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| Username | Post: Penn I/ Sad state of Harvard basketball | |
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CrimsonBlood Freshman Posts 46 |
01-28-23 04:38 PM - Post#350353
Watching the Crimson get blown out by a 2-4 Penn team and I had to get some things off my chest: The Sad State of Harvard Basketball Harvard basketball, once a sight to see With wins piled high, and Ivy League titles in our legacy But now the court is filled with sorrow and despair As we struggle to even make the Ivy League tournament, with nary a care We remember the days of Kyle Casey and Brandon Curry When they would lead the team in scoring, in a frenzy Laurent Rivard, a marksman from beyond the arc His shots, a sight to behold, like a shooting star But now, the team is in a sad state Losing records, and no shooters to dictate The game is a struggle, with no end in sight As we hope to sneak in, to the tournament's bright light What happened to the program we used to know? How did we sink so low? The team's in shambles, and the future is grim What does it take to return to the glory, and win? |
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CrimsonBlood Freshman Posts 46 |
01-28-23 04:43 PM - Post#350354
In all seriousness, why is Harvard so bad? Amaker has the Harvard brand and Boston/Cambridge to offer recruits. Why is Cornell/Ithaca even able to sniff the Harvard team? It seems like we had incredible momentum in the program and then what should have been our best roster ever with Towns and Aiken was derailed by injuries. That team has top 25 talent. Then you had the Covid year, which hurt the entire Ivy League given their insane policies. But what about now? Why can’t we get better recruits to come to Cambridge? Only top tier player we have right now is Ledlum… and he is gone next year. Doesn’t seem like we are moving in the right direction. |
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Chip Bayers Professor Posts 7001 
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01-28-23 06:51 PM - Post#350373
Okpara was a 4* wasn’t he? Although he didn’t look like one today. |
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CM Masters Student Posts 423 |
01-29-23 07:51 AM - Post#350455
Funny you bring up Cornell because I've always wondered why Cornell wasn't able take advantage of an obvious recruiting advantage over the other 7 Ivys. Namely, half the colleges within Cornell are state schools - meaning, lower tuition and lower admission hurdles for in-state kids. Add to that NY state turns out a massive number of good basketball players and you'd think the Big Red would crush on the recruiting trail. |
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CrimsonBlood Freshman Posts 46 |
01-29-23 03:05 PM - Post#350479
You still have to deal with Ithaca in the winter… and it’s not the Harvard brand. Also, Harvard financial aid is so strong now that for many recruits, it’s either free or very reasonable tuition. The comment wasn’t meant to be so Cornell specific either.. Dartmouth, Brown, you name it. Great schools- but don’t have the Harvard brand or Boston/Cambridge to offer. It just seems the Harvard program has slipped a little bit recently. I do wonder if Amaker had his sights on Duke and if that has played any role in Harvard’s drop off.. The Ivy League in general seemed to be trending massively up… the lack of a medical redshirt and the Covid lost season seems to have hurt the league in attracting more top recruits. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32835 |
01-29-23 08:06 PM - Post#350488
It certainly hasn't affected the reported quality of Harvard's recruiting. But a combination of injuries to its best players and the lost season cost Harvard its upperclassmen and in the Ivies, it's tough to win with underclassmen. It also looks like Harvard has failed to recruit the kind of shooters it had with Rivard, Aiken and Towns, among others in the last 5 years. Teams pack it in against Harvard. |
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mountainred Masters Student Posts 514 |
 01-30-23 12:12 PM - Post#350506
You still have to deal with Ithaca in the winter… and it’s not the Harvard brand. I love my alma mater, but both of these statements are undeniably true. Also, Cornell remains at its heart a hockey school, at least in the eyes of the alums who give real money. This is what incoming freshman hear (or used to hear) and there are many at the school who are openly dismissive of basketball. Plus recently retired AD Andy Noel was a wrestling coach who showered support on that team (to impressive results). So, hoops is winter sport #3. The true glory days of Cornell hockey are getting longer and longer in the tooth, Noel retired and Koll quasi-retired to Stanford, so this could change. The incoming freshman who care about sports are much more familiar with basketball than hockey. I will now let you get back to bemoaning the current state of Harvard basketball, which is miles better than anything pre-Amaker. |
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CM Masters Student Posts 423 |
01-30-23 12:20 PM - Post#350507
Yeah, I get it, Ithaca is no garden spot. All I was saying is the school has some concrete and lasting recruiting advantages (in theory) over the other seven Ivys. It's has a state school component in a very good basketball state, that normally results in good local recruits. In-state tuition at the state portions of the school is 30+% lower than for the private portions and has admissions rates almost 50% higher. |
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FlareScreen Freshman Posts 44 |
01-30-23 06:15 PM - Post#350529
Cornell fan here, didn’t go to Cornell but lived in Ithaca for several years and knew a few Cornell athletes. Based on roster information, Cornell has 18 players on the roster with 6 players from NYS, 3 in NYS contract schools, and 3 in endowed schools/colleges. Out of curiosity and with some free time, Columbia has 14 players listed on the roster and 4 from hometowns in New York. 20-30 years ago NY may have been a hotbed for high school basketball but their neighbors in New Jersey have overtaken them IMO. I don’t know about the difference in admission rates but did have an old neighbor who went to the Dyson Business School, which I believe is part of the NYS system and has a very low admission rate as I recall. I enjoyed Ithaca but there are no local D1 basketball feeder schools unless you consider Syracuse, Albany, and Buffalo local schools. |
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Naismith Sophomore Posts 149 |
01-30-23 07:15 PM - Post#350530
Harvard slide started when sophomore Towns went down in the Palestra stupid tournament site with 5 minutes left, heading to The Dance and POY honors Best class of modern time never played together again. Last year injured Chris Ludlum's Ivy opener with Brown was his last game of the season. Harvard fans feel his presence along with Noah Kirkwood would have delivered a regular season crown and a trip to the Dance winning the stupid tournament on its home floor. |
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mbaprof Senior Posts 345 |
02-11-23 12:02 PM - Post#351310
Whats the assesment of other four star recruits? Looking for insights as i watch the game today Thanks |
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Quakers03 Professor Posts 12533 |
02-11-23 05:25 PM - Post#351373
Harvard slide started when sophomore Towns went down in the Palestra stupid tournament site with 5 minutes left, heading to The Dance and POY honors Best class of modern time never played together again. Heading to the dance huh? I guess the 13-0 run was going to just keep going to end the game? No doubt him getting hurt changed the game but let’s not rewrite history. |
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Charlie Fog Masters Student Posts 587 |
02-12-23 10:19 AM - Post#351438
why was the Palestra a stupid tournament site? Do you realize the Palestra has hosted more post season games than any other place? |
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LocalTiger Masters Student Posts 434 |
02-12-23 10:50 AM - Post#351440
I think the point was that a 1 seed should not have to play on another team's home court, not a crazy notion. The debate over whether there should be a tournament and, if so, where it should be played, seems a perennial here. |
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iogyhufi Masters Student Posts 681 |
02-12-23 11:00 AM - Post#351442
I've been just about alone on my "just pick a neutral site" island, I think. A postseason tournament should not give homecourt advantage to a team other than the 1 seed. Since the ILT is always during Spring Break, the benefits of a campus site are much less. Just hold the tournament at Webster Bank or Mohegan Sun or the XL Center and have done. |
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penn nation Professor Posts 21212 |
02-12-23 11:19 AM - Post#351445
We've had multiple threads about this over the years. I think the bottom line is that the IL is simply too cheap to allocate $$ for such an expenditure.
I've been just about alone on my "just pick a neutral site" island, I think. A postseason tournament should not give homecourt advantage to a team other than the 1 seed. Since the ILT is always during Spring Break, the benefits of a campus site are much less. Just hold the tournament at Webster Bank or Mohegan Sun or the XL Center and have done. |
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CM Masters Student Posts 423 |
02-12-23 12:26 PM - Post#351450
But playing the ILT in essentially high school gyms is fine. Yet another example of the geniuses in charge short changing Ivy basketball players. They seem bound and determined to turn the league into D3 before all is said and done. Getting closer every day. |
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penn nation Professor Posts 21212 |
02-12-23 12:28 PM - Post#351451
We're on the same page as were most of the posters. This could all happen if the IL wanted it to...but it does not. |
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Silver Maple Postdoc Posts 3778 |
02-12-23 12:59 PM - Post#351455
The world is full of things that really should and could happen but don't. Welcome to the human condition. I seem to be an a bleak mood today. |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2692 |
02-14-23 11:17 AM - Post#351589
I still make reservations at Mohegan Sun for March in the hope that the league will join me. |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32835 |
02-14-23 11:31 AM - Post#351590
Yo HGD---is Harvard on break? No story on the Penn-Harvard game in the Crimson (nor in either Boston paper). Or is it the result of a tough year? |
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HARVARDDADGRAD Postdoc Posts 2692 |
02-14-23 04:30 PM - Post#351606
Watching hockey |
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palestra38 Professor Posts 32835 |
02-14-23 04:47 PM - Post#351608
Tough year to change the format to a shootout. |
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