Sometimes change is a good thing. Following several consecutive consistent but relatively average seasons, the Harvard men’s basketball team looks to surpass its .500 finishes of the past and climb the Ivy League rankings in its 2002-03 campaign.

Crimson coach Frank Sullivan has enlisted seven freshmen to support a strong core of senior players, including guards Elliot Prasse-Freeman, Pat Harvey and captain Brady Merchant, as well as big men Sam Winter and Brian Sigafoos.

The influx of youth to Sullivan’s squad may present some early difficulties for the team, as the rookies will have to learn the playbook in addition to adjusting to the nature of college basketball.

“[The upperclassmen] were pretty frustrated with us at the beginning because we didn’t know anything,” said freshman guard Zach Martin. “But they always stayed [after practice] to help us out and teach us.”

As captain, Merchant will play an instrumental role in facilitating the new players’ transition to the team.

“It’s a difficult situation for us,” Merchant said. “All the other teams in the league know our offense better than half our team.”

In addition to solidifying its play offensively, the Crimson will also look to replace the defensive intensity that last year’s captain, Andrew Gellert ’02, brought to the team. Gellert led the league in steals for his last three years, and graduated with a school-record 242 career steals.

Gellert led a squad that finished 14-12 overall and 7-7 league, but suffered through several close loses and inconsistent play on the offensive end.

“I thought we had three things go wrong last year that really killed us,” Sullivan said. “Three-point shooting—our makes were down; free-throw shooting; and our assist-to-turnover [ratio] was poor.”

There were several bright spots for last year’s team, as Harvard led the league in steals (9.29 per game), offensive rebounds (11.64 per game) and was second in assists per game with 14.71.

To be successful this year, the Crimson will need to climb the ranks in more critical statistical categories.

The Backcourt

Harvard boasts an explosive and experienced backcourt that no doubt will be the centerpiece of its offensive attack.

Harvey will bear much of the scoring burden again, having led the team with 18.1 points per game last season. He also hit a league-best 67 three-pointers, was second in steals per game with 2.1 and led the league with his 80.6 percent free throw shooting.

A unanimous First Team all-Ivy selection, Harvey will look to continue in his role as the team’s offensive leader.

One question that lingers for the Crimson is who will step up into a secondary scoring role behind Harvey.

“We’re not looking at it as if we need to get any one person more touches,” Sullivan said. “As a team we just need to shoot better. Our league is so predicated on the three that we need to get our percentage of those.”

With his dead-eye outside shot, Martin should attract attention from opposing defenses along the three-point arc. He, Harvey and Prasse-Freeman are the Crimson’s best long-range shooters.

Now in his fourth year at point guard, Prasse-Freeman averaged 7.6 points per game and dished out a league-leading 5.4 assists per contest last season.

Merchant, who averaged 7.2 points per game off the bench last year as a very productive sixth man, will be looking for an expanded role this season.

“I fully expect Brady to compete for a starting job now,” Sullivan said. “It was just difficult the last couple years for him to break in there when you have Elliott as such an accomplished point guard, Pat as such an accomplished shooter and Drew as such an accomplished defender.”

Merchant will have to adjust to his new role as team leader, accommodating for the presence of so many freshmen.

“I am going to have to be somewhat of a verbal leader especially,” Merchant said.

With respect to offensive execution, the Crimson backcourt will depend on creating space through penetration in order to find an open shot.

“With our perimeter players, we’re going to continue to try to beat guys off the dribble,” Sullivan said. “We’re really looking at creating driving angles for them and so we’ll probably set a lot of screens as a way to try to make that happen.”

Sophomore guard Jason Norman was one Harvard player who showed slashing ability last season. Newcomer Mike Beal has also shown promise this preseason driving to the basket.

“He’s shown some explosive moves in practice,” Sullivan said of Beal.

This emphasis on penetrating inside should also result in more trips to the free-throw line, which presents the Crimson with a chance to add to its point total, should it convert on the opportunities.

The Frontcourt

Perhaps the greatest uncertainty for the Crimson will be the source of its offensive production down low after losing Tim Coleman ’02 to graduation.

“There’s a lack of [a frontcourt threat] right now,” Sullivan said. “We’d certainly love to have that legitimate presence down there to draw guys inside and create more space on the perimeter, but we’ll have just to see. We’re certainly going to miss Tim Coleman and his rebounding and the second-chance points he helped us get.”

Coleman was the team’s second leading scorer (9.4 ppg) in 2001-02 and grabbed 7.2 boards per game, good for second-best in the league.

Sigafoos, Harvard’s 7’0 center, will look to step up into a more productive role following a disappointing junior campaign.

“His numbers on paper were way down,” Sullivan said of Sigafoos’ performance last year. “His field-goal percentage was down, rebounding was down, shot blocking was down. But he worked very hard this summer with a one-on-one trainer. He feels accountable for last year and has worked hard to improve.”

Winter (8.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg), who plays power forward, also worked on his strength and size this summer in order to give the Crimson more of a post presence.

“I’ve always been comfortable playing outside,” Winter said. “But I think the team is really looking for an effective scorer down low.”

Other players that will look to enhance the Crimson’s post play will be sophomore Graham Beatty, who showed flashes of promise in brief appearances last season, as well as freshmen Brian Houlihan, Luke McCrone, Matt Stehle, and 7’0 Brian Cusworth.

Outlook

How will having so many freshman and sophomores on the team affect Harvard’s play this season? Judging by the competitive spirit that dominates practices, it seems as though this atmosphere will translate into more aggressive play on the court.

“There is a lot of intensity at practice,” Martin said. “Not everyone has a guaranteed spot. It’s wide open.”

The Crimson knows that if it is to contend for the Ivy title this season, it will have to come up with big victories against Penn and Princeton, a difficult task considering the dominance of these two teams over the last decade.

Despite these odds, Sullivan’s squad remains confident.

“We know how this league works,” said Prasse-Freeman. “I think this team has the senior leadership and mental toughness.”