Harvard Falls Just Short of Top 25 Spot

After winning this weekend's Battle 4 Atlantis tournament—which featured eigh teams, including then-No. 4 Connecticut and then-No. 22 Florida State—Harvard men's basketball received 101 votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll released Monday and 61 votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

Landing at essentially No. 27 in both polls, the Crimson (6-0) was second in the Others Receiving Votes category in the AP—three behind Creighton (104), and 14 points behind No. 25 Texas A&M.

In the  coaches poll, the Crimson received 61 votes, 17 shy of the 78 needed for the 25th spot.

"Those things will happen if they’re supposed to happen. It would be a neat thing, I’m sure, for all of us around here," Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said. "But right now we’re who we are, and whether that gives us a number next to our name or [not], we still need to be who we are. I think that’s the important thing for our team is to stay disciplined about our identity."

Harvard received 40 total votes in the AP poll, including a No. 19 ranking from Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News.

The public reaction among those who had voted Harvard into the Top 25—a group that also included Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis—was swift.

Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com tweeted, "Harvard did not make the AP Top 25 this week. Crimson should have been included."

Dan Wolken, national sportswriter for The Daily, agreed. He tweeted, "Are AP basketball voters even paying attention? Harvard and Georgetown should both be ranked."

The Crimson will face Vermont on the road on Thursday and head to No. 8 Connecticut a week later after hosting Seattle on Sunday.