We’re counting down the top 10 moments in each Ivy school’s history as part of our Ivy League at 60 retrospective. Harvard is next because who needs ties?
In 2012, the season following Harvard’s first Ivy League title, the Crimson competed in “The Battle 4 Atlantis” in the Bahamas. The tournament field was stacked with high-major competition, including No. 4 Connecticut and No. 22 Florida State. The Crimson cruised against Utah, their first opponent, then faced a tougher test in the Seminoles.
Harvard, however, was up for the challenge, and proved it right away by locking down defensively and forcing Florida State to miss its first 14 shots. But the Crimson struggled to score as well, and at the half, the game was tied at 14 (which matched the lowest two-team total at the end of one half in a Division I game since 2003). In the second half, the Crimson were led by Brandyn Curry on both ends of the floor. An 8-0 Crimson run near the end of the second half was enough to push the Crimson to victory.
“We got beat by a team today that was much hungrier than we were,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said after the game. In the tournament finals, the Crimson beat Central Florida (which had defeated UConn the day before), giving the Crimson the Battle 4 Atlantis championship. Two weeks later, as a result of their excellent performance in the Bahamas, the Crimson received a No. 24 ranking in the AP poll, signaling the beginning of a long period of Crimson dominance in the Ivy League – a period that continues to this day.
If I recall correctly, Harvard wasn’t the only Ivy “hungrier” than FSU in 2012.