Down 16 in the second half against Tom Izzo’s mighty Spartans, Harvard stormed back, capturing the lead and the nation’s attention on Saturday night before ultimately falling short in a 80-73 Round of 32 defeat.
After a subpar first half in which the Spartans’ size and strength proved to be a lot to deal with inside for the Ivy champions, Harvard mounted its comeback. With 7:11 to play, Siyani Chambers found an open Laurent Rivard who calmly knocked down a three, capping a 17-5 run for the Crimson, and giving Harvard its first lead of the game at 62-60. But as great teams do, Michigan State withstood the blow and responded with a run of its own, hitting shot after shot down the stretch to escape.
Wes Saunders had 22 points on 6-14 FG and 10-10 FT to lead the Crimson. Steve Moundou-Missi finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds and was instrumental in the second half comeback. Brandyn Curry’s final game in crimson was a good one, as the senior tallied 12 points and 6 rebounds.
Harvard’s historic season comes to a close with a final record of 27-5.
The next week should be an interesting one for the program as more fuel is added to the “Amaker to BC” rumor blaze.
What fuel, if any, has been added to the “Amaker to BC” fire? As far as I know (which, granted, may not be the full story), the only media source pushing that story is Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe. Shaughnessy’s hypothesis is that BC is interested and Amaker will take the job because he’s done all that he can at Harvard.
I would be very surprised if Amaker left Harvard. He’s got a situation there where, unless the other Ivies adjust their AI allocation policies, he can literally win every conference championship until he retires. How many guys would walk away from that kind of built-in advantage? He would be a fool to leave and I do not at all think Tommy Amaker is a fool.
I was referencing the Shaughnessy article, but I do agree with you that I don’t think he’s going anywhere.
Thanks for your thoughts. Now would Tommy Amaker *TALK* to BC in order to renegotiate his contract in the way that he talked to Miami back in 2011 and got a new deal out of it?
I would imagine that Tom Stemberg and the Friends of Harvard Basketball are opening their checkbooks right now.
As I said, I do not think Tommy Amaker is a fool. Don’t be surprised if our man moves to a bigger, nicer house next year.
In his blog post yesterday, longtime Boston Globe sports columnist Mark Blaudschun evaluated whether Amaker would want to go to BC, observing that, academically (for basketball recruits), “I think it is tougher to get kids into BC than Harvard.”
In other words, the Harvard model might not translate easily to Chestnut Hill. Amaker might want to stay put.