While most students will take time off and head home this month for Spring Break, March will also provide a number of Crimson athletes with some of their most crucial matchups.Here's a look at some of the games that could have major implications for Harvard Athletics.
March 2nd: Men’ and Women’s College Squash Association Individual Championship
Both men’s and women’s squash will compete in this pinnacle event of individual intercollegiate squash. The men will play in Hanover while the women will be in Amherst, Mass. Watch out for freshman Amanda Sobhy who is considered to be one of the best women’s collegiate squash players of all-time, having beaten last years national women’s champion, 11-1,11-3,11-1. On the men’s side, look for Ali Farag (11-0) who was ranked the No. 1 junior player in the world last year.
March 2nd-3rd: Women’s Water Polo at the Harvard Invitational
Look forward to three of Harvard's four home games of the season; The Crimson will first play coach Ted Minnis' alma mater, San Jose State, at 7pm on the 2nd. On the 3rd, the team will face Princeton and Bucknell, at 11:40 and 7:00p.m, respectively.
March 2nd-3rd: Men's Basketball vs. Columbia and Cornell
After Penn’s victory against Harvard in late February, Harvard is no longer assured a ticket to the NCAA tournament. This pairing of games will determine the Crimson's fate. With two wins, Harvard will be guaranteed a share of the Ivy title; with two loses, however, Harvard will likely be out of the running for the tournament. In addition, depending on the success of other conference teams in this last weekend of the season, the Ivy title could be split in a variety of ways in the end. Overall, March 2nd and 3rd will determine the fate of the Crimson's bid to the NCAA tournament, as well as the Ivy title.
March 2nd -3rd: ECAC Women's hockey semifinals
Harvard women’s hockey (22-8-1) swept Princeton in the ECAC quarterfinals at the end of February, 5-4, 5-3. It now heads to the ECAC semifinals in Ithaca, N.Y. where it will play St. Lawrence (22-9-4). A victory in the ECAC Tournament will earn the Crimson an automatic seed in the NCAA tournament later in March.
March 6th: Women’s Lacrosse vs. James Madison
Women’s lacrosse (1-0) will play against James Madison at home at 3:30p.m on the 6th. James Madison (2-1), an historically challenging Harvard rival, is currently ranked 13th in the nation. This match should be a good indication of the Crimson's strength going into the season. It should also be a good warm-up for the rest of the month, which features matchups with ranked teams Penn, Johns Hopkins, and Boston College.
March 9th-11th: ECAC Men’s Hockey Quarterfinals
Harvard Men’s Hockey, currently 3rd in the Eastern College Athletics Conference, will start in earnest its journey to the 2012 Championships in Atlantic City. The teams will be arranged such that the best out of three games will move on to the semi-finals on Mar. 16. With Harvard’s win in late February against Clarkson (3-2) after a rough start, the Crimson secured a bye directly into the quarterfinals. Look for top players senior Alex Killorn, and juniors Danny Biega and Alex Fallstrom to bring Harvard to victory.
March 27th: Men’s Lacrosse vs. Massachusetts
Coming off an already great start to the season, Harvard men’s lacrosse (2-0) will take on the 8th-ranked University of Massachusetts (3-0). Although not a conference game, a win against the Minutemen would give the Crimson momentum continuing its season and its subsequent games against Michigan and Cornell.
March 30th: Women’s Softball
Looking towards a busy March, Harvard will play its 18th game this season against Cornell. After two years of meeting in the season-closing championship series, with the Big Red winning in 2010 and the Crimson taking the championship last year, it will be interesting to see how comparable the teams are this year. With Cornell losing record-holding pitcher Elizabeth Dalrymple to graduation last year, we will have to wait to see which team will triumph in 2012.
Just as The Back Page wrote last week, Jeremy Lin ’10 is quickly jumping up the list of Harvard’s most notable alumni. But, just as every media outlet reminds its audience every article, broadcast, or interview, the path hasn’t always been easy for Lin. Therefore, we at TBP had the idea to make Lin’s journey from Crimson bench player to the next NBA human-highlight reel as accessible as possible. So here it is, a Lineage of the point guard’s road from number four to number 17, resident of Harvard Yard to owner of a Trump Tower apartment.
The Jeremy LINeage Part II:
(Continued)
There’s no question that Jeremy Lin ’10 has created a financial bonanza for the New York Knicks. Lin’s jersey has quickly become the hottest-selling item in the NBA, and the stock price of Madison Square Garden skyrocketed following the start of Linsanity. In fact, by February 13th, Lin was branded a fourteen million dollar man. He drew global attention to the franchise; suddenly everybody was a Knicks fan.
But in addition to his immense marketing draw, Lin has also been one of the best bargains in the NBA this season.
With a salary of just $762, 195—small change by NBA standards—Lin has averaged 14.6 points per game, currently 63rd best in the league.
Extrapolate that production over the whole strike-shortened 66-game season, and we find that Lin earns $790.99 per point scored.
When we compared that with some of the biggest names in the NBA, the difference was stark. LeBron James earns $8,860 for every point he scores. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant takes home $13,420 for each of his points, while San Antonio’s Tim Duncan and Boston’s Kevin Garnett are both paid over $20,000 per point —a figure greater than 220 J-Lin jerseys.
The Boston Celtics are next on the calendar for the Knicks and their underpaid, highly hyped point guard, who will be returning to the city where he first became a star. And although the Lin jerseys have been selling just as well in Boston, we will have to wait until Sunday afternoon to see if the notoriously devout Celtics fans have completely bought in to Linsanity.
This Friday, the Harvard men's basketball team will seek redemption as it travels to the Big Apple to take on Columbia. We caught up with the Columbia Daily Spectator's Michele Cleary and Zach Glubiak to get the inside scoop on Lions basketball.
What can Harvard expect from Columbia on Friday?
ZG: To be honest, I would expect the Lions to come out full of energy this Friday. Head coach Kyle Smith and several of his players called the loss to Brown last Saturday their worst performance of the season, and with all of the hype surrounding Friday's game, Levien Gymnasium should be buzzing with excitement. On the court, it's really a matter of whether the Lions can get back to their bread and butter—tough defense and an opportunistic offense. I think a lot will hinge around the play of center Mark Cisco. If he can get going and avoid foul trouble, Columbia is a far more dynamic team.
(Continued)
February, known for its romantic holiday, did not show much love for former Harvard standout Jeremy Lin ’10, as the latest New York Knicks point guard faced several tough tests against both rookie and veteran opposition. But it did mark the beginning of a brand new romance between New York and Lin, who has taken the city—and the globe—by a storm with his out-of-nowhere and much-needed emergence at the point-guard position. Let's take a look back at the point guards who have had their try at stopping Linsanity and determine who got the best of whom:
Deron Williams (Nets, twice: Feb. 4 W, 99-92; Feb. 20 L 100-92)
Lin: 25 points, 7 assists, 10-19 FG, 1 TO
This was where it all started. Feeling his tenure coming to an abrupt close, Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni took a gamble against New Jersey and put in Lin, then the fourth-string point guard. The Harvard grad proceeded to run circles around a Nets defense that was completely unaware of Lin’s speed and passing ability. Lin outplayed All-Star Deron Williams, who scored 21 points and posted 11 assists, to help the Knicks avoid a third consecutive loss.
Lin: 21 points, 9 assists, 7-18 FG, 3 TO
Williams came into this matchup with a chip on his shoulder, and it showed. The Nets point guard put up a season-high 38 points against Lin and led his underachieving team to an unexpected win at Madison Square Garden.
Winner: Williams created Linsanity, but he also put down his own creation. But, as everyone has credited him with starting the newest NBA sensation, it seems like he will live with this forever. Lin takes this matchup…barely.
(Continued)
