Harvard asserts itself in the opening weekend of Ivy League play

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The first full weekend of Ivy League play is in the books, and one thing that wasn’t too surprising happened: the league favorites asserted themselves as just that. Harvard looked like a team on a mission, and coming away with two convincing road wins is what was desired.

“I think it’s a team on a mission this year,” said junior Kyle Casey, who led Harvard with 20 points and eight rebounds in Saturday’s 68-59 win at Brown. “Last year, we got down early, and being a veteran team, we learned from those experiences and tried to nip them in the bud.”

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Harvard continues to live dangerously in Ivy League opener

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard improved to 13-2 on Saturday by winning the first Ivy League game of the season. While the bottom line is all positive, the Crimson also lived dangerously for a while, more so than the 16-point final margin of victory might lead one to believe. Saturday’s game is not an isolated event, and with the full remaining slate of Ivy League games not far away, that is a concern for this team.

The Crimson didn’t start slowly, but Dartmouth was able to hang around and then took a seven-point lead early in the second half as they won the first four minutes coming out of the locker room. With the Big Green still up by six, Harvard went on a 16-2 run to take over the game, and offensively-challenged Dartmouth never seriously challenged them the rest of the game.

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Harvard has gone from hunter to hunted

Coming off their first loss of the season, Harvard responded the way a ranked team would be expected to the last time out. They headed across town and had a complete effort in blowing out Boston University 76-52, with a balanced attack and a showing of why they should win the Ivy League this year. With that, they look more and more like a team that has made a transition.

The Crimson first did the job defensively, limiting the Terriers to just below 31 percent shooting. Brandyn Curry was the first key to that, as he so often is, as the junior point guard never let BU point guard D.J. Irving get going. He didn’t let Irving get driving opportunities, and also read the offense well to steal and deflect passes while off the ball.

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In a time of tribulation, college hoops shows the good in sports

The Jimmy V Classic couldn’t have come at a more necessary time this year.

College sports have had a rough run in recent months. Throughout the summer, fans had to try to figure out which conference their favorite team would be playing in when all the moving and shaking subsides. The motivation for conference realignment is all about the dollar bills, often at the expense of any sport not named football — and with little consideration for rivalries that make sports thrilling to watch and play.

But conference realignment was utterly benign compared to the chaos that erupted in State College, Pa., when one of the NCAA’s premier football programs crumbled under the weight of allegation after allegation of sexual misconduct by Jerry Sandusky, a former coordinator. Exacerbating the situation, coach Joe Paterno and Penn State officials appear to have covered up the activities, and it cost one of college football’s legends his job.

Then scandal crept into college hoops, at another sacred program. Coach Jim Boeheim has built Syracuse into a top program, and he relied on his top assistant, Bernie Fine, to help get the Orange there. But allegations of sexual abuse have surrounded Fine, and university officials fired him. Syracuse has received plenty of criticism for possibly failing to do enough to report the rumors of the abuse to police nearly 10 years ago, and Boeheim passionately defended his friend and assistant when ESPN first reported the allegations. He has had to backtrack from those statements, and some experts are calling for his ouster.

Yuck.

With such greed and alleged corruption percolating in college sports, it’d be easy to become disillusioned.

But resist the urge. Or to put it another way: “Don’t ever give up.”

Former NC State coach Jim Valvano made that phrase the motto of the foundation named for him after he died of cancer in 1993. Since his death, ESPN has partnered with the Jimmy V Foundation to raise funds for cancer research. The money goes directly to research, and it goes to a broad range of medical experts toiling to find a cure, not just for popular causes such as breast or prostate cancer but also rarer cancers that have a far worse death rate.

The annual Jimmy V Classic serves as a forum for ESPN to reach a national audience to urge donations, in addition to showcasing a few of the country’s best teams. If that’s not a great role for sports in U.S. society, I don’t know what is.

We go coast to coast with other news from the college basketball nation

Utah doesn’t have a Division I win yet on the season, and the Utes could struggle some more to pick that up after indefinitely suspending Josh Watkins, according to the Associated Press. Watkins has been Utah’s best player by far, averaging 17.7 ppg and 4.9 apg.

Things aren’t much better for one of the Utes’ biggest rivals, the Utah State Aggies. Diamond Leung, of ESPN.com’s “College Basketball Nation” blog, writes that Brady Jardine could be out all season after injuring his foot Nov. 19 in the team’s win against Southern Utah. Jardine is one of the team’s top rebounders, averaging 7.7 rpg.

West Virginia v. the Big East continues to froth in the legal system, with the Big East’s lawyers moving for a dismissal of West Virginia’s lawsuit attempting to get the Mountaineers out of the conference and into the Big 12 ahead of the Big East’s mandatory 27-month waiting period, according to the Associated Press’ Vicki Smith.

We don’t place a ton of stock in the polls in general, but Harvard’s arrival this week is newsworthy. As CBS Sports.com reports, it’s the first time that the Crimson have ever appeared in the top 25, and they are the first Ivy League team to reach the polls since Princeton in 1998.

Games to watch Tuesday

• Missouri vs. Villanova, 7 pm EST (Jimmy V Classic)
• George Mason at Virginia, 7 pm EST
• Kent State at James Madison, 7 pm EST
• Robert Morris at Duquesne, 7 pm EST
• Iowa at Northern Iowa, 8 pm EST
• Washington vs. Marquette, 9 pm EST (Jimmy V Classic)
• Long Beach State at Kansas, 9 pm EST
• Memphis at Miami, 9 pm EST

Brown Makes Ivy Race More Interesting

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Ivy League race got more interesting on Saturday night.

With Brown’s convincing 75-65 win over Princeton, the showdown between Princeton and Harvard on March 5 just got a little bigger. If things hold to form – and the Bears’ win over the Tigers is just the latest example that one should not assume as much – that game will be between two one-loss teams in the league and very likely determine the champion.

Harvard has a half-game lead due to having played more games, but the Crimson and Tigers are even in the all-important loss column. Many have pointed to the March 5 game as having NCAA Tournament implications, and that may well stand up. But assuming as much isn’t a good idea, something both coaches would surely agree on as they try to go one game at a time.

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Harvard’s Big News: The Re-Emergence of Kyle Casey

The big news coming out of the first full Ivy League weekend for Harvard isn’t that they advanced to 4-0 in league play. That’s certainly good, as Harvard heads on the road next weekend for a crucial trip with a perfect mark. But the big news for the Crimson is that Kyle Casey looks like himself after having his ups and downs in non-league play coming off a broken foot suffered before practice began.

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Harvard Has Something Good Going

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – There is surely much being said about Boston College in the aftermath of Harvard’s third straight win over the Eagles. But let’s give credit to the winning team and acknowledge that they have something very good going right now. This is not a bad loss for the Eagles, much as it is a game they should win since it was at home.

With Ivy League play coming up, the Crimson are 10-3 with wins over Colorado and Boston College. Colorado looks like they will be around the bottom of the Big 12, but the Crimson dominated them. Boston College could finish in the top four in the ACC. The Crimson have done this with Kyle Casey, who received a number of preseason accolades, not playing well after a broken foot kept him out of preseason practice and early games. … Continue Reading

Not Surprising: Harvard Takes Care of Colorado

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – From several standpoints, Harvard’s 82-66 win over Colorado is hardly an upset, although casual fans will look at conference affiliation and think it is. An Ivy League team knocking off a Big 12 team? Must be an upset.

But that’s just not the case here. The better team won, and they expected to win.

The home game is the first noteworthy item. Home teams usually win, especially when it’s a good team as Harvard is. The Crimson went 11-2 at home last season, including 6-0 in non-league games, and have established at least one thing about playing in Lavietes Pavilion. … Continue Reading

Quick Hitters – November 25, 2010

Some quick hitters as we reach the holiday and head into the long weekend:

• Steve Donahue is throwing his freshmen right into the mix at Boston College, and it’s helping in the immediate. In particular, Danny Rubin started against Holy Cross and had 14 points and six rebounds, going 4-9 from long range and making a couple of key shots during a run where the Eagles first broke the game open. … Continue Reading

Harvard Unexpectedly Routs Holy Cross

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Sometimes, “dominant” isn’t quite the word to describe how one team played in a game. Wednesday might have been one of those nights with the way Harvard man-handled Holy Cross 72-49 in their home opener in a game that wasn’t even that close.

The Crimson primarily won this game on defense, as Holy Cross’ 49 points might imply. More numbers show it as well, such as the Crusaders shooting below 40 percent from the field and committing 15 turnovers with just eight assists. However, that wasn’t all, and the primary numbers obscure how they did it. First and foremost, the Crimson’s transition defense was excellent all night long, rarely letting Holy Cross get a fast break chance. … Continue Reading

Harvard: Crimson Look to Extend Amaker

While some coaches across the country look for new employment, Harvard wants to make sure coach Tommy Amaker feels at home in Cambridge.

According to a university press release, the team is negotiating a multiyear extension with Amaker. His name has popped up in relation to several other schools. Amaker has major conference experience at Michigan and Seton Hall.

While with the Crimson, Amaker has built a perennial contender. The Crimson had their best start in school history this season with a 14-3 record and reached as high as No. 21 in the RPI.

Some rumors have linked Amaker to the open position across town at Boston College. Harvard has won two consecutive games against the Eagles, so maybe Amaker will prefer to stick with the winners in Cambridge, if he receives a nice extension and pay raise.

Jeremy Lin Goes Out a Winner, Like He Wanted

All Jeremy Lin ever wanted was to win.  He wanted his team to be a winner and get the attention it deserved.  On Saturday night, the senior guard certainly got that as he walked off the court at Lavietes Pavilion for the last time, as he helped lead his team to their 20^th win of the season, a record for the program.

Lin came to Harvard without much fanfare, as is often the case in the Ivy League.  He was lightly recruited out of Palo Alto, the home of Stanford.  It was never a given that he would one day be talked about as an NBA prospect or rack up the Ivy League honors, which he has done since last year.  No one figured he would be in Lavietes Pavilion handling numerous autograph and photo requests like he was after his final home game.  And no one could have imagined there would be a couple of media blitzes with numerous outlets from around the world doing feature stories on him.

“I didn’t think I would score 14,000 points, either,” said the soft-spoken guard, in reference to a humorous slip-up by the public address announcer when introducing him as part of the pre-game ceremony honoring the Crimson seniors.  “I’ve been blessed by God with a lot.  I didn’t expect any of this, but I’m happy I got to experience it and I’m happy for this program.”

Indeed, for Jeremy Lin, it all goes back to the program.  That’s where he wanted to see the success, even as he basically became a celebrity.

It didn’t happen all at once.  As a freshman, Lin showed plenty of promise but was buried behind upperclassmen like Drew Housman and Jim Goffredo.  He played about 18 minutes per game and averaged a steal a game, and the transition to the college game was evident with two more turnovers than assists.  He had an increased role as a sophomore as the only player to start all 30 games and led the team in scoring, assists and steals, but that would prove to be a sign of things to come.

As a junior, Lin broke out.  He not only took over at the point and ran the show, but he also filled the stat sheet, impacting the game more ways than your average point guard does.  He was the only player nationally to rank in the top ten in his league in every statistical category and was a constant in the Ivy League weekly honor roll.  His scintillating performance on a bum ankle in Harvard’s win at Boston College is still much-talked about.

As a senior, much more has happened.  While Lin continued his great play, including another big game at Boston College and 30 points at Connecticut, the Crimson were winning non-league games at a record clip and his star rose even more.  He was getting featured in stories everywhere, and when the Crimson headed west for a game at Santa Clara, about 15 miles from his hometown, it hit a fever pitch.

Kurt Svoboda, Harvard’s Director of Athletic Communications, said things just about got out of hand at that point.  The media requests were coming in left and right, and they weren’t just for covering the Crimson’s game against the Broncos.  Among them were requests to meet the team in their hotel after a practice or at the airport to get a picture of him stepping off the plane – the kind of thing normally reserved for politicians or celebrities who fly on private planes.  It continued when the Crimson came back home for their Ivy League opener against Dartmouth, as the post-game interview area was crowded with media there to do stories on Lin.

Lin went through all of it quite dutifully.  Always good with the media, Lin isn’t a quote machine but is far from a bad interview as he’s relatively soft-spoken, thoughtful, and comes off like a regular young man.  In fact, that’s central to his character: through all of this, he’s been something of a reluctant celebrity.  He was a reluctant cover boy on the team’s media guide, although that could have happened if his numbers had been cut in half since most teams put seniors on the cover of the media guide anyway.  While all the attention was nice, he would rather Harvard get all the attention, not him as an individual.

As such, the most gratifying thing for Lin is to see the team set a program record for wins in a season.  His numbers, impressive though they are, don’t matter so much.  The same goes for the honors that have been rolling in, like being one of the finalists for the John R. Wooden Award and the Bob Cousy Award.  He’s already received an invitation to the Portsmouth Invitational in April.  Another first team All-Ivy selection is likely ahead, and he should certainly be in the discussion for Player of the Year honors.

During league play this season, there was a stretch where points were harder to come by for him, but he continued to find teammates and rack up the assists.  Those who simply saw his numbers might have wondered how he coped, but he’s quick to remind you that he was a point guard in high school and came to Harvard as one, so becoming a scorer was the adjustment, even as he greatly improved his jump shot as a junior.  Getting the ball to teammates instead of scoring was nothing new to him.

That’s not the only reason teammates, coaches and everyone else close to the program raves about him.  They love that he’s unselfish, but they also love that he cares about the team and is universally respected as a nice young man.  They see from his actions that everything comes back to the program, not him.  Even as his star has been on the rise, it’s all about the program.  And even though he’s the program’s most visible player, you know he’s being genuine when he looks elsewhere for its current success.

“It’s crazy when you think about having the most wins out of any team in Harvard history,” Lin said.  “There are so many people who put hard work into it, and I don’t think the coaching staff gets enough credit.”

All Jeremy Lin wanted to do was win.  He’s been able to do that, and it was only fitting that he walked off his home court a winner one last time – and a record-setting win at that.

Harvard Still Has Much to Play For

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Contrary to popular belief, Harvard’s season didn’t end with Friday night’s loss to Cornell.  To be sure, the Crimson need help – a lot of it, in fact – if they are to win the Ivy League now.  But Tommy Amaker knows his team still has plenty to play for, and made sure his players knew it.  And on Saturday night, they bounced back like a team on a mission as they blew out Columbia 77-57.

With the win, Harvard tied the program’s second-best total for wins in a season with 18, previously set in 1996-97.  With at least four games left, they have a good chance to top the school record of 19 set back in 1945-46.  That starts with their final two home games against Brown and Yale this weekend.

“It’s a long way from things being over, and we can’t allow our guys to lick our wounds or hang our heads,” said Amaker.  “We’re at home, we’re excited, and we get a chance to suit back up and have a good feeling in our stomachs about how we played.  We also talked about seeing if we can make history.”

Friday night’s loss wasn’t going to be easy to bounce back from.  The next game was less than 24 hours away, but besides that, there was the big buildup to the game and the importance of it.  But the Crimson looked just fine against a Columbia team that is struggling.  On that night, the Crimson’s play had as much to do with the outcome as anything, although Lions head coach Joe Jones was a bit subdued talking about where his team stands.

Amaker said the possibility of this team making history resonated with the players.  It showed right away as the Crimson were in control before the first half was out, shooting 55.6 percent from the field en route to a 45-26 halftime lead.  They were 8-13 from long range, and they kept up the lead in the second half.

It’s important to remember that this is still a young team.  The Crimson start two seniors, a sophomore and two freshmen, but that’s not all.  The primary healthy reserves (senior Pat Magnarelli is still out with an injury) are freshmen or sophomores.  While their heart and soul is senior Jeremy Lin, there’s a lot of young talent on this team.  The youth showed in Friday night’s loss, but perhaps some of it showed on Saturday as well in being resilient.

While the Crimson need a good deal of help to win the Ivy League, postseason play can still happen.  If the Crimson win out, an NIT bid would not seem far-fetched considering they have some good wins.  It’s not likely the Ivy League will get two teams in the NIT, so if the Crimson finish third and the second place team gets an NIT bid, that might not come.  But it is certainly a possibility, and that would add to this team’s place in the program’s history book.

Besides that, a chance for this young team to play again would obviously help from the standpoint of more experience and getting the feel of postseason play.  That can only make the players who will return even more hungry next season, because they would surely want more after experiencing it one time.

The Crimson haven’t given up on winning the Ivy League, although they don’t control their own destiny now.  But they still have plenty to play for, and four games left with the hope at least one more to follow.

Cornell Wins With Seasoned Veterans

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – It’s not every day you have a buildup like this for an Ivy League game, especially when the setting is Harvard.  The Crimson have never been to the NCAA Tournament, and it wasn’t an arch-rival they were about to host.  Yet Friday night’s game against two-time defending champion Cornell was sold out a month in advance, and there was much anticipation about it.

With 15 NBA scouts and several national media members present, the game lived up to its billing, but the home fans went home disappointed as Cornell played like the team of seasoned veterans that they are to take home a convincing 79-70 win.  On this night, the difference in experience couldn’t be missed in how this game went.

Harvard got off to a good start, although they didn’t get out to a big lead.  Cornell was able to hang with them and keep it as a back-and-forth game for a while in the first half, but then the differences showed.  Harvard started turning the ball over – they had 12 in the first half, which the Big Red turned into 16 points – while Cornell kept making shots and getting offensive rebounds.  Symbolic of it was an inbound pass by freshman Brandyn Curry that went over Keith Wright’s head, and after Geoff Reeves missed a fast break layup, Jeff Foote was there to collect the rebound and put it back for a 26-19 lead.

And when Louis Dale, a good but not lights-out shooter from deep, got hot from long range in the second half after Ryan Wittman had the hot hand in the first half, it was hard not to notice that they were seniors who have two Ivy League titles to their credit and have come a long way from their early days on campus.

That wasn’t always a given to help carry this team.  Last year, the Big Red had a clear locker room leader in Adam Gore, a tough player who battled injuries and always competed.  Dale and Wittman aren’t the leader types, and neither was selected as a team captain this year.  Dale is a nice, quiet young man, while Wittman is similar and would rather just be a regular kid than a star.  Head coach Steve Donohue has talked about how Wittman could have a great deal of influence on the team if he ever wanted to because his teammates have so much respect for his game.

All that said, on Friday it was hard not to think Wittman was playing not just like a senior, but a Player of the Year.  He had 27 points on 10-20 shooting, including 6-12 from behind the arc, and grabbed eight rebounds.  But more than that, it was when he made the plays and how he made them, from his shot selection to utilizing his pump fake better than anyone in college basketball because he sells his shot so well.  He had a highlight reel play as well, and naturally it came at a crucial time.  With Harvard in the midst of what would become a 12-0 run to get within five, Curry stole the ball and went in on the fast break.  Wittman hustled back to block the shot and got the ball.

“I think he played with a nastiness, a confidence, a swagger tonight that he wouldn’t want his team to lose in this environment,” Donohue said of Wittman, who moved into sixth place all-time in the Ivy League in scoring.  “He’s done that now the last two games, and I think it’s honestly something we’re going to need the rest of the way.”

While it was Wittman in the first half, it was Dale in the second half who buried Harvard.  Dale went 4-5 from behind the arc in the latter frame, and just about all of them were of the back-breaking variety, although none more so than the one he hit with 7:12 left that followed one by Wittman to put the Big Red back up by double digits.

The senior guards were both quick to give one another credit for their success.  It’s certainly true that they play off each other well, and that has come with their experience together.  It’s also a testament to their high basketball I.Q. as neither is one who will kill you with mistakes.

It wasn’t just Dale and Wittman among the seniors, although they led the way.  The senior-laden Big Red played all in all like such a team, shooting 50 percent from the field including 12-23 from long range, and out-rebounding Harvard 31-20.  They wanted it more, and you could see the chemistry this team has developed.

“They just play so well together,” said Harvard senior Jeremy Lin.  “They’re really experienced, they start four seniors, and they’ve been together for so long.”

Added Donohue: “I think we saw that tonight in stretches when Harvard made runs, I think we stayed poised and confident.”

Harvard is not out of the Ivy League race, but the Crimson need some help now.  Still, one has to remember that this is a young team, which is what the Big Red were three years ago.  While they are a contender now, head coach Tommy Amaker summed up the big lesson of the night for those not already aware.

“We’d like to think that we could become a contender in our league, and we’ve shown that we can do that, but being a contender and being a champion is a big gap,” said Amaker.

That was perhaps never more apparent than it was on Friday night.

Quick Hitters – February 15, 2010

Some quick hitters from the weekend:

• Brown split its two games this weekend, and the biggest development is that Peter Sullivan appears to be fully healthy.  The junior wing was injured early in Ivy League play and had struggled playing through it, but had two solid games in a row this weekend.  He had a double-double against Dartmouth with 23 points and 11 rebounds, going 14-16 from the foul line, then had 21 points and six boards against Harvard the next night.

• Harvard had its first Ivy League road sweep in 10 years with an 82-79 overtime win at Yale followed by an 81-67 win at Brown on Saturday.  Freshmen came up big in both wins, with Christian Webster reaching double figures in both and steadily improving guard Brandyn Curry scoring 15 against Yale.  Topping both was Kyle Casey, who had 20 points and seven boards against Yale and then had a terrific night against Brown, scoring 27 points on 8-9 shooting from the field, including 3-3 from long range.  That earned him not only the Ivy League Rookie of the Week, his fourth such honor, but also Player of the Week.”I thought Kyle Casey was just spectacular,” said head coach Tommy Amaker.  “For a freshman to have the kind of weekend he’s had is pretty darn special for us, and without him I’m not sure that we’re in the position we’re in right now.”
  Added teammate Jeremy Lin: “He’s just playing out of his mind right now.”

• Another Ivy note: it’s often said that winning on the road in the league is very difficult, but thus far this season road teams are 16-14.

• Northeastern suffered another heart-breaking loss at William & Mary on Saturday, which makes twice in three trips to Williamsburg that they had such an ending.  This time, the Huskies were the ones battling back from a deficit, as they trailed by 16 with over nine minutes left and rallied to take a one-point lead with 23 seconds left before falling 53-52.

• Speaking of road wins, one team that had an adventure on the road this weekend was Belmont, which moved to 16-10 overall and 11-5 in the Atlantic Sun with a 70-57 win at USC Upstate on Saturday.  The Bruins spent 20 consecutive hours on the team bus, from 2:30 p.m. Central on Friday until 11:30 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, as Interstate 85 in northeast Georgia was closed due to poor road conditions from the storm that hit the area.  The game was slated to tip off at 2 p.m. but was pushed back to 7 p.m. to accommodate the team, and they did not get a shootaround – only a 30-minute pregame warm-up.

• UMass scored a 70-62 win over Saint Joseph’s on Sunday, a good follow-up to their comeback win at Duquesne on Thursday night.  Ricky Harris continued his hot play, scoring 27 points, 17 in the second half.  In the last six games, he is averaging 26.7 points per game and looks nothing like the player he was nearly two months ago, when shots just weren’t falling.”In the first part of the season, I felt like I was forcing a lot of stuff instead of letting the game come to me,” said the senior guard.  “Now I feel more relaxed out there, I feel like the game is coming to me.  I’m not having to go do stuff that I’m not capable of doing.  It’s just coming to me and I’m feeding off my teammates.”

BC Passes Up Its Chance at Local Relevance

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – That sound you just heard was Boston College’s chances at grabbing a little of the spotlight going right down the drain.

As is often the case, crowds at Conte Forum have been anemic all season. Boston is a notorious pro sports town, to the point where in January and February, sports fans would rather call talk radio and talk about hot stove baseball, who the Patriots might draft, or pitchers and catchers reporting than the college basketball games in town that actually count in the standings. That probably won’t change now, although there was a little more of an opening than there has been in a while with the Patriots out of the playoffs. That means neither the Patriots nor the Red Sox don’t play a meaningful game until a national champion has been crowned in college basketball.

Wednesday night’s crowd at Conte Forum didn’t look any bigger than most of the Eagles’ games thus far this season. It doesn’t help that students are still away until next week. Even so, the crowd gave them the biggest cheers all season when they came out, and you could sense the place was a little different. A win over North Carolina can do that for a team.

But seemingly just as quickly as the Eagles became ranked – although whether or not they’re really one of the 25 best teams in the land is very debatable – they came home and didn’t look like they wanted to be on the court. It showed in the result, as a banged-up Harvard team came in and beat them more convincingly than the 82-70 final score would indicate.

And with it went any real chance of being relevant to the average Boston sports fan. They might have been a little interested after the win at North Carolina, but now they’ll resume the normal, if a little ridiculous, activity of being obsessed with off-season transactions of the Red Sox and Patriots and perhaps occasionally paying attention to the Celtics and Bruins.

“We just didn’t get ourselves ready to play the way we should have,” said head coach Al Skinner. “We just thought it would be enough to show up, and things would go our way. Obviously, they did not.”

Indeed, BC looked lifeless all night long. There were a couple of stretches where the offense looked ready to come alive, but Jeremy Lin and Harvard had answers at every turn. They were careless with the ball most of the night, and the Crimson made them pay.

It was a classic case of a letdown, and a big one at that. The Eagles went from beating the team some think can go undefeated, and at their place no less, to losing at home to a team that can only make the NCAA Tournament as an automatic qualifier. That’s really part of what this team is, and Skinner was not all that surprised even though he undoubtedly would rather this not have happened.

“That is who we are. We are capable of being this team, and we are also capable of being another team,” said Skinner. “That’s the youth that you’re dealing with, and you have to work hard to guard against that.”

The sports fan base around here is such that this loss probably carries bigger repercussions for the team from that standpoint than it does for their NCAA Tournament hopes. The Eagles’ profile for the tournament is now just okay after this loss. For teams on the bubble, it’s a given that they can lose games, but the win over North Carolina carries some weight because it proves they can beat good teams. If they wind up at .500 in ACC play, that win might carry more weight than the Harvard loss on the whole and look like an aberration. Losing to Harvard, along with other things they have shown, isn’t indicative of a team that is capable of going .500 in ACC play.

No matter what, though, it’s going to take a lot for them to recapture the casual fan’s attention in these parts again. Other than the February 15 game against Duke, it would be a surprise to see a sellout in Conte Forum the rest of the way unless the Eagles suddenly run off several wins in a row, which isn’t very likely. The bar is set ridiculously high for college teams around here because sports fans don’t care about the sport, and just as BC looked like it might clear that bar, they trip over it and fall.

Further proof is that this happened at a time when the football program has gone through a sudden coaching change that made a lot of national news. While that took some attention away from the basketball team’s big win at North Carolina, this loss is severe enough that fans and the general public will take notice of it more. That’s unfortunately what the dynamic is around here.

Skinner has learned to live with that, and in fact he probably didn’t mind that the basketball team was the underdog to the football team in recent days save for the football news being of a negative nature. He surely wishes it didn’t have to come this way, but after Wednesday night’s loss, his team will go back into irrelevance in the Boston sports world.

The Man Responsible For Harvard’s Success

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – When a team like Harvard knocks off a team like Boston College, an inevitable question is, “How did that happen?” The first instinct for many is to look at the favorites and find something that went wrong, but that won’t work here. For the answer to that question in regards to Harvard’s first-ever win over a ranked team, there’s one person that needs to be talked about: Jeremy Lin.

Lin’s stat line in Wednesday night’s 82-70 win was in many ways typical of the ones he has posted this season. The Harvard junior guard scored 27 points on 11-16 shooting, handed out eight assists with just two turnovers and had six steals. He also had three rebounds and a blocked shot. For good measure, athletic communications director Kurt Svoboda insists he was robbed of another block.

It’s a typical stat line because entering this week, Lin is the only player in the country to rank in the top ten in his conference in just about every category – scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, blocked shots, field goal percentage, three-point percentage and free throw percentage.

But the numbers, while indicative of how he impacts games and certainly impacted Wednesday night’s game, don’t do him justice. It wouldn’t even be enough to say that he was the best player on the Conte Forum floor on Wednesday night.

This is a young man who was not a given to play in this game after turning his ankle in practice a few days earlier. Even before the game, though he warmed up early, it was still not a given that he would play a lot of minutes. The Crimson have their Ivy League slate right in front of them, after all, and a win wouldn’t mean a chance at an NCAA Tournament at-large bid later on, so it wouldn’t have been a surprise if they limited his minutes. They’re already a banged-up team as it is.

Lin wanted to play, though, and did he ever do it. It was a scintillating performance that long-time Boston College radio announcer Ted Sarandis called, “the best performance by a non-conference player against Boston College in a long, long time.” And instead of Lin playing limited minutes, it was his head coach, Tommy Amaker, who limited the time he spent talking to the media after the game so that everyone could talk to the star of the game instead.

Lin’s first half stats were fairly unassuming, but he helped Harvard lead by six heading into the locker room. The game was never competitive in the second half thanks largely to Lin’s efforts.

It started right away with a steal and fast break layup on the first possession after intermission. Later, a three-pointer, a steal and one of two free throws helped the Crimson open up a 43-31 lead. The Eagles scored the next five points, leading Amaker to call a 30-second timeout, and right after that, Lin stopped the bleeding with a jumper that was right on the money. Later, the Eagles would get within 49-43, and Lin hit another three-pointer to push the lead back to nine.

As the Eagles tried to mount one last rally, it was Lin who came through again. After a kicked ball extended the possession, he drove to his right with the shot clock running down, put up a jumper while floating laterally away from the right elbow and watched it go through without even drawing iron to give the Crimson a 68-56 lead with 2:19 left.

That, my friends, is what they call a dagger. It was symbolic of what he did on the night, and in particular, the second half.

“This young man has been tremendous for us in every way,” said Amaker.

That’s about all there is to it. Normally, highlight-reel dunks might grab attention, but it was some of Lin’s jump shots that had fans and also many on press row take notice. Several of his assists were on long passes that led to fast break layups, which the stat sheet will never tell anyone. The unfortunate thing is that many who were at Conte Forum were only just last night finding out that he’s excellent and can be a special player.

Lin was a little gimpy after the game, but he played 34 minutes and showed no ill effects whatsoever. You might think of it as the result of a job well done. He showed that even calling him the heart and soul of this Crimson team doesn’t really capture his importance to the team.

The Crimson got fine efforts on the evening from freshman Oliver McNally, who scored 17 points with a few clutch baskets and free throws, and senior Andrew Pusar, who had 13 points on 5-8 shooting. Lin’s classmate, Doug Miller, continued to grow with eight points and nine rebounds. They were certainly part of this win, as were the others who were in the game, and Lin was quick to give them a lot of credit.

But the best player on the court, the one who made Harvard’s first win over a ranked team in its history a reality, was Jeremy Lin. Conversations about this game, and indeed about this Harvard team, start and end with him.

It’s Now Miller Time at Harvard

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Every season, a number of players go from being a bit player the year before to a key player or even a star.  There are usually a multitude of reasons for it, but it happens often enough that one example of it might not seem to be much of a story.  But sometimes it looks like something that was far from being destined to happen, and that makes it a story.

Enter Harvard forward Doug Miller.

The junior from Winchester, Massachusetts is one of just four players from the state on the team.  His hometown isn’t a place known for producing Division I players, in a state that would have a lot less of them if you took away the prep schools.  He was a solid player on a team that made it to the state semifinals as a senior and actually played in that game against current teammate Pat Magnarelli.

For two seasons, Miller was not much of a factor at the nation’s oldest university.  He played a total of 146 minutes and had more personal fouls (26) than points (22).  There was a partial explanation for the lack of playing time at first, as he had knee surgery his freshman year and suffered a foot injury later on.  Last season, he played in 23 of the team’s 30 games, but averaged just 6.3 minutes per game.

This season is quite different.  Miller is now a starter, one of just two Crimson to start every game thus far this season.  He’s averaging almost three times as many minutes as last season, having already far surpassed his career minutes total entering the season.  While he hasn’t put up All-Ivy League numbers (4.7 points, 3.2 rebounds per game) save for perhaps his 71.8 field goal percentage, he’s become an indispensable part of the Crimson, who improved to 7-6 on Friday and were aided by his career-high 15 points on 7-10 shooting.

“He’s earned that, he deserves it, you can see the confidence growing in his play,” said head coach Tommy Amaker.  “His teammates are so happy for him in the locker room.  He’s such a wonderful guy, he’s a great teammate.”

Indeed, his teammates to a man describe him as the hardest worker on the team.  They rave about his character, and that, besides the fact that it’s helping the team win games, is a big reason why they are happy to see this.  The staff describes him as coachable, and they can see that the season he is having is no accident.

Asked how much better Miller is now, senior Drew Housman said, “A lot better, especially from when he came in freshman year to where he is now.  He’s probably the hardest worker on the team, and it’s great to see him have success, especially against a formidable opponent.”

Certainly, having more opportunity helps, and that has presented itself with the injuries the Crimson have had in the frontcourt.  Magnarelli hasn’t played all season with a leg injury suffered in early practice, and Andrew Van Nest will miss the entire season with a shoulder injury suffered in November.  But Miller could have just easily thrown the opportunity away; instead, he has taken advantage and become an integral part of this team now.  He kept working hard like he always has and didn’t change anything, and he and the Crimson see the results.

More recently, the Crimson have needed to get more out of him.  Freshman Keith Wright missed four games with mono and still isn’t 100 percent, and hasn’t really been fully healthy all season.  Evan Harris has also missed the last two games but should return soon.  Miller was the lone frontcourt starter on Friday night alongside four guards, and against a team that boasted the West Coast Conference’s top big man in 6’10″, 270-pound John Bryant, along with another 6’9″ player in the starting lineup.  And all Miller did was go out and set a career high in points.

Not only that, but he came through at a couple of important times.  He scored the last three points in an 11-0 run that gave the Crimson the lead for good, then when the Broncos got within four with about seven minutes left, made a basket that pushed the lead back to six.  The Broncos never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

On a team with a few solid veterans and freshmen who came in with a lot of hype, Miller has been one of the real stories of their non-league slate.  When most observers looked at the team before the season and thought of the holdovers, his name was surely nowhere near the top of anyone’s list.  He’s worked hard to change that, and we’re starting to see the results of it.  Doug Miller has become more than just a bit player for his team.

Quick Hitters For the New Year

Quick hitters as we start 2009:

Holy Cross continues to be beset by injuries. On Tuesday night, Alex Vander Baan didn’t dress for the second straight game due to his continuing back problems, and at this point the Crusaders are planning to hold him out of remaining non-league games. They are also without Eric Meister for about the same duration. The best news is that they are more optimistic that point guard Pat Doherty may be able to return later in the season, although that’s far from a guarantee that he will.

All the while, freshmen R.J. Evans and Devin Brown continue to carry this team. But Brown isn’t a natural point guard and is having a trial by fire at the position, so the Crusaders are having some serious growing pains to go with the great deal of promise the two are showing. Currently, only Colin Cunningham and Adam May have more assists than turnovers.

While knowing a team is young at times can bring about a feeling that things will get better in time, at some point that reality ceases to have much value as an explanation for some of a team’s struggles. New Hampshire head coach Bill Herrion seems to be reaching that point with his team.

“It’s getting a little old,” said the fourth-year head coach recently. “I’m a competitor, I coach hard, I demand a lot. You can’t keep saying that. At some point, we’ve got to figure out how to win these close games. It’s frustrating for everybody. I don’t think we’re a 3-7 team, I think we’re a little better than that, but we are what we are.”

While the Wildcats’ frontcourt has been inconsistent, perhaps the biggest issue has been the point guard spot. Eric Gilchrese has struggled, no doubt in part because his mother just passed away after a long illness. Freshman Russell Graham has shown promise, especially defensively, but he’s still learning the offense.

The Wildcats host Santa Clara on Sunday in the second of two games in the area for the Broncos. The bulk of the Wildcats’ remaining schedule is America East games.

Harvard had to go with a small lineup in its last two games in large part due to injuries and illness. Keith Wright, who hasn’t been very healthy for a lot of the season, missed four games with mono before playing 20 minutes in Wednesday’s loss at William & Mary, and senior Evan Harris has missed the past two games but should return soon. On the plus side, junior Pat Magnarelli, who was injured during early practices and hasn’t played this season, could begin working out soon and rejoin the team at some point during the Ivy League slate.

The Crimson could use some more size for their next game, as Santa Clara comes to town on Friday with star big man John Bryant as the leader of their team.

The latest national prep poll, in which I am a voter, has been released, with a few changes from the preseason one.

1. Patterson School (Lenoir, NC) (20-0)
2. Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, VA) (12-1)
3. Notre Dame Prep (Fitchburg, MA) (14-2)
4. Bridgton Academy (North Bridgton, ME) (11-2)
5. Northfield Mount Hermon (Northfield, MA) (9-1)
6. South Kent School (South Kent, CT) (7-2)
7. Tilton School (Tilton, NH) (10-0)
8. Winchendon School (Winchendon, MA) (6-4)
9. Fork Union Military Academy (Fork Union, VA) (6-3)
10. Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro, NH) (7-5)

Also receiving votes:  St. Mark’s School (Southborough, MA), Blair Academy (Blairstown, NJ)

Jeremy Lin Makes Harvard Go

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – With a lot of attention focused on the freshmen, it can be easy to lose sight of Harvard’s best player thus far. Jeremy Lin is, after all, a holdover from last season, and even from the prior coaching staff. He’s a little different from the highly-touted newcomers on the roster.

But just as the freshmen show all the potential in the world, they have some growing pains as well. Lin has been through that already, and after starting to break out last season, is coming into his own in a big way thus far in his junior season.

“He’s the catalyst, and he’s been that way for us all season, and it doesn’t surprise me to see a stat line like this,” said head coach Tommy Amaker.

Amaker was referring to how Lin once again filled the stat sheet on Sunday. The junior guard scored a game-high 16 points, hauled down a game-high seven rebounds, handed out five assists (with just one turnover) and had four steals. He did it all in 25 minutes, the first time all season he has played under 30 minutes. It’s something he’s done all season, impacting a game in a variety of ways, and seemingly like few other players not just in the Ivy League, but also in the nation.

Sunday’s game notes mention that as of the most recent NCAA statistical release, Lin ranked in the top ten in the Ivy League in virtually every statistical category. The only noteworthy one where he is not is blocked shots, where he is 15^th playing on the perimeter. He is one of five players nationally to rank among the top ten in his league in scoring (third), rebounding (ninth), assists (second) and steals (leads). Of those five players – the others are Marquis Hall (Lehigh, Patriot League), James Harden (Arizona State, Pac-10), Kaleo Kina (Navy, Patriot) and Ryan Thompson (Rider, MAAC) – Lin has the highest total ranking in the four aforementioned categories.

In fact, Lin has impacted games so well that he’s found a way to have a solid stat line even on an off-night. In the second game of the season at Colorado, he scored a season-low 11 points, but tied a career high with five steals and had four assists. Against Army, he had just one rebound and one assist, but scored 24 points and had five steals.

“He’s such an efficient player, he’s a basketball player – I’m not sure he has a position,” said Amaker, who has used him at both guard spots. “He’s a kid you want on the floor.”

There’s no reason to stop with the main stats. After Sunday’s game, Lin is shooting almost 52 percent from the floor, just under 49 percent from three-point range and over 84 percent from the line. That’s not bad for a guy who entered the season as a career 27.9 percent shooter from behind the arc and who slumped to 62 percent from the foul line after shooting nearly 82 percent as a freshman.

Lin made a conscious effort to improve his shooting over the summer, and it’s paying off. While his workouts taking a lot of shots were a big part of that, he can see one major difference from last season with it: confidence.

“Last year, I was so hesitant with the ball and I didn’t want to shoot the three, and now I’m more hunting for that shot,” said Lin. “I’m shooting with more confidence, and that makes a huge difference.”

Though he isn’t playing the point guard spot much, Lin wants to keep his turnovers down. That has been an issue at times in his career, even though he has more assists than turnovers, and this season that’s probably been about the only downer as he’s giving it away nearly four times per game, significantly higher than his career average. Given his improvement shooting the ball, he’s capable of cutting down on the turnovers.

With the Crimson also racked by frontcourt injuries, Lin will need to continue to be a jack-of-all-trades, at least for the foreseeable future. They’ll also need him to continue his defensive work, since that can go a long way toward keeping opponents from getting the ball inside. He fits perfectly into what they try to do. Amaker played and coached at Duke, and they are known for over-playing on defense. Watch Lin anticipate and read passing lanes, and you can see that it’s no accident that he’s having the season he’s having at that end.

“He has great instincts, he anticipates very well,” said Amaker. “We preach and teach that kind of defense, where we’re trying to deny and contest, as we call it. Jeremy fits into that very well for our system and our philosophy. His instincts and his ability to anticipate, you see that over and over again with his ability to go make a play on the defensive end.”

It’s not often that a guy who makes a team go is not the team’s point guard. Though he seems suited for the position, Lin has thrived wherever he has played, and for much of this season he has played off the ball. Even from that spot, he’s clearly the team’s most indispensable player.

“We feed off of Jeremy. There are so many little things he does that ignites our ballclub,” Amaker noted. “He’s the quickest one to any loose ball, and he can make plays that put other guys into position to do good things for our team.”

Though surrounded by young teammates, Lin says he hasn’t felt any extra responsibility. He feels like the freshmen are growing up quickly, and one can imagine that he has probably helped make them better along the way. No matter how good they get to be this season, the guard who isn’t a freshman looks like the one who will make the team go.