Big Win for Harvard

It's over in Cambridge as the Harvard Crimson pulled out a big win for Tommy Amaker against his former team, the Michigan Wolverines, 62-51.

Hats off to the Crimson fans that packed the Lavietes Pavilion this afternoon. The small gym holds only 2,050 people and every seat was filled, although to be fair, Michigan had a sizeable contigent that traveled as well.

Harvard's three-guard lineup really controlled the tempo of the game and as I said in my last post, the team was that able to do that most effectively was going to win and the Crimson did. I also identified another key to the game, valuing possessions, and Harvard only turned the ball over 9 times compared to Michigan's 11 giveaways.

What was really interesting about this game was the fact that four Harvard players played for over 30 minutes, and they were obviously boosted by the energy of the home crowd. Tommy Amaker only used eight players while the Wolverines used ten. Usually the team that has a deeper rotation is the one that wins the game, but the relatively slow tempo of the game allowed Harvard to play their key core of guys without fear of tiring them out.

Harvard is definitely a team to watch in the Ivy League this season. The preseason pick to win the league and the automatic NCAA Tournament berth that comes with it (the Ivy League doesn't have a tournament after the regular season) was Cornell, but with Coach Amaker at the helm you have to believe Harvard will be right up there. As for Michigan, it could be a long year and realistically, another trip to the NIT is all that can be hoped for.