SEASON RECAP: Historic Season for Men’s Hoops

The 2009-10 season put Harvard men’s basketball on the map. Guided by a bona fide college hoops star, some precocious freshmen, and a coach of blue-blooded pedigree, the Crimson enjoyed the finest season in its history—a basketball genesis that was met with national (and oftentimes international) media exposure. Ultimately, Harvard (21-8, 10-4 Ivy) once again fell short of an Ivy League title, but in the process it established a new benchmark for Crimson basketball.

“Our kids are proud of the body of work that has been put in for this season,” Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. “I was very proud of this group—the way this team played together, the style, the identity of this group. They embodied what we want to see in a Harvard basketball team.”

The Crimson opened the season with a pair of nonconference wins over Holy Cross and William and Mary, the second coming on a triple-overtime buzzer-beater from co-captain Jeremy Lin that found its way onto ESPN’s SportsCenter.

From that point forward, the Crimson cruised through the rest of its non-conference schedule, picking up wins over the likes of Boston College, George Washington, and Rice. Harvard’s only hiccups were a 16-point drubbing at Georgetown, a three-point defeat at Army, and a narrow six-point loss at UConn.

Against the Huskies, Lin raised eyebrows with an impressive stat line of 30 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

After the nonconference slate ended, attention turned to the race for the Ivy League title. With perhaps the strongest field in its history, the Ancient Eight had three contenders—all of which won at least 21 games—in Cornell, Princeton, and Harvard. The Crimson cruised in most of its 10 conference wins, with an 82-79 overtime thriller at Yale and a 67-66 comeback at Penn as the only tight contests.

But against its top challengers—the Big Red and the Tigers—Harvard was not so lucky.

Princeton eked out a pair of three-point victories both in Cambridge and at home, in which last-second three-point attempts fell short for the Crimson.

“I definitely wish we could have picked up those two wins against Princeton,” said freshman forward Kyle Casey of what he considered the season’s biggest disappointment. “We dropped the ball there.”

The two contests against Cornell were also disappointing. In the first game in Ithaca, the highly-anticipated matchup turned into a 36-point blowout as the Big Red simply dominated Harvard.

The Crimson sought revenge on its home court a few weeks later, but once again Cornell prevailed, 79-70, after shooting better than 50 percent from beyond the arc.

Although Harvard was not able to hang a championship banner in Lavietes Pavilion, it managed to play in its first postseason tournament since 1946, winning a bid to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

In its first-round matchup against Appalachian State, the Crimson came out on fire, building up a 12-point lead. But the team soon fell flat, and the Mountaineers coasted to a 93-71 victory, ending Harvard’s historic season on a sour note.

When all was said and done, the Crimson improved on the previous year’s record of 14-14 (6-8 Ivy) and set a program best for wins in a season.

“All in all, I thought the season went really well,” Casey said. “A lot of highs, a few lows, but I thought we did a good job.”

Harvard’s quick turnaround was due in part to the healthy return of its big men.

The other boon for the Crimson was its freshmen. The core four of Casey, Brandyn Curry, Christian Webster, and Dee Giger vaulted the squad to the top tier of the Ivy League.

“They had to earn everything, and they did,” Amaker said of his freshmen. “We’re very high on those guys—all of them. Very pleased with what they were able to bring to our program on a first-year basis.”

Though Harvard came up short of its ultimate goal, the Crimson felt it left nothing in its tank.

“No regrets—I think that’s the one thing that I don’t have,” Lin said. “Throughout the entire process, I made sure, and the guys that I played with made sure, that no matter what happened, we would put our best effort forth. I can honestly say that we gave everything that we could and we tried our best.”

Lin’s graduation marks the end of an era, but with the league wide open next season, the Crimson has the pieces in place to make another run at its first-ever Ivy League championship.

—Staff writer Timothy J. Walsh can be reached at twalsh@fas.harvard.edu.