BASKETBALL '08 SUPPLEMENT: The Missing Link

Even the most hard-hearted of observers would have begrudged forward Pat Magnarelli a little pity after the hardships of his last two seasons, as he found out the hard way that the only thing tougher than losing is feeling powerless to stop it.

The woeful tale begins in 2006, when Magnarelli, a bright-eyed freshman, was eager to get on the court and begin contributing to the team. During the preseason, however, he was stopped straight in his tracks.

His obstacle was not an opposing player, but instead something much more innocuous—his back. Magnarelli suffered a stress-fractured vertebra and was placed into a back brace.

He did not make an appearance on the court for most of the year, until, due to injuries to several of his teammates, he had to play the last nine games of the year in the highly-restricting brace.

As the 2007-08 season rapidly approached, Magnarelli’s role as an up-and-coming sophomore looking to make up for lost time was full of promise.

“During the offseason I got back,” Magnarelli says. “I was ready to go at the beginning of last year.”

And for the first portion of the season, he proved that he was back to full strength.

He started all but one of the Crimson’s non-league games, notching his first double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds in a Nov. 11 win against Northwestern State on 8-of-9 shooting and four offensive boards to go with two steals.

In the team’s incredible win over Michigan Dec. 1, Magnarelli played an integral role in securing the victory.

He played 37 minutes and put up 11 points and seven rebounds, scoring the eventual game-winning basket and adding a timely steal in the final minutes of play.

Continuing his run, he reached career-highs of 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting and 12 rebounds in 34 minutes at Long Island on Dec. 13.

In the team’s Ivy-opening win over Dartmouth Jan. 5, he poured in 17 points in just 20 minutes—his 11th double-digit scoring effort of the season.

Colgate fared no better against him three days later, giving up his fourth double-double of the season with 21 points (7-12 FG, 7-8 FT) and 11 rebounds, five of which came on the offensive glass.

But the promise of his season of redemption was decisively broken in the opening minute of play in a loss to Dartmouth on Jan. 11, when Magnarelli dislocated his knee.

“When it went down, I knew it was going to be bad, because I couldn’t put any pressure on it,” Magnarelli says.

He did not play in the team’s final 12 games.

Missing its starting forward’s consistency on both ends of the court, Harvard went 2-10 during that stretch to close out the year with a dismal 8-22 record overall.

At the time, Magnarelli had been leading the team with 6.3 rebounds per game and was second with 10.8 points per game, production that certainly could have helped avoid its eventual fate—a last-place finish in the Ivy League while going 0-15 on the road.

“I think Pat is going to be a big part of any success that we are going to have,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker says. “It was no secret that we struggled without him.”

And so today, Magnarelli, once again at full health, prepares to embark on his junior season. He seems to have put his numerous setbacks in perspective.

“It’s hard to say it, but I think it’s made me stronger as an individual—having to overcome these injuries and overcome some losing seasons,” Magnarelli says. “You deal with it and take it as it is and try to move on afterwards.”

He will most likely return to Harvard’s starting lineup, bringing to the squad his unique blend of athleticism and court smarts.

“He’s a really good passer for a post player,” Amaker says. “He has great basketball savvy and IQ.”

As one of the more experienced players on the team, Magnarelli’s low-post presence is needed now more than ever.

“I anticipate that he’s going to have a big role for our team,” Amaker says.

Magnarelli’s main goal is to lead the team to an Ivy title, but he has another, more individual goal.

“I would like to be the leading rebounder in the Ivy League,” Magnarelli says.

If all goes according to plan, the recipient of pity this time won’t be Magnarelli, but rather opposing teams’ frontcourts.