Athlete of the Week: Tim M. Coleman ’02

Senior center Tim Coleman had been Harvard’s X-factor all season. Lofty expectations, set by both the team and by Coleman himself, appeared increasingly unreachable. His minutes dwindled and, without solid play from the interior, the Crimson offense couldn’t run.

So it goes without saying that nothing has been more impressive recently for the men’s basketball team, in light of its 7-7 Ivy finish, than Coleman’s re-emergence in the twilight of his Harvard career.

In the Crimson’s final two games of the season, losses against Yale and Brown, Coleman scored 35 points, netting a season-high 20 on Saturday alone. Add that to the 21 points he picked up in his final two home games—wins against Cornell and Columbia the week before—and Coleman has averaged 14 points per game in his last four outings. Combined with the 38 total rebounds he has corralled over the same period, he has basically posted a double-double every night.

Coleman entered the 2001-02 season hoping to reprise his 1999-2000 role as the starting center after sitting out last season. His teammates also needed him to pick up the scoring slack left behind with the graduation of Crimson legend Dan Clemente ’01.

Coleman started out as promised, hitting double figures in points in seven out of Harvard’s first ten games and settling into the role of the team’s second offensive option behind junior guard Patrick Harvey. But once the Ivy League season began, the 6’8 Coleman got lost in the offense and his output sputtered.

He played only half the game in the Crimson’s first match-up with Penn and Princeton, but another half may not have helped. Coleman finished that weekend with only five points on 1-of-14 shooting. He didn’t hit double figures again until Harvard’s one-point win over Cornell a month later, and barely managed to touch the ball when the Crimson went away to face the P’s.

“Maybe we became a little more perimeter-oriented,” junior forward Sam Winter said. “[Maybe] we weren’t looking for him as much.”

But when Harvard’s back was to the wall and the Crimson faced elimination, Coleman picked it up, exploding in his last four games to erase the memory of the earlier mishaps. His ability to sink his shots translated to greater playing time in his last four games in a Harvard uniform.

So whatever happened before, senior center Tim Coleman can always look back at his final line:

8-of-15 from the field, 4-7 FT, nine rebounds and 20 points.

Hell of an effort.