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Against New Mexico, Men's Basketball Finally Closes Down the Stretch
SALT LAKE CITY—The Harvard men’s basketball team had plenty of opportunities to let this one slip away.
And nobody would have blamed the Crimson if it had. After all, this wasn’t Dartmouth, Brown, or even Princeton that Harvard was sharing the court with. This was the University of New Mexico—the third-seeded, 10th-ranked Lobos.
Webster Wins Third Title In Four Years
Only a handful of seconds had passed since he had learned his team was returning to the NCAA tournament when Harvard men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker burst into the Lavietes Pavilion lounge.
Amaker hurried to senior Christian Webster and locked his captain in an embrace.
The State of the Season
So the world hasn’t ended.
No, I’m not talking about the Mayan calendar. I’m talking Harvard basketball.
Amaker Makes History on the Court
This article is one of two dueling columns debating "Who's the Better Coach?" The other part of the series can be found here.
When Tim Murphy took over as the Harvard football team’s head coach in the 1994 season, he inherited a program with a storied tradition; the Crimson boasted seven national championships, eight Ivy League titles (the most recent coming in 1987), and one of the nation’s oldest stadiums.
Tourney Hopes Should Be Tempered
Four weeks after the Harvard men’s basketball team’s loss to Vanderbilt in its NCAA tournament opener, many Crimson fans are already looking ahead to Harvard’s follow-up performance this coming March.
With Crimson coach Tommy Amaker still at the helm and another solid crop of recruits coming in, Harvard should coast to its second straight NCAA tournament berth, right? Well, not exactly.