Familiarity Awaits Wildcats Transfer

Last November 29, as Harvard pulled out a thrilling 83-81 overtime victory at New Hampshire, then-Wildcat freshman guard Dan McGeary dropped eight points in 37 minutes against the Crimson.

As the teams prepare to meet tonight, 364 days after their last thrilling encounter, McGeary will again see his fair share of the action. Only this time, he will be wearing the new white uniform of Harvard (2-4).

Following a relatively disappointing freshman campaign in which he started 14 of his team’s 29 games and averaged only 5.3 points per contest, McGeary became one of new Harvard head coach Tommy Amaker’s first recruits to Cambridge.

“I was transferring anyway and had asked for and gotten my release from UNH,” McGeary said. “Coach Amaker and I have a mutual connection. He came to watch me work out and play.”

After securing the transfer, it looked certain McGeary would sit out the 2007-08 season due to NCAA transfer rules. However, right before the semester started, Amaker informed him there was a possibility McGeary could get a waiver from the NCAA to play this year. Due to Harvard regulations, if McGeary sat out the year, he would lose a year of eligibility.

Because of this, Amaker and McGeary hoped the NCAA would allow the transfer to play immediately.

“There was a six to seven week process during which I had lots of discussions with the NCAA,” McGeary said. “I found out a week before the opening game at Stanford that I would be able to play this season.”

So far this season, McGeary has been the first man off the bench, averaging 6.2 points in 16.2 minutes per game. Now, he will go up against the same players he lived with and battled on the floor with last year.

“It’s going to be a little weird,” McGeary said. “I still have a lot of friends on that team. When you play on a college team, your teammates become kind of an extension of your family. We were with each other everyday and were a real tight-knit group. On the other hand, we’re looking at it as just another game we need to win.”

“From talking to my friends on the team, their offense has changed a lot,” McGeary said. “Last year, it was a slower offense and that didn’t really suit my style. It’s a different team, they’re more athletic, faster.”

Leading the improved Wildcats (3-1) into Lavietes Pavilion will be senior forward Mike Christensen and junior guards Tyrece Gibbs and Eric Gilchrese. Christensen scored 19 points when the teams met last year and is averaging 13.5 points-per-game. Gilchrese leads the team with 15.5 and Gibbs is third with 12.8.

“Our perimeter defense is going to be key, they have some perimeter players that can score for them,” Amaker said. “Putting hands in the face, being active, chasing long rebounds, hopefully we can be up for that kind of effort.”

In addition to McGeary, Harvard will need strong efforts from starting guards junior Drew Housman and sophomore Jeremy Lin to slow down Gilchrese and Gibbs.

Lin had a memorable performance the last time the two teams met. With the game tied at 81-81 in the final minute of overtime in Durham, he stole a Wildcats inbounds pass, then drove for a lay-up with 23.8 seconds left to secure the key non-conference victory early in the season.

This will be the second home game of the season for the Crimson. In its opener, Harvard ran away from Mercer in a surprising 91-73 win.

The Bears knocked off then-No. 18 USC in the Trojans’ season-opener earlier this month.

This time out, the Crimson hopes to break a two-game skid before its third home game of the season, an ESPNU-televised matchup against Michigan on Saturday.

“Hopefully, we’ll have an energized ball club, coming home, after two straight losses,” Amaker said. “We’re hopeful that our defensive intensity will allow us to play at a level as we did last time we were here, against Mercer.”

—Staff writer Ted Kirby can be reached at tjkirby@fas.harvard.edu.