California Dreamin': Men's Hoops Ready to Tip Off

The Harvard men’s basketball team will open its season this weekend under the California sun facing a formidable triple threat of non conference teams at Stanford’s Basketball Traveler’s Classic in Palo Alto.

The Crimson will face Pac-10 postseason perennial Stanford Friday and UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), the media’s pick to win the Big West title, Saturday. A Sunday day game against Louisiana’s Northwestern State University (NSU) will round out the tournament.

Last season, the team excelled in non-conference away games, taking wins in five of eight tries. This weekend, however, the Crimson will face some of this season’s toughest opponents without the help of senior forward Brad Unger. A foot injury will keep the captain on the bench for the season’s opening weekend.

“I did it October 12. First they said 3-4 weeks, then they said 4-6 weeks,” Unger said, speculating about his return date. “Friday will be four weeks, so I’m hoping that it will be soon after that.”

This injury, coupled with the strength of the opposition, is cause for concern in the Crimson camp.

“What we were trying to accomplish with adding Stanford and the preseason tournament, it sounded great six months ago,” head coach Tommy Amaker said on the eve of his Harvard debut. “But now that we’re a few days away and knowing we have such a long way to go with the team and we’re unhealthy, maybe it wasn’t such a great idea.”

Amaker had hoped that a tournament that headlined match-ups of such quality could energize the program.

“All the things that it brings, we think these games can add a lot to our program, provide a lot of value,” Amaker said.

Agreeing with the spirit of the preseason addition, Unger added, “I think everybody is a lot more excited to be playing in a preseason tournament, that’s something that we haven’t done before. It’s nice to get more games on the schedule. So I think guys are really looking forward to that.”

Stanford will enter the weekend still high off its hard-won 82-70 preseason victory over Concordia University on Tuesday.

Happy to be picked fifth in the always-competitive Pac-10, the Cardinal will return its entire starting lineup, which last year secured Stanford’s 14th consecutive postseason appearance. The team fell to Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in March.

Sophomore Brook Lopez, after being named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team and making 18 starts last year, will not join the squad this weekend due to academic ineligibility.

Harvard will still have its hands full with Stanford’s returning top five scorers, led by Lawrence Hill, who led the team with 15.7 points per game last season.

“It’s a great opportunity. Stanford’s a great team. Pac-10. Anytime we get to play a big time team like that, it’s an opportunity that you look forward to,” Unger said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to make something happen.”

Last time the Crimson faced the Cardinal, Harvard fell hard 100-59 on December 28th 2003. Harvard began that season 0-11.

Sophomore Jeremy Lin put a positive spin on the lopsided matchup against No. 21: “They are ranked in the top-25 right now, so it’s the perfect opportunity to get a big upset when no one expects it. I think it’s going to be a great environment, I think it’s the absolute perfect time to come up with a big win, a big upset with no one expecting anything from us.”

Saturday’s game against UCSB will hold its own challenges.

The Gauchos have been picked to win the Big West regular season title after coming off a record-setting season last year. The team posted 18 regular season wins, the most since 1992.

Senior guard Alex Harris is the UCSB player to watch as he returns after one of the program’s best junior seasons in history. He averaged 21.1 points per game last year leading the Big West on that count.

Last Thursday the squad beat Cal State Dominguez Hills 61-57 despite missing half their shots in the first half and hitting only 5-28 in the second half.

Last time Harvard met UCSB, it dropped a 85-61 rout. It was December 27th, 1968. Harvard hopes that nearly forty years will be enough time to turn the tables in its favor.

“Hopefully we’ll get some wins. That’s the main thing to take away,” junior guard Drew Housman said. “Hopefully we’ll get to see where we’re at as a team and see how our offense works, how are defense works, how we play well together. If we come out of there with three wins, that would be an awesome start to the season.”

NSU won’t go quietly, either. The Demons come into this season as the defending Southland Conference East Division champion for the 3rd year straight. After winning both its exhibition games, NSU is primed for the weekend’s action. The two teams have never played.

“We’re going out there to compete,” junior forward Evan Harris said. “It’s not just a trip out to Cali, we’re going there to win.”

For some of the Harvard team, this will be a trip home.

“I’m from where Stanford is, my high school is across the street. We’re trying to get a package deal with a couple hundred tickets.” Lin said. “So my coach and all the fans who followed our high school team will all be there. I got my best friends and family coming into town. I’m looking forward to it, I can’t wait to see everyone again.”

Housman and Harris will also have family and friends coming up from Southern California to pull for the Crimson.

Ultimately, this West Coast swing could prove to be an opportunity for heroics, or it could work as a progress check for the team heading into the season.

“We’re hoping that it can give us a barometer of where we are at this point.” Amaker said.