Can Harvard Basketball Put The Ivy League Back On The Map?

Ivy League basketball has started to make some national noise in recent seasons. While the league hasn’t produced a Final Four team since the 1979 Penn edition joined Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in Salt Lake City, you did have Cornell making the Sweet 16 in 2010, and Harvard basketball has started to at least knock on the door. The Crimson are doing some more knocking this season, so let’s see who they have and what we might realistically expect.

Harvard, as you might expect, is not incredibly imposing from a physical standpoint. There are only two frontcourt players who get significant minutes, and neither Steve Moundo-Morris nor Kyle Casey goes taller than 6’7”. They combine for a pedestrian 20 points/12 rebounds per game.

The Crimson does have depth in the backcourt, and 6’5” swingman Wesley Saunders leads the way Saunders leads the way with 15 ppg. Siyani Chambers is another double-digit scorer. It also seems reasonable to expect a player like 6’5” senior Laurent Rivard to step up his game and give more than the 8 ppg he has to date.

Harvard has gone outside the Ivy League and knocked off Horizon-leading UW-Green Bay by double-digits on a neutral floor, when they with 15 ppg. Siyani Chambers is another double-digit scorer. It also seems reasonable to expect a player like 6’5” senior Laurent Rivard to step up his game and give more than the 8 ppg he has to date.

Harvard has gone outside the Ivy League and knocked off Horizon-leading UW-Green Bay by double-digits on a neutral floor. This suggests Harvard has achieved some degree of separation between themselves and the leaders of other one-bid leagues.

What the Crimson have not done is show that they can realistically compete with power conference teams. They lost by eight to Colorado and were badly outrebounded. Harvard lost at UConn, a team that has not distinguished itself thus far in the American Athletic Conference. Even worse, the Crimson lost earlier this week to Florida Atlantic. Rebounding problems have been at the root of these losses, along with difficulties on the defensive end.

That’s why I find it hard to take this Harvard team seriously when it comes to making a real national splash. I guess you can never be shocked by a team winning one NCAA Tournament game, especially if it’s a 5-12 or 4-13 game. But even that would be a notable upset and I can’t see Harvard doing much more.