The Harvard men’s basketball team unveiled its 2015-2016 schedule on July 29 — one that features a challenging nonconference slate, including a matchup with Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 5.

After its annual Crimson Madness event in October and an exhibition contest against McGill on Nov. 6, Harvard will once again kick off its regular season against crosstown rival MIT on Nov. 13 at Lavietes Pavilion.

The Crimson will then be tested early and often, as the team will face regional foes Providence, UMass, and Boston College in consecutive games prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. The Friars reached the NCAA tournament as a No. 6 seed last season, while both Massachusetts teams pushed Harvard to the brink last year, as the Crimson just edged out the Minutemen, 75-73, and fell to the Eagles, 64-57, in overtime.

In December, Harvard will hit the road to take on two more opponents who reached the Big Dance last March: Northeastern (Dec. 2) and Kansas (Dec. 5). The Jayhawks, who earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament last season, will pose the biggest challenge for the Crimson since Virginia, who defeated Harvard by 49 points last December.

Following a hiatus for final exams, the team will head west, where it will compete in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu from Dec. 22 to Dec. 25. The Crimson has seen success in recent years at in-season tournaments, claiming titles at the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2011 and the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout in 2013.

In addition to BYU, who Harvard will face in the first round, the Crimson will be joined by Auburn, New Mexico, Northern Iowa, Oklahoma, Washington State, and host Hawaii at the holiday tournament. The bracket creates the potential for a rematch of the 2013 NCAA tournament contest between Harvard and New Mexico, in which the Crimson earned its first tournament win in team history.

When its nonconference schedule comes to a close, the Crimson will then have to work to defend its Ivy League title on a late season road trip against Columbia, Cornell, Yale, and Brown from Feb. 19 to Feb. 27.

The team’s Ancient Eight slate will officially begin at home on Jan. 9 against Dartmouth, who handed the Crimson one of its three conference losses during the 2014-2015 campaign. And it will wrap up on March 4 and 5, when Harvard hosts Princeton and Penn.

The Harvard football team’s quest for a third-straight Ivy League championship took a step forward this week when Ancient Eight media members picked the Crimson to finish atop the league.

Coming off a 10-0 season, Harvard garnered 11 of 17 first-place votes and 130 points overall. That was enough to push the Crimson in front of Dartmouth, which received four first-place nods and 116 total points. The Big Green finished second in the league last year.

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After taking a tour through three of America’s largest media markets, Linsanity has settled in one of the nation’s sleepiest metropolises.

Following stints in New York, Houston, and Los Angeles, former Harvard men's basketball standout Jeremy Lin ’10 signed a two-year, $4.37 million contract with the Charlotte Hornets last week.

Lin, who endured an up-and-down season in L.A. after being traded to the Lakers by the Rockets, told ESPN that he hopes to “get back” to his strengths in Charlotte.

“I want to get back to what makes me what I am as a player, which is being aggressive, being on the attack and always charging toward the rim,” Lin told ESPN. “I think that will help create easier shots for this team.”

Although Lin averaged double digits for a fourth consecutive season last year, he did so while shooting his lowest percentage from the field (42.4 percent) since his rookie stint with Golden State. With his minutes (25.8) the lowest they had been since his first year, Lin struggled as the primary weapon in sluggish Laker bench units, posting the highest usage rate since his time in New York while seeing his true shooting percentage drop by more than 4 percent.

The one bright spot last season was Lin’s increased accuracy from beyond the three-point line. The 26-year-old has increased his shooting percentage from behind the arc in each season of his professional career and will provide the Hornets with some much-needed spacing after shooting nearly 37 percent last year.

“I don’t know what my limit is or how good I can be, but my goal is to find out,” Lin told ESPN.

The Harvard men’s ice hockey team’s 2015-2016 holiday plans are set.

The Crimson will compete in the Notre Dame-hosted Shillelagh Tournament during Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 27-28) in South Bend, Ind., before ringing in the New Year at the University of Minnesota’s Mariucci Classic (Jan. 1-2) in Minneapolis.

While Harvard has yet to announce its official 2015-16 schedule, Notre Dame debuted its full schedule last week, and Minnesota debuted its schedule on Wednesday.

The Crimson will be a first-time participant in the Shillelagh Tournament, which Notre Dame has held five times since 2009. Harvard will face the Fighting Irish in the first-round Friday nightcap and will play either Western Michigan or Rensselaer the next day.

Harvard’s participation in the Mariucci Classic, meanwhile, will mark the team’s first appearance in the 25-year-old tournament since the 2004-2005 season and its fourth appearance overall. The Crimson will play Ferris State on New Year’s Day before meeting either Minnesota or UConn in either the final or consolation the next day.

The Shillelagh Tournament will be held at Notre Dame’s Compton Family Ice Arena (capacity: 5,022), where Nebraska-Omaha eliminated the Crimson in the first round of last year’s NCAA tournament. The Golden Gophers’ Mariucci Arena (capacity: 10,000) will host the Classic.

With the Crimson guaranteed to participate in the 64th annual Beanpot in February, the 2015-2016 season will be the first in which a Ted Donato-coached team will compete in three midseason tournaments. The tournaments will also allow Harvard to match up against teams from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and Big Ten—conferences that were unrepresented on the Crimson’s most recent regular season slate.

—Staff writer Michael D. Ledecky can be reached at michael.ledecky@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @mdledecky.

Former Harvard basketball standout Wesley Saunders will get his chance to play his way onto an NBA roster. According to reports from RealGM and SBNation, Saunders will play in the NBA Summer League next month as a member of the Utah Jazz.

Saunders, a three-time All-Ivy League first-teamer and the 2013-2014 Ivy League Player of the Year, was ranked 68th in the rising NBA draft class according to ESPN’s Chad Ford. But Saunders was not among the 60 prospects selected by NBA teams at Thursday’s draft.

According to an interview he gave to Hoops Rumors, Saunders scheduled workouts with the 76ers, Hawks, Clippers, Bulls, Knicks, Bucks, Magic, and Mavericks in the weeks leading up to the draft.

The Jazz were not mentioned, but Saunders will suit up for Salt Lake City in just a matter of weeks nonetheless. Utah will play six games this summer in addition to a tournament at the end of the short season.

The 6’5” wing averaged 16.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game in his senior season, carrying the Crimson to its fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. In his final taste of tournament action, Saunders recorded 26 points and five assists, nearly willing Harvard to an upset over heavily favored North Carolina.

Now as he shifts his attention towards the professional ranks, Saunders has an opportunity very similar to the one that another Crimson basketball standout took advantage of in 2010.

After going undrafted, Jeremy Lin ’10 received an invite to play in the Summer League from the Dallas Mavericks. Then after averaging 9.8 points and 18.6 minutes over four games, Lin earned the attention of the Golden State Warriors, who signed the guard to a deal at the end of July.

All 30 NBA teams will have the opportunity to sign the wing at the conclusion of the summer league. Saunders will get his first chance to make his case on July 6 against the Boston Celtics.

—Check TheCrimson.com and follow @THCSports for updates.