Harvard Crimson Men's Basketball Team Ranked?

With the new AP college basketball poll being released, history was made. Harvard is ranked in the AP Poll for the first time ever, at 25. The USA Today/ESPN Poll has the Crimson at 24. The last Ivy League team to make the AP Poll was Princeton in 1997-1998, where they peaked at 8. Princeton that year first made the poll in Week 3, while Harvard just made it in Week 4. Harvard has only made the NCAA Tournament once, in 1946. However, they made the CIT for the 2009-10 season and in 2010-11 they made the NIT.

Harvard won the Battle 4 Atlantis
http://www.thecrimson.com/image/2011/11/26/mbk-ucf-photo1/

Harvard's success has probably surprised many people. To find the keys to Harvard's success, you need to look at the games they have played. In their first game they demolished D-III MIT Engineers, 76-49. Then, they beat Holy Cross  and Loyal Marymount, both away from home. Next up, was the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. In the first round, they beat Utah convincingly. Then, the upset Florida State, at the time ranked 22nd, in a defensive battle, 46-41. In the finals they beat UCF, who upset UCONN in their semi-final. After that they defeated both Vermont and Seattle. 



There offense is not the biggest strength. The Crimson are averaging 67.6 point a game, ranked 192nd out of 345 teams. Their leading scorers are Senior F Keith Wright with 11.4 ppg, Junior F Kyle Casey with 10.9 ppg, Sophomore G Laurent Rivard with 11.1 ppg, and Senior G Oliver McNally with 7.9 ppg. Defense is easily one of the best in the country. They are ranked 10th in opponents points per game with 54.4 Opp. ppg.


The Crimson don't have the toughest schedule ahead of them. However, their game is probably the toughest. They are facing #9 and the last year's NCAA Tournament champion, the UCONN Huskies. I believe that they have a chance in this game, but playing away at the XL Center doesn't help. If they win, or even if they lose, I would expect much from Harvard.