Crimson Reloads Again

Widely praised for his recruiting prowess, Harvard men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker swung for the fences last fall in compiling his third recruiting class at the helm of the Crimson.

The former Seton Hall and Michigan coach largely struck out, as Amaker and his staff lost multiple top-100 prospects to high-major institutions like Stanford and Vanderbilt.

But true to his reputation, Amaker recovered in the winter and managed to bring in a haul that once again stands among the best in the Ivy League.

Composed of five recruits hailing from three different nations, Harvard’s class of 2014 appears poised to have the same sort of impact that the squad’s current sophomores made last season during their first year in Cambridge.

The most intriguing of the Crimson newcomers is seven-footer Ugo Okam, a 245-pound center who graduated from Florida’s Montverde Academy.

His presence provides Amaker with a much-needed boost in the team’s frontcourt—which will begin the season with only three healthy returnees—as well as an asset to develop over the long term.

Having played basketball only since his arrival in the United States from Nigeria about five years ago, Okam has been steadily improving in all facets of the sport—especially after joining Harvard.

“He’s made tremendous strides here, just since he’s stepped on campus until now,” junior co-captain Keith Wright says of the freshman. “It’s just amazing the progression he’s made. He’s more of a defensive monster. He blocks everything around the rim.”

Okam, who turned down offers from Vanderbilt, Penn, and Loyola Marymount in favor of Harvard, remains raw and unpolished on the offensive end but certainly has the physical tools to make an impact down low.

“Offensively, he was a little limited. But within a week and a half, he’s got a hook shot—lefty, righty—dunks, alley-oops, boxing out, learning the plays quickly,” junior Andrew Van Nest says. “We don’t really have to take him under our wing. If he messes up, we get on him, and he learns from that. We’re always honest with him, and he learns quickly.”

Okam is joined by a pair of rookie guards hailing from Northfield Mount Hermon School, a Massachusetts prep school that has consistently sent graduates all over the Ivy League.

Already garnering his fair share of praise, highly-touted wing Laurent Rivard will be sure to see playing time right away in a crowded Harvard backcourt—or perhaps even up front.

“Laurent—he’s a complete player already,” McNally says. “One thing about him that you rarely see in a freshman is that he’s like 220 pounds, 6’5”, great build; he’s a really strong guy for how young he is.”

Predicted to be the Ancient Eight’s Newcomer of the Year by Lindy’s Sports, Rivard has a versatile skill set and a high basketball IQ to go along with his impressive frame.

“He excels as a fundamentally sound wing that can really shoot it with range,” says Barry Hayes of Hoopstars Canada. “He is unselfish and has good vision with the ball—always a great combination.”

“While he doesn’t immediately look the part of a defensive stopper, he is deceptively quick, using good foot speed,” Hayes adds.

Praised as “one of the best pure shooters in the region” by the New England Recruiting Report, the guard poured in 22 points during the Crimson’s scrimmage against Northeastern last weekend.

The Canada native played with his home country’s junior national team last summer and selected Harvard over Georgia Tech and Bucknell.

Rivard is joined on the roster by quite a familiar face. Matt Brown, a fellow graduate of NMH, is a combination guard with the ability to distribute and score while making his physical presence felt on defense too.

“He’s a powerful kid in the backcourt; he can shoot the ball and get to the basket,” says Alex Schwartz of Northstar Basketball. “Matt Brown’s a kid who I think has the chance to be an All-League-type player.”

Currently Harvard’s only two-sport male athlete, Brown is also a wide receiver for the football team, which concludes its season next Saturday.

Brown has missed most of the basketball preseason and will likely miss the Crimson’s first three games.

Rounding out the current class is Ernest Rouse, a 6’2” guard out of New York City’s Archbishop Molloy High School, where he was coached by Jack Curran, the winningest coach in New York state history.

Rouse was accepted to Harvard without being recruited by the Crimson.

He then initiated contact with Amaker and his staff and joined Harvard’s roster. The shooter held offers from UMBC, NJIT, and Siena.

But Rouse is no longer flying under the radar.

“Ernest is really, really good,” sophomore guard Brandyn Curry says. “Nobody knew much about Ernest. He’s come in and really proved himself during practice.”

“Ernest—he can hit shots, and he’s done that in practice,” McNally adds. “He’s done a good job with that, and that’s his specialty.”

The final recruit of the class, Californian Jamie Moore, has decided to take a leave of absence for the semester to deal with persistent migraines. The sharpshooting forward says he hopes to return to Harvard and the basketball team in the spring.

For his classmates, the wait is finally over.

Amaker’s latest crop of rookies will now have its chance to achieve the goal made explicit by every freshman class in recent Crimson history: to bring home the squad’s first-ever conference title.

—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng12@college.harvard.edu.