M. BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: One Final Hurrah

Do not believe the Harvard men’s basketball team is unaware of what it can accomplish this weekend. The Crimson knows exactly what will be at stake when it takes the floor on Friday night at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym.

Entering the final weekend of the season, Harvard (12-13, 7-5 Ivy) has the opportunity to take some of the shine off the Ivy League’s most illustrious program. The Tigers (13-12, 4-7) enter their game against Harvard teetering precariously on the brink of the school’s worst Ivy League season. Since the team joined the Ancient Eight in 1956-57, Princeton has never had a losing record in league play—a monument to excellence that Harvard can smash by giving the Tigers their eighth defeat of the year.

“To ruin [that streak], especially for Princeton, that would be awesome,” senior guard Kevin Rogus said. “Nothing would be better than to have them suffer.”

The implications of the game for both teams have not been lost on Harvard’s players, and in light of the recent history between the two teams—especially the Crimson’s double-overtime loss at Jadwin last year—Harvard would like nothing more than to ensure the Tigers experience their ignominious defeat at home.

“There’s definitely some added motivation,” junior center Brian Cusworth said. “We’ve always had a rivalry.”

The intensity does not let up for the Crimson after its game against Princeton. The next night, Harvard travels to Philadelphia to take on Penn (17-8, 10-1) at the Palestra. The Quakers have already locked up the Ivy League crown and accompanying automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. Beating Penn, which has dominated the rest of the league all year, would mark the perfect end to a comeback season.

“If I had to pick [between beating Princeton or Penn], I’d take a win at the Palestra, especially because they clinched the league,” said senior point guard David Giovacchini. “I’d like to be able to say, ‘yeah, we beat them, on their own turf.’”

HOSTILE HOMES

Jadwin Gym. The Palestra.

For 50 years, those names have sent a wave of fear through the other members of the Ivy League. The southernmost Ivy outposts have consistently proven to be two of the toughest places to play in all of college basketball. Harvard hasn’t won at Jadwin since 1989 or at the Palestra since 1991.

“They both are real basketball type environments, more so than most of the other schools in the Ivy League,” Giovacchini said. “They have a lot of fans...and on top of that they’re good teams and good programs, which makes it difficult when you have to play them on back-to-back nights.”

Jadwin Gym, with a capacity of 6,854, and the Palestra, with a maximum of 8,700, are the two biggest Ivy League arenas. For comparison, Lavietes Pavilion, the home of Harvard hoops, can seat only 2,195. Not coincidentally, the twin basketball behemoths regularly have the largest and most frenzied crowds of any league venue.

“They have the largest fan support,” Harvard coach Frank Sullivan said. “It’s a big event at each one of these places.”

Both games that Harvard plays this weekend will certainly be big events. Princeton fans will be trying to will the beginning of a three game home winning streak that would avert the disaster of a losing record. Penn fans will be out to see the team off in its final home game of the season.

“Penn really loves playing in its gym,” Rogus said. “I don’t know what it is about [the Palestra], but all three years I’ve played there, we’ve been down by [a lot] within the first few minutes...we’re ready for it this year.”

TOURNAMENT BLUES

With another season nearing its conclusion, the question of why the Ivy League remains the only Division I conference to not hold a tournament has been raised yet again.

“As a team that’s already out of the race, which would love to play in the NCAA tournament, I’d say it’s absolutely [ridiculous] we don’t have a [conference tournament],” Rogus said. “We feel like if there was one we’d play tremendously right now.”

Every year, several Ivy teams that struggled at the beginning of the season catch fire down the stretch, yet have no chance to cash in on their improved play. This year, Dartmouth (6-1 in its last seven games) and Harvard (5-2) will both be shutout from postseason play, despite the fact that they have as much momentum as any team.

“It’s definitely tough, when we’ve come on so strong late in the year…you see all the time teams in other conferences that will find themselves and just start clicking at the end of the year, and become something like a Cinderella team,” Cusworth said. “I’m not about to make any of the Ancient Eight founders roll in their grave trying to start up anything. We’ve come to terms with it.”

In the absence of a tournament, Harvard—which has suffered four league losses by a combined total of 10 points—cannot help looking back at its frustrating defeats.

“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t come together earlier,” Cusworth said. “We definitely know we were robbed in a few of those games...but so it goes.”

—Staff writer Caleb W. Peiffer can be reached at cpeiffer@fas.harvard.edu.