The Case for the Final Four

Even if the Crimson is long gone from the NCAA tournament, your allegiance to Harvard can still play a role in who you cheer for this weekend in the Final Four. Unfortunately, a true Harvard fan has good reasons to root for and against each of the powerhouse teams remaining. Below, we present each case and leave it up to you to decide who to pull for.

Kentucky

Reason to root for Kentucky: If you want to thank the Princeton Tigers for sending the Crimson to the tourney by beating Penn this year, cheer alongside them for a cat to retake the throne on top of the basketball food chain. The whole cat family is still licking its wounds after watching last year’s all-canine Connecticut Huskies-Butler Bulldogs matchup. Therefore, the top-seeded Wildcats seem like an obvious underdog team to root for.

Reason to root against Kentucky: On the other hand, if you are still recovering from Harvard’s loss to Princeton in last year’s one-game playoff, it may be too soon to root for another big cat.

Louisville

Reason to root for Louisville: If you squinted hard enough, you could have confused Louisville in its black uniforms with Harvard when the Crimson goes with an all-black look.

Reason to root against Louisville: Louisville’s logo is a cardinal showing off its pearly whites with a mean snarl. The only problem, as pointed out by the true Harvard man watching the Elite Eight with me, is that cardinals don’t have teeth. Every time Louisville takes a step forward, ornithological awareness takes a step back. Be a smart Harvard fan and oppose ornithological ignorance.

Ohio State

Reason to root for Ohio State: The Chairman of the Ohio State Board of Trustees Leslie Wexner has given just under $20 million to The John F. Kennedy School of Government's Center for Public Leadership. The multi-billionaire was inaugurated by Harvard University into the Society of John Harvard Fellows and serves as a visiting lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Reason to root against Ohio State: Ohio State’s mascot is the Buckeye. What is a Buckeye, you might ask? Well, it’s a medium-sized deciduous tree that produces yellow-green panicles…but not in Massachusetts. While the plant is present in nearby Maine, New Hampshire and New York, it is absent from the great Bay State. If that silly tree thinks it doesn’t need Mass., then we certainly don’t need it.

Kansas

Reason to root for Kansas: On Nov. 23, the Jayhawks lost to Duke. On Jan. 21, the Blue Devils lost to Florida State, a team Harvard topped during the season-opening Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. So if the Jayhawks come out victorious this weekend, you might as well consider the Crimson national champions. Go Crimson!

Reason to root against Kansas: James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, brought the infantile sport to Kansas University in 1898, establishing one of the first collegiate basketball programs. The sport quickly grew to hundreds of other schools and began to rival football, a game with strong roots at Harvard. Over 100 years later, it’s still okay to be bitter towards KU for getting the game before such a prestigious institution as Harvard.