Men's Basketball Doles Out Accolades at Banquet

Friends, family, and alumni joined the Harvard men’s basketball team in celebration of its 2010-11 season this evening at the Harvard Club of Boston for the Crimson’s annual banquet.

Former Boston Celtics’ player and coach Tommy Heinsohn addressed the Crimson players, congratulating the squad, which earned a share of the Ivy League championship for the first time in program history.

Harvard coach Tommy Amaker—who announced on Tuesday that he would return to coach the Crimson next season despite receiving interest from the University of Miami—led the banquet, revealing the winners of the 2010-11 team awards.

Junior co-captain Keith Wright garnered both the Hamilton Fish ’10 Most Improved Player Award and the Raymond P. Lavietes ’36 Most Valuable Player Award. Wright, who nearly doubled his sophomore year rebounding clip, led the Crimson with 14.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per contest over his junior campaign.

Wright’s fellow captain, junior Oliver McNally, took home the Henry Zimmerman Free Throw Shooting Accuracy award after finishing the season third in the nation in free-throw percentage, connecting on 92.6 percent of his attempts.

Sophomore Christian Webster received the Floyd S. Wilson Sportsmanship Award, while sophomore Dee Giger and freshman Matt Brown shared the John Harnice ’84 Spirit Award.

Amaker also introduced a new award named after Harvard basketball donor Thomas Stemberg ’71, given to the player who leads the Crimson in minutes played. Sophomore point guard Brandyn Curry was the first to take home the honor after leading the Crimson with 1,017 minutes.

Amaker closed the banquet by announcing that McNally and Wright will share the captaincy again in 2011-12, making them the first pair in Harvard basketball history to serve two consecutive seasons as captains.

In the coming season, Wright and McNally will look to lead the Crimson to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1946.