is more prepared for the challenge.

“I worked a lot this summer on my pull-up game and getting to the basket off the dribble,” Goffredo says. “I worked a lot on getting my own shot off, and we got a lot of good plays in to make [this happen].”

And Housman will be at the center of this effort. With the difficult transition from high school to college point guard behind him, he is ready to take charge of the team—to do that which the best point guards like Jason Kidd and Steve Nash do: make himself and those around him better.

What is most impressive about Housman is that he has already begun to tackle this next challenge. While emerging as one of the top-two Ivy freshman along with Gore, Housman was second in the Ivies with 3.04 assists per game, showing that he has already vaulted into that upper echelon of Ivy point guards.

“[Housman] last year made a tremendous transition to college basketball—[point guard] is the hardest position to come into college and play as a freshman,” Sullivan says. “He made great progress, and now I think he’s ready to take that next step—to make other guys better.”

If the young guard capably takes this next step, it will translate into more open shots for Goffredo, and if last year is any indication, the captain will not disappoint. As he showed in going 8-of-10 from downtown in a game against the Big Green last season, Goffredo has the ability to go off at any point. As a result, this three-point specialist will look to cash in on Housman’s increased ability to lead the team.

But what will help the duo’s chemistry all the more took place far away from Lavietes Pavilion, Boston, or even New England.

Think sandy beaches and sunny weather versus cobblestone streets and cold rain. Housman and Goffredo, who both hail from California, played on the same summer-league team outside of L.A. over the past two seasons. And as this new duo’s production depends on their chemistry, this extra training together was priceless.

“We have a good mix with me and Drew coming back in the backcourt,” Goffredo says. “We have a great chemistry and I think we know each other really well, even better than we did last year.”

The two guards will need this developing interplay to assure the duo’s—and Harvard’s—success this year.

Goffredo will have a target on his back once again. Housman is arguably the top pure point guard returning to the Ivies. The league knows what to expect.

But if the media’s prediction of a 7th-place Ivy finish for the Crimson this year is any indication, maybe the league does not know what to expect from the two in combination.

Last season, Goffredo shocked the league with his breakout, but the Crimson still fell short of its goal.

In 2006-2007, the combined force of Goffredo and Housman will look to surprise the Ivies with their team’s success.

“[After last year] and last summer, we know where we are, where we like the ball on the court, and we feel its going to carry over,” Housman says. “I don’t see why we wouldn’t have a chance this year with us in the backcourt.”

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.