The awards keep pouring in for Harvard men's basketball coach Tommy Amaker.
Last week, Amaker was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Coach of the Year for District 13, which composes New England. That distinction came just days after he was tabbed as the United States Basketball Writers Association of America (USBWA) District I Coach of the Year.
Amaker is also a nominee for two prestigious coaching awards that will be announced this weekend. He is one of 21 finalists for the Ben Jobe Award, given annually to the top minority coach in Division I men’s basketball and is also one of 21 finalists for the Hugh Durham Award, presented each year to the top mid-major coach in Division I.
Both honors will be announced Friday at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet in New Orleans, La. on the eve of the Final Four.
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Jeremy Lin and the Knicks got back on track at Madison Square Garden on Saturday against the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons stayed within close range for most of the first three quarters, but New York pulled away in the fourth to cruise to a 101-79 victory.
Lin scored 13 points in 24 minutes and finished with three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
His seven turnovers led the team, which finished with 17. Detroit held a 23-20 edge in points off turnovers.
The game marks the fourth in five nights and the sixth win in the past seven games for New York.
The Knicks will be back in action on Monday night against Milwaukee. Last time New York played the squad there were significant playoff implications. In that match up, the ailing Knicks narrowly lost their fourth consecutive road game in a game where Lin also committed plenty of turnovers. With the loss, the Bucks inched to two games behind the Knicks for the eight and final playoff spot in the east.
Since then, the Knicks have gone 6-3, while Milwaukee has made up ground. The Bucks, who are currently one game behind eighth place, have the chance to overtake their competitors and establish momentum in Monday’s matchup.
With both teams peaking at the right time, the game will surely be an entertaining opportunity for Lin and the Knicks to show off their game. It should also give the new-look Knicks a taste of a playoff-like atmosphere.
It’s been a crazy year for Harvard athletics. Titles, both Ivy (football, men’s basketball, women’s soccer) and national (Rebecca Nadler, Ali Farag, Amanda Sohby) poured into Cambridge at an unprecedented rate in the year’s first two seasons. Can the run continue in the spring? That remains to be seen, but a handful of squads look posed to claim—or, in some cases, defend—Ancient Eight crowns. We break it all down in this week’s Power Rankings.
5. Women’s Lacrosse (2-4, 0-2 Ivy)
After two victories in its first three outings, including a 9-8 double-overtime win against No. 13 James Madison, the women’s lacrosse team has struggled of late. Currently on a three-game skid, the Crimson has a chance to reverse its current streak and notch its first conference win on Saturday against a middling Yale squad. Co-captain midfield Melanie Baskind and junior midfield Danielle Tetrault each have 10 goals so far, tops for a squad that averages 8.50 scores a game.
4. Men’s Lacrosse (3-3, 1-0 Ivy)
After coming into the season with a top-20 national ranking and what some believed was the best recruiting class in Ivy League history, the men’s lacrosse team split its opening six contests. Despite the run-of-the-mill start, perhaps no Crimson athlete has been more dominant this spring than senior Jeff Cohen. The attackman has tallied 23 goals this season, and his 3.83 goals per game was tied for second best in Division I lacrosse through March 18.
3. Men’s Volleyball (13-3, 5-2 EIVA)
Oh, how the times have changed. Through 16 contests at this point last year, the men’s volleyball team was 7-9 and in the midst of a six-game skid. Fast forward to 2012, and the Crimson holds a 13-3 mark and has won eight of nine. The one loss in that span? To Pepperdine, then ranked eighth in the country. Harvard sits at second in the conference standings, a half game up on St. Francis.
2. Softball (10-4)
The rust showed in the Harvard softball team’s first matchups of the season as the squad dropped three of five at the South Florida Tournament. But over spring break, the Crimson found its 2011 form and steamrolled to eight victories in nine tries. And so far, last year’s biggest stars are shining again. Sophomore third baseman Kasey Lange, the defending Ivy League Rookie of the Year, currently sports a .400 batting average along with three home runs, 12 RBI, and a 1.711 OPS. In the circle, senior Rachel Brown has made hitters look silly and boasts a miniscule 0.64 ERA.
1. Men’s Tennis (14-1)
No Harvard team is hotter right now than men’s tennis. Having won 14 of 15, including 10 in a row, the Crimson captured the ECAC Division I Indoor Team Championship and the Hilton Mission Valley Spring Classic, bested No. 16 University of San Diego, and leapt into the national rankings at the No. 16 spot. The Crimson will begin its quest for yet another honor—the Ivy League title—on April 7, when the squad travels up to Ithaca, N.Y. to face off against Cornell in Harvard’s Ivy opener.
UPDATED: March 26, 2012, at 1:55 a.m.
Nothing went right for the New York Knicks Friday night as Jeremy Lin and his teammates dropped their first game under new coach Mike Woodson against the Toronto Raptors, 96-79.
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Long walks around Legoland and Disney World, intense blowgun fights, bike rides along Venice Beach and crashing in Tommy Lee Jones’ private barn—perhaps not how you would have expected Crimson athletes to spend their spring breaks. But when we caught up with some of Harvard’s spring season athletes, we found that most of them were able to enjoy a mixture of business and pleasure over last week’s recess.
While crew endured two-a-day practices on the Charles, many Crimson teams chose to compete on the road. Men’s volleyball, men’s tennis, women’s water polo and softball all hit up California for the break, while the polo team and baseball chose to take advantage of the Sunshine State. And that’s just to name a few.
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