Van Nest Suffers Year-Ending Injury

The Harvard men’s basketball team was picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League preseason media poll, published two weeks ago.

For a squad that struggled mightily last season, posting a 3-11 mark in the Ivy League and an 8-22 record overall, something seems awry.

To rise from the bottom to the top in one year, something big has to change.

That something big was 6’10” super-recruit Andrew Van Nest.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, the hopes the big man brought were for naught, as the power forward from Weston, Mass., is done for the year.

Last week, the freshman suffered a shoulder injury, which will require season-ending surgery. Due to Ivy League rules, he does not have the option of red-shirting, so Van Nest will only have three years to showcase his skills on the court for the Crimson.

“I actually have season-ending surgery for my shoulder,” Van Nest said. “It’s a little devastating. My first year with Harvard is officially done, but I’ll still be there with the team the whole way, doing anything I can do to help.”

Van Nest, a three-star recruit, would have filled a huge gap in the middle of the Crimson rotation. He was highly touted out of prep school, and for good reason. In addition to being recruited by Georgetown and Virginia, he was one of 24 nominees from Massachusetts for McDonald’s All-American and the 12th-ranked player from Massachusetts by Rivals.com. These are not titles usually associated with a Harvard recruit.

But all that is changing under coach Amaker, who is not new to bringing in coveted recruiting classes. At Seton Hall, after taking his team to the Sweet Sixteen, he boasted the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation in 2000.

This year, it’s more of the same. Even without Van Nest, the team will have a hoard of talent, led by freshman Max Kenyi, Amaker’s other three-star recruit.

The squad would have been even meatier had Amaker retained his top recruit, center Frank Ben-Eze, but the first-year instead committed to play with senior sensation Stephen Curry at Davidson, last year’s NCAA Tournnament Cinderella team.

It’s not all bad for the Crimson, but the team will most definitely miss Van Nest this year. Combined with a minor injury to fellow freshman forward Peter Boehm, Amaker will need to fill some holes in this class.

“We don’t have them all healthy, a couple of the freshmen kids are out—Boehm and Van Nest, those two in particular,” Amaker said. “[But] the others have done fairly well. They certainly have made their presence felt in a very positive way with their ability.”

Injuries have been the theme for the Crimson so far this preseason. Junior Pat Magnarelli is coming back from one after missing almost all of Harvard’s Ivy slate last year. Senior point guard Drew Housman will be out for at least a week with an ankle injury, and how he recovers will prove critical for Harvard’s early season success.

“Right now, we’re a little banged up,” Amaker said. “We’re worried a little bit about where we are with bodies. You know, that happens a lot at the beginning of the year. I think we have some injuries where guys are going to be able to come back from, and then we have a couple that I’m not sure about.”

The Crimson will look to get healthy quickly. The team opens regular season play next Wednesday at New Hampshire.

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