MEN'S BASKETBALL: Crimson Turns in Historic Year

The 2011-12 Harvard men’s basketball season ended in historic fashion. For the first time since 1946, the Crimson reached the NCAA tournament.

But Harvard’s tournament berth was not the only historic moment that occurred this past year. In its most successful season in program history, the Crimson accomplished a number of firsts: the squad won a Thanksgiving tournament, entered the top 25, downed three BCS-conference opponents, and claimed an outright conference title.

“I thought the season went well overall,” junior wing Christian Webster says. “We accomplished nearly every single one of our goals.”

The Crimson entered the 2011-12 season with high expectations. Harvard was returning its entire starting lineup—including reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Keith Wright—from a squad that shared the Ancient Eight crown and was one jumper away from the 2011 NCAA tournament.

The Crimson came out of the gates hot, opening the season with a pair of convincing wins over MIT and Holy Cross. Harvard then traveled to Los Angeles to take on a Loyola Marymount squad fresh off a double-digit victory over then-No. 17 UCLA.

After falling behind by as many as 12 in the first half, the Crimson battled back to take a four-point lead at the half. The visitor’s lead grew from there, as sophomore wing Laurent Rivard closed out the game with a team-high 20 points.

The next stop for Harvard was the Bahamas, where the Crimson participated in the Battle 4 Atlantis, a preseason tournament featuring the likes of then-No. 4 UConn and then-No. 22 Florida State.

The Crimson opened the tournament by dismantling a weak Utah squad, 75-47. The win set up a semifinal matchup with Florida State, an athletic ACC squad known for its stingy defense.

But when the teams met, it was the Crimson’s defense that prevailed. Harvard held the Seminoles to 41 points—which proved to be a season low for Florida State—and the Crimson came up with a five-point win and a berth in the championship.

In the Battle 4 Atlantis finale, Harvard met a University of Central Florida squad coming off an upset over UConn. Once again, the Crimson’s defense led the way, holding UCF to 49 points in a 59-49 win.

“That was just amazing,” Webster says. “That just helped us to realize how good we were.”

Along with its defense, crucial to Harvard’s success at the three-day tournament was the play of junior point guard Brandyn Curry. While Wright was named the tournament MVP, Curry shined in all three games, leading the charge on defense and coming up with timely baskets.

The team’s success on the defensive end continued when the Crimson returned to the United States, as Harvard bested eventual America East champion Vermont, 55-48, to improve to 7-0.

Rookie forward Jonah Travis helped extend Harvard’s winning streak to eight games by dropping 19 points and 10 rebounds in an 80-70 win over Seattle at Lavietes Pavilion.

The win propelled the Crimson into the top 25 for the first time in program history and set up a highly anticipated matchup with reigning-national champion UConn in Storrs, Conn., on ESPN2.

Harvard hung around with the Huskies—going into halftime down by two—but UConn prevailed, handing the Crimson its first loss.

It proved to be nearly a month before Harvard would pick up another, as the Crimson rebounded with double-digit wins over Boston University, Florida Atlantic, and Boston College.

Harvard closed out 2011 with a gutsy win over St. Joseph’s. After trailing by 10 at halftime, junior forward Kyle Cased brought the Crimson back with a 20-point second-half performance, and Harvard emerged with a five-point win.

“He definitely saved us that game,” Curry says. “He just completely put the team on his back. He willed us to victory. He refused to let us lose.”

But the Crimson’s good fortune ran out three days later. Visiting a struggling Fordham team, Harvard could not get a shot to fall, going 20 of 55 from the field and 8 of 30 from beyond the arc against the Rams’ zone defense.

After leading by three at the half, the Crimson ended up falling by six, 60-54.

But Harvard bounced back, winning its next nine contests.

Harvard downed Dartmouth twice to open Ivy League play, winning the games by a combined 32 points. Next up for the Crimson was a highly anticipated matchup at Yale, but the Bulldogs failed to show up, and Harvard gave Yale a 65-35 drubbing.

The Crimson moved to 6-0 in Ivy League play after downing Brown the next night and then handling Cornell and Columbia at Lavietes Pavilion the following weekend.

Off to its best start in program history, the 20-2 Crimson traveled to Penn and Princeton looking to separate itself from the competition in the Ivy League standings.

But the Tigers had other plans. After Harvard topped the Quakers by six on Friday, Princeton used a late second-half run to overcome a five-point halftime deficit. Tiger junior Ian Hummer led the way, pouring in 20 points to hand the Crimson its first conference defeat.

Harvard responded with a pair of double-digit wins over Yale and Brown at Lavietes, setting up another pair of critical matchups against Penn and Princeton. This time, the Crimson managed to down the Tigers on a Friday night, but struggled with the 8-2 Quakers that Saturday. Harvard led by eight with 11:04 to go, but that’s when Penn’s Zack Rosen stole the show. The senior scored 14 second-half points, leading the Quakers to a one-point win.

With the victory, Penn pulled even with the Crimson in the Ivy loss column heading into the final week of play.

Both teams took care of business the following weekend. Harvard downed Columbia and Cornell to secure at least a share of the Ivy League title while Penn defeated Brown and Yale. But the Quakers still had one more matchup—a visit to Princeton. Win, and Penn would force a one-game playoff with the Crimson. Lose, and Harvard would go dancing.

In a game televised on ESPN3, the Tigers came away with a victory. Princeton grabbed a 10-point halftime lead and never looked back, winning 62-52 to send the Crimson to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1946.

But that’s when Harvard’s luck ran out. Later that week, the Crimson found out it would be taking on Vanderbilt, a team fresh off a win over No. 1 Kentucky, in the second round of March Madness.

After hanging around early, the Crimson fell behind late in the first half to the Commodores and, despite a strong showing from sophomore Laurent Rivard, was never able to recover. Harvard fell, 79-70, bringing an end to the most successful season in program history.

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.