Players React to Tournament Berth

While every other team that has earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament this year did so drenched in sweat on the court, members of the Harvard men’s basketball team won a ticket to the Big Dance from the comfort of their own dorms on Tuesday.

The Ivy League is the only conference that does not have a postseason tournament, which meant Tuesday’s matchup between Princeton and Penn would determine who would represent the conference in the NCAA tournament. If the Tigers won, the Crimson would return to the Big Dance for the first time since 1946. A Quaker victory would mean a one-game playoff between Penn and Harvard for the Ivy crown.

That meant Crimson enthusiasts were forced to root for Princeton, the same team whose last-second victory shot last March crushed the team’s tournament dreams. But all of that was forgotten when the buzzer sounded the end of a 62-52 win by Ian Hummer and co. over Penn. The Crimson had won the Ivy title outright. It was going dancing.

“It’s very ironic that we were rooting for Princeton this game,” junior Brandyn Curry said. “I actually forgive them for hitting that shot against us last year.”

Curry chose not to go through the ups and downs of watching the game from afar. Instead of watching the team’s fate play out on his computer or television, Curry opted to relax by playing video games with junior Dee Giger, his teammate and roommate.

Downstairs, junior Christian Webster couldn’t turn away from the action as he watched the game in Currier’s basement with two teammates, freshman Wes Saunders and sophomore Matt Brown.

“In the first half, when [Princeton] went up, I was really excited, but I was like, ‘Nah, it’s just the first half,’” Webster said. “Then in the second half, [Penn] started coming back, and I was getting a little nervous. With three minutes left I was jumping up and down, saying, ‘They are going to win, they are going to win,’ and my teammates were trying to get me to calm down. It was ridiculous. It was crazy.”

After the game, the team joined together for the first time as champions.

“We are all so close. Even after watching it separately, we all ended up in the same room celebrating and jumping up and down,” Webster said.

The moment was particularly special for co-captain Oliver McNally, who has helped lift the Harvard program from the cellar of the Ivy League to national prominence.

“For the last 24 hours, I’ve just been thinking about where I was when I was a senior in high school...I had already committed and the team was 8-22 and I was like, ‘Man, we’ve got a lot of work to do,’” McNally said. “To be here with a 26-4 record, an Ivy League championship, and hopefully a favorable ranking in the tournament and to be getting a lot of coverage, it’s crazy.”

The remarkable turnaround wasn’t lost on coach Tommy Amaker.

“The journey has been rewarding, and in some ways, it’s happened fairly quick,” Amaker said. “If you think of how far we’ve come and the success that has evolved and developed, we are very happy and thrilled about where we are and excited about where this thing may go.”

Now, McNally has taken it upon himself to get the team to look forward as it prepares to face their first round opponents.

“It will be my responsibility to make sure this team is ready to go and be focused in practice over the next week.”

The bracket will be announced live on CBS on Sunday, and Harvard will retake the floor on the following Thursday or Friday.

Looking ahead to next week, Webster said he still thinks this team has plenty of fight in it.

“I’m very excited to see who we match up with,” Webster said. "Depending on who we match up with, we think we can make some more news.”

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacobfeldman@college.harvard.edu.