Super Sophs Poised To Take Next Step

Nine hundred eleven points, 348 rebounds, and 186 assists. Seven Rookie of the Week honors and one Ivy League Rookie of the Year award. The Harvard men’s basketball team’s class of 2013 accomplished quite a bit during its rookie season.

But for the five sophomores on the Crimson roster, the 2009-10 season was a disappointment in one major way.

“We didn’t win the Ivy League championship,” says reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year Kyle Casey. “I don’t really think [last season] was that great of a success.”

If the upcoming season is to be the one in which the Crimson hangs its first championship banner, its returning sophomores will have to be the driving force.

With the graduation of Jeremy Lin ’10, Doug Miller ’10, and Pat Magnarelli ’10, Harvard will be calling on its core group of second-year players to shoulder a larger share of the load.

“This year, there’s no sitting in the back, relying on the upperclassmen,” sophomore guard Brandyn Curry says. “We are the upperclassmen. A lot of the team’s depending on us to make the plays late in the game.”

If last season was any indication, Harvard’s sophomores should be up to the task.

From the first game of the season last year, the Crimson’s class of 2013 was thrown into the fire. The group did not disappoint. By season’s end, Harvard’s freshmen—led by the trio of Casey, Curry, and guard Christian Webster—had combined for 42 percent of Harvard’s scoring and taken home seven of 17 Ivy League Rookie of the Week awards.

Casey, in particular, was a force to be reckoned with. The highly-touted recruit from the nearby Brimmer and May School finished the season ranked 14th in the conference in scoring, eighth in rebounding, and fourth in field goal percentage. The 6’7” forward with an explosive vertical leap also displayed an ability to stroke the ball from beyond the arc, shooting 11 of 28 (39.3 percent) from deep in Ivy League play.

“He became one of the toughest players to defend against in the entire league,” junior co-captain Oliver McNally observes.

With Lin gone, many onlookers expect Casey to take on the role as the team’s top offensive producer for the next three seasons.

But Harvard fans will have to wait some time before they can see Casey take the reins of the Crimson offense.

Casey—who suffered a broken foot while playing pickup basketball with his teammates in early October—is not expected to see the floor until late November or early December, and he will likely miss at least the Crimson’s first three contests.

“Right now, my main concern is getting back on both feet, getting healthy, trying to get out there with my teammates,” Casey says. “I’m going to wait until I’m 100 percent and come back strong and ready to help the team.”

Another sophomore currently recovering from an injury is Curry, a 6’1” point guard.

Curry—who played his entire freshman season with a torn patellar tendon—underwent surgery in April, forcing him to spend the summer rehabbing his knee in his hometown of Huntersville, N.C.

But after being cleared to play three weeks ago, Curry is expected to be back at full strength and in the starting lineup for tomorrow’s matchup against George Mason.

“I got off to a slow start in practice, but I’m definitely getting a lot better with it,” Curry says. “My speed’s improving. My cut time, my reaction time are all improving. I’ll be good by the time season starts.”

During the latter part of the 2009-10 season, Curry was perhaps the most impressive of the Crimson’s talented rookies. The point guard capped off his season with back-to-back Ivy League Rookie of the Week awards after averaging 14 points, five assists, and two steals over Harvard’s final four regular-season contests.

With his knee healthy, the sophomore expects to be even more dangerous. Curry, who spent the offseason working on his off-hand while rehabbing, hopes to take on the role as the team’s creator in the absence of Lin.

“Last year we relied a lot more on [Lin] creating for us,” Curry says. “We just spaced out, let him handle most of the work. So this year, for me, I’m going to have to handle the ball a lot more. I’m going to have to be the one that finds my open teammates.”

Two of those teammates Curry expects to find are his classmates—and roommates—Webster and guard Dee Giger. The backcourt duo of Webster and Giger combined for 13.3 points per game and 60 three-pointers last season. Webster, a 6’5” wing, finished second on the team in three-point percentage (38.3) and first on the team in made three-pointers (41).

But after an offseason spent working on his ability to put the ball on the floor, Webster plans to change his image as simply a spot-up shooter.

“I know Brandyn and Christian have improved their game from last year, and they’re ready to take some big steps forward,” McNally says.

One lesser-known member of the class of 2013 who will play a crucial role in determining the Crimson’s early success is 6’7” forward Jeff Georgatos.

With Miller and Magnarelli graduated and Casey out for the early part of the season, Georgatos—like his classmates—will need to take on a larger role, a challenge the five sophomores are comfortable they can handle.

“We’re just a lot more confident,” Curry says. “We’ve got a year under our belt. We’ve been through it all. We’ve played tough games. We played UConn, Georgetown, and Cornell. So we’ve been there. We’re not freshmen anymore.”

—Staff writer Martin Kessler can be reached at martin.kessler@college.harvard.edu.