Crimson Relies On Sixth Man

“I hope people can understand all the spamming,” Cheng Ho laughs.

If you were like me—a recipient of the approximately 50,000 Facebook messages from the senior running back on the football team—you can probably just barely forgive him for flooding your inbox last week.

But had it not been for Ho’s persistence, I most likely would have missed the chance to register for a ticket to the men’s basketball game against Princeton last Friday night.

I’m glad I didn’t.

As a member of the Crimson Sports Board for most of my college career, I have attended my fair share of Harvard sports games. Many of those have come in Lavietes Pavilion, the diminutive (and usually half-empty) home of Harvard basketball.

However, the buzz around campus in the days leading up to Friday night’s contest led me to believe that this one might be different.

For perhaps the first time in its history, the basketball team was legitimately good—and the student body had begun to take notice. With yet another win at Boston College and a six-point loss to then-No. 13 UConn, the Crimson had turned heads both inside and outside of Cambridge. Having a pro prospect in co-captain Jeremy Lin, who has been featured in ESPN and Sports Illustrated, didn’t hurt its profile either.

I arrived at the game about 30 minutes before tip-off, and took my seat towards the back of a student section that was already mostly filled.

It was immediately obvious that the Facebook messages had succeeded not only in bringing people to the game, but also in disseminating the “white-out” theme. (My roommate—one of just a handful of students who hadn’t gotten the memo—was the target of some light-hearted jeers for wearing grey.)

Getting the crowd to dress in white was just one of many ideas brought to bear by Ho and a few of his football teammates. Equipped with a whiteboard to lead chants and enough newspaper to fill a room in Dunster for the crowd to read when the Princeton starters were being announced, Ho and company led the raucous student section from start to finish.

Facing the crowd from the front row of the bleachers, Ho’s smile was a mile wide. After all, he had been planning this day since October.

Ho is close friends with some of the players on the basketball team and had attended many games in Lavietes. Like me, he had consistently been underwhelmed by the atmosphere.

But Harvard’s unprecedented 12-3 start represented the perfect opportunity for change.

“The basketball team is having such a special season, and creating a home court advantage could have a huge influence,” Ho says. “Why not rally around the team to develop school spirit?”

So Ho returned early from winter break to meet with Crimson head coach Tommy Amaker and representatives from the Athletic Department. They discussed options for engaging the student body and created a plan to increase turnout at games.

The vision was a transformed Lavietes.

“We know we don’t have the biggest facility or biggest arena, but that’s okay—neither does Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium,” Amaker says of his alma mater and its court. “[But Duke has] used the size—the smallness, the uniqueness or whatever you want to call it—to their advantage, and that’s what we are hoping to do as well: to make this an intimidating place for opponents to play.”

It may not have been quite like Durham, but Allston sure felt pretty electric Friday night.

The Princeton team was announced to a wall of newspapers—the “sucks” chants after each player was introduced slightly dulled the strategy—followed by the presentation of the Harvard squad, which got wild roars from everyone dressed in white.

The Crimson started the game on a 6-0 run, and the volume in the building continued to increase over the course of the first 12 minutes as Harvard built a 16-12 lead.

But from there, the action on the court took a turn for the worse. Princeton went ahead a minute later, and quickly extended the cushion to double-digits.

Despite having little to cheer about, the Crimson faithful found a way.

The crowd—both as large and loud as it’s ever been for a Harvard basketball game—seemed determined to will the team to a victory. Coming off the crushing 36-point loss at Cornell in what was the most anticipated game in Harvard history, the Crimson needed the win to stay close to the Big Red and remain in contention for the league crown. Whether or not every student knew the importance of the matchup on display, collectively, they weren’t giving up.

As Harvard failed to close the gap in the first 15 minutes of the second half, a comeback grew less and less plausible.

Still, the students chanted, “I believe that we will win, I believe that we will win!”

That’s when the momentum swung, and, for the first time all game, Harvard began to knock down some shots. A three by freshman Brandyn Curry got the team started. Then came a few steals, and some easy points on the break.

“I believe that we will win, I believe that we will win!” The crowd believed it. And now it seemed, so too did the players.

“I think it’s obvious that their impact was tremendous,” Amaker says. “There’s nothing like having the students bring that kind of spirit and energy to the building.”

When Jeremy Lin connected from behind the arc with just under a minute to play to pull the Crimson within five, the bleachers were shaking. They didn’t stop trembling until Lin’s last-second three hit the front rim and fell short.

The “I believe that we will win” chant—which Ho credits to sophomore football teammate Jonathan Mason—now has its own YouTube video with over 1,800 hits. Still, it doesn’t come close to replicating the sound of Lavietes on Friday night. The sell-out crowd was by far the loudest I have heard at any Harvard sporting event.

Ho is in the process of starting a new student group to continue the work of changing the culture of Harvard sports fans—from essentially nonexistent to lively and influential. It will be called “The People of the Crimson” and include representatives from the band and the cheerleading squad to ensure a unified assault of intimidation.

Friday’s loss to the Tigers was incredibly disappointing for the team. But when the players took the floor Saturday night against Penn, they entered another packed house offering its full support, chanting “I believe” and jumping up and down.

With the crowd’s encouragement, Harvard got off to a hot start and didn’t look back. Lin had 19 points, three others reached double-figures, and the team was back to winning ways, beating Penn by 14 points.

Following the game, Amaker led his team over to offer its thanks to the students in attendance.

“The [more] that we can do to continue to have them believe and be excited,…to be a part of it,…to feel it like we feel it,…and to continue to have that for our program will be phenomenal,” Amaker says.

If this past weekend was any indication, Amaker—with a little help from the football team—has certainly got the Crimson faithful believing.

—Staff writer Jay M. Cohen can be reached at jaycohen@fas.harvard.edu.