Harvard Receives No. 10 Seed, Will Face Michigan State in NCAA Tournament

Updated March 16, 2025, at 10:14 p.m.

Harvard women’s basketball team will tip off against the Michigan State Spartans in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament as the selection committee awarded the Crimson a No. 10 seed on Sunday evening, the highest seeding in program history.

Led by star senior Harmoni Turner, the Crimson secured a spot in the NCAA tournament on Saturday for the first time since 2007 after the team held on to defeat the Columbia Lions 74-71 and win its first-ever Ivy League tournament title. The team will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina, to make its seventh March Madness appearance and the first under head coach Carrie Moore.

Players and coaches in attendance at a Selection Sunday watch party erupted in cheers when an ESPN telecast revealed Harvard’s seeding. Turner, who sat in the front row with the Ivy Madness trophy and net in her lap, led her teammates in celebration. As Moore looked on with a huge smile across her face, Harvard’s players embraced in a group hug which ended with some dancing.

Moore told reporters at the watch party that she was incredibly proud of the growth that her squad has made in terms of team culture.

“There are moments where we’ve been the best thing we can be culturally, but there’s also been some moments where we dipped below the line in that area,” she added. “I think you’ve seen us really meet the moment.”

Though the watch party was sparse on undergraduate fans, several administrators and faculty members were in attendance to celebrate with the friends and players, including former University President Claudine Gay, Harvard Athletics Director Erin McDermott, former Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith, and Dean of Students Thomas Dunne.

While many students are currently away from campus due to spring break, Turner said that the team is very grateful for “the ones that are supporting us, the ones that are showing up.”

“We really hold on to them and cherish them because we know that support is helpful,” she added. “All we got is all we need, and that’s something that Coach Moore has preached to us since she’s got here.”

Though the Crimson will enter its matchup against the No. 7 Spartans as the underdog, Harvard has some past experience with March magic. Harvard upset No. 1 seed Stanford in 1998, which remains the only instance when a No. 16 seed has upset a top seed in the women’s tournament.

Turner told reporters she has watched Harvard’s 1998 game against Stanford “probably about six times” and that she has formed a tight bond with Allison S. Feaster ’98, who led the Crimson that year to the round of 32, which remains Harvard’s best performance in the NCAA tournament.

“I’m definitely asking her a lot of questions, picking her brain a lot, being a sponge,” Turner said, “and just trying to translate what she did to beat that Stanford team back in ’98.”

“They need better jerseys,” she said with a laugh. “The uniforms are crazy.”

Harvard’s game against Michigan State will also be especially meaningful for Moore, who grew up in Michigan and played college basketball for the Western Michigan Broncos. As a player for the Broncos, one of the graduate assistants was Robyn Fralick who is now the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans.

“I know Robyn very well, I’ve watched them play a ton,” Moore said. “It’s just gonna be a super fun matchup.”

While Harvard claimed the Ivy League’s automatic bid with its Ivy Madness victory, the Crimson will be joined in the tournament by some familiar faces. The Ancient Eight will send three teams to the tournament for the first time ever as the Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers earned at-large bids on Sunday.

This year’s history-making tournament for the Ivy League comes just one year after the conference earned two March Madness bids for the first time.

Moore said that she was delighted to see the Ivy League get the recognition it deserves from the NCAA selection committee.

“It’s time,” she said. “It’s the best year in Ivy League basketball and it’s great that it’s going to end this way for us.”

“Prepare yourselves for one, if not more, of us to win some basketball games,” Moore added.

—Staff writer Miles J. Herszenhorn can be reached at miles.herszenhorn@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @mherszenhorn or on Threads @mileshersz.