The “Surprise” Team?

Previewing the 2015-2016 Harvard men’s basketball season

Zena Edosomwan ’17, soaring over teammate Balsa Dragovic '19 and two fans to win the dunk contest at Crimson Madness, will be the team's primary threat in the post.
Zena Edosomwan ’17, soaring over teammate Balsa Dragovic '19 and two fans to win the dunk contest at Crimson Madness, will be the team's primary threat in the post.Photograph courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications
Team captain Evan Cummins '16 (shown during an interview at Crimson Madness) will play a key role leading the Crimson. Teammate Zena Edosomwan is at left.
Team captain Evan Cummins 16 (shown during an interview at Crimson Madness) will play a key role leading the Crimson. Teammate Zena Edosomwan is at left.Photograph courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications 
Tommy Amaker, the Stemberg head coach of men's basketball, looks to lead a young squad to its sixth consecutive conference championship.
Tommy Amaker, the Stemberg head coach of men's basketball, looks to lead a young squad to its sixth consecutive conference championship.Photograph courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications

Last April, the men’s basketball team gathered at the Harvard Club of Boston for its annual end-of-the-year banquet, to celebrate the 2014-2015 squad, which went 22-8 and captured the program’s fifth straight conference championship and fourth consecutive NCAA tournament berth.

In his remarks that night, Tommy Amaker, the Stemberg head coach of men’s basketball, discussed the future. Several attendees recalled that he told the returning players that they had an opportunity to “surprise” people, just as he and his teammates had done during his senior year at Duke. The Blue Devils were coming off a 37-3 campaign that culminated in a trip to (though not a win in) the 1986 NCAA championship game, but four starters from the ’85-’86 season had graduated, so the team was expected to regress. Instead, by March 1987, when Duke reached the Sweet 16, many reporters were referring to the Blue Devils as the “surprise” team.

Harvard, Amaker noted, was in a similar position. Seven seniors were graduating, including former Ivy League Player of the Year Wesley Saunders ’15. Many were predicting that the team would lose its perch atop the conference, but Amaker told his players that they, too, could surprise everyone.

The teams had something else in common. In the fall of 1986, the lone returning starter for Duke was Amaker, one of the best point guards in the country. And Harvard’s top returning player was another star point guard: then-junior Siyani Chambers, a three-time all-conference player, ranked among the best point guards in the country.

Unfortunately, the off-season brought unwelcome news: Chambers tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee, which sidelined him for the 2015-2016 campaign. Now, with the start of the season just days away (Harvard hosts MIT this Friday), the question is whether the Crimson has enough firepower to win its sixth consecutive conference championship.

A Challenging Schedule

If Harvard survives Chambers’s absence, it will do so while playing one of the toughest schedules in program history.

The non-conference slate features four teams that reached the 2015 NCAA tournament. Most intimidating is Kansas, ranked fourth in the Associated Press pre-season poll. The Crimson will also have to contend with Providence’s star point guard, Kris Dunn (who many experts believe will be selected early in the first round of the NBA draft), and play Northeastern and Wofford. In addition, during the holidays, Harvard will participate in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii, featuring more high-profile programs (notably Oklahoma).

These games, though challenging, could pay dividends down the road. According to former Crimson forward Jonah Travis ’15, there is little margin for error when playing against “long and athletic” opponents, so Harvard’s players will have to be more precise and in the process internalize Amaker’s strategic approach to the game. That attention to detail becomes paramount in conference play, Travis added, when Harvard will face opponents who are extremely familiar with the Crimson’s personnel and tactics.

Harvard will need to be especially sharp against Ivy League opponents this year because the conference is extremely strong. As Yale coach James Jones noted in the pre-season conference media call, four teams could win 20 games this year. Chief among them are the Elis, who shared the conference title with Harvard last year and return Ivy League Player of the Year Justin Sears; Columbia, which features two of the league’s best offensive players in Maodo Lo and Alex Rosenberg; and perennial power Princeton, which returns all five starters from a squad that went 9-5 in conference play last season. (Harvard ranked fourth in the pre-season poll.)

Developing Chemistry

 With so many new faces, this team’s fate will hinge largely on its ability to absorb Amaker’s offensive and defensive systems and develop chemistry with each other.

At this year’s Crimson pre-season press conference, Amaker explained that the team intends to play “inside-out” on offense, as it has for years. He wants his players to begin possessions by getting the ball close to the basket, either with a pass to a post player or with a guard penetrating off the dribble. That player then can shoot or else pass to an open teammate, ideally a three-point shooter.

The team’s exhibition game last Saturday against McGill (which Harvard won 66-63) suggests Harvard has the personnel to do this. The team’s best post option is Zena Edosomwan ’17, a center who scored 21 points against McGill and is a ferocious dunker. On the perimeter, the Crimson has multiple threats, including Corey Johnson, a promising freshman who sank three three-pointers and played 38 minutes on Saturday; his classmate Tommy McCarthy; and Corbin Miller ’15 (’17), one of the team’s best three-point shooters last year.

It remains to be seen whether the same players can implement Amaker’s defensive system, which emphasizes aggressive man-to-man defense and providing “help” (moving away from the player one is guarding to assist a teammate who loses track of the player he is guarding).

The team—which blocked eight shots on Saturday—has excellent rim protectors, but struggled to stay in front of McGill’s speedy guards. In the past, Harvard has had quick perimeter defenders (most notably Chambers) who communicated well. This year’s players lack that speed; they will have to improve their timing and talk to one another to avoid the lapses that gave McGill many open threes.

The Point

To a large extent, Harvard’s ability to develop that chemistry depends on the performance of its point guards. According to guard Matt Fraschilla ’17, Amaker often uses football analogies to capture the position’s significance: like the quarterback on offense, leading the team effort to score and making sure that everyone is in the right place; like a middle linebacker on defense, communicating what the other team is doing while still making sure teammates are in position.

It is unrealistic for this year’s point guards—McCarthy, Miller, and Fraschilla—to replicate the production of Chambers, whom Amaker repeatedly called Harvard’s “most important” player. But they will need to perform, especially McCarthy, who started and played 31 minutes on Saturday. Recognizing the task in front of him, he has been putting in extra work, watching video with Amaker and his assistants to identify what he is doing well and where he can improve. It is a tall task for any freshman to take the reins of a nationally recognized basketball program, but it helps to be playing for a coach who once did the same thing.

Leadership

The success of this year’s squad will also depend on something less tangible: leadership. The Crimson has plenty of that.

Evan Cummins ’16, the team’s captain, averaged just 2.4 points per game during the past three years, but he watched his predecessors lead three NCAA tournament teams. Now he has embraced the captaincy. Against McGill, Cummins played a key role directing the team on the court. Off the court, he evinces calmness and confidence. During a press conference following Saturday’s game, he emphasized that “having been there [before], you know a little bit of what to expect” and that he and his teammates would watch film and make the necessary tactical adjustments as the start of the season approaches.

Amaker repeatedly insists that his team pay no heed to outside expectations but focus instead on its internal standards. During his speech at last year’s banquet, Travis said, the coach’s implicit message to his squad was that they needed to put on blinders and ignore outside prognosticators.

Amaker was also drawing on his experience at Duke. Before that team’s matchup with Indiana in the Sweet 16, Amaker told a reporter, “We weren't supposed to be here, but it's the mark of a great team and an excellent basketball coach when a team pulls together like we have."

Amaker and his players are not brushing this season off as a rebuilding year. They view it as another opportunity to build a tradition of excellence in Cambridge.

Tidbits

Amaker and his staff have been making waves on the recruiting trail. Next year’s recruiting class—which features multiple prospects ranked among the top-100 seniors in the country—is currently ranked eighth in the nation by ESPN. Amaker, accorded to multiple reports, has also met with Wendell Carter, the second-ranked recruit in the high-school class of 2017.

Meanwhile, Harvard basketball alumni have found success in the professional ranks. This summer, Jeremy Lin ’10 signed with the Charlotte Hornets, and Kyle Casey ’13 and Wesley Saunders ’15 participated in training camps with the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks. Casey and Saunders did not make the final rosters but are now playing with those clubs’ affiliates in the NBA Development League. Keith Wright ’12 is also playing in the “D-League.”

Andre Chatfield ’18 sat out Saturday’s scrimmage with an ankle sprain. When healthy, he is likely to figure prominently in Amaker’s lineup as an athletic wing.

The women’s basketball team, after finishing 14-14 overall and 7-7 in conference play last year, was picked to finish third in the pre-season Ivy poll. The Crimson are led by senior captains AnnMarie Healey (who averaged 13.4 points per game last year) and Kit Metoyer as well as senior sharpshooter Shilpa Tummala. The Crimson will look to dethrone Princeton, which is ranked twenty-fifth in a national pre-season poll.

Read more articles by: David L. Tannenwald

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