BASKETBALL '07: Three-Point Plan

New Harvard basketball coach Tommy Amaker is stuck in the middle. To find success, he must tackle the forces of a disappointing past and all of its depressing streaks. At the same time, the present is a constant concern—how to make the best of a transition year, how to establish a program.

And then there is the future, one that Harvard hopes will be bright, but one that is also impossible to predict.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, to say this, that, and the other is going to happen;” Amaker says. “We’re hopeful for the best right now.”

Timetables don’t exist now, while the coach is only a few months into his tenure. There is hope, but there is also so much that is unknown—whether the past can be ignored, whether present potential can be fulfilled, and whether in the future, things can be different.

TALE OF TWO PASTS

Amaker began his collegiate career as a player at Duke, under the tutelage of coach Mike Krzyzewski, starting all four years with the Blue Devils and earning national Defensive Player of the Year honors his senior season.

Following a nine-year assistant coaching stint under Coach K, he moved on to Seton Hall and, in his years there, led the program to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in 2000 . The following year, Amaker brought in a recruiting class that ESPN ranked second nationally.

These accomplishments become all the more significant when contrasted with Harvard’s own basketball history—no NCAA Tournament appearances since 1946, no wins at either Penn or Princeton since 1991, no Ivy League championship...ever.

The team must work day in, day out to erase this history. Amaker will work day in, day out to forge a history of his own.

“We’re doing the best to create our identity, to reposition our program, to become a contender in this conference, to work our butts off everyday to get better,” Amaker says.

THE HERE AND NOW

Experience means very little as a new coach, in a new league, with a new team.

Having a team buy into your philosophy is worth much more.

“I guess with Coach Amaker, he’s obviously coming from a different background, so we’re learning a lot of different stuff that we haven’t seen before,” sophomore guard Jeremy Lin says.

Luckily for Amaker, the team does not live on Wall Street. The players are in Cambridge, and, by all accounts, they’re buying.

“I think the guys are really respectful of him and listen carefully to what he says,” Lin continues. “I think that he motivates us well and he tries to get the most out of us.”

But this year’s squad still has its own set of problems, aside from the challenges of adapting to a new coach with a new coaching agenda. Senior captain Brad Unger is out with an injury, and junior transfer Cem Dinc is inactive with an illness.

It’s Amaker’s job to fix all that.

He’s starting with what he knows best—how to play point guard. In junior Drew Housman, Amaker has talent he can work with.

“He has the physical tools to do a lot of fabulous things as a guard,” Amaker says. “ I think the growth that is going to have to take place will be from the shoulders up.”

It’s a philosophy based on mental toughness, high energy, and above all, defense. And it’s spreading to the rest of the team.

“The whole attitude [is different],” Housman says. “Everyone seems more focused this year. No matter what’s going on, whenever we go onto the practice court, we’re focused on getting done what we need to get done.”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

But it doesn’t happen all at once.

As Harvard’s 111-56 loss against No. 23 Stanford this past weekend proved, there is still a long way to go.

For Amaker, this is the reality he must work through—for all the success he has had, he is still at Harvard and, more importantly, he is still in the Ivy League.

But what sets Amaker apart was what happened behind the scenes last weekend.

The trip to California was about more than just basketball. It was an opportunity to meet with alums, make connections in a growing hotbed for basketball talent, and take one small step toward success.

“All the things that it brings, we think these games can add a lot to our program,” Amaker says. “[They] provide a lot of value.”

This strategy has already paid dividends, as three three-star recruits, the first in Harvard’s history, verbally committed to the program last month. These recruits include Frank Ben-Eze, ESPN.com’s 66th-ranked player in the class of 2008.

The players are attracted to Amaker’s style of play—a departure from that of former head coach Frank Sullivan—which incorporates a more-up-and-down, fast-paced, “high-octane” brand of basketball.

“We want to play a style...where we move up and down the floor a little faster, have more possessions,” Amaker says. “I think kids like to play that way—I know I used to like to play that way—and I would like to think that players you are trying to recruit would want to see you play that way.”

In addition, Amaker has the type of connections in the hoops world that are priceless for a program that is going to need star recruits.

“Doc Rivers came here a few weeks ago to give us a speech,” Amaker says. “It’s amazing what Kevin Garnett can do to your spirits.”

Amaker does not have his Garnett—yet—but what he does have is a vision for future success.

“A big picture is going to evolve eventually—somehow, some way,” Amaker says. “It’s going to evolve based on what we do day in, day out.”

He must first get over the program’s past before progressing into the future. There are so many forces working against him, but he has a vision.

And throughout it all, one thing remains perfectly clear. As Amaker says, “We all know, the sooner the better.”

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.