While setting the school record for steals (242), Gellert’s defensive intensity seemed to infect his teammates, and he led the Crimson to the most steals (9.1) and forced turnovers (17.1) per game in the Ivy League.

“I learned a lot from him, since he worked so hard every practice and every game,” Norman said. “He’s one of the toughest players to play here.”

While Gellert taught Norman how to be a leader on the court, Merchant displayed a different quality of a leader in dealing with last year’s troublesome off-the-court issues surrounding Harvey.

The loss of the team’s leading scorer and offensive linchpin was an early, shocking end to what seemed a season of destiny.

After bursting out of the gate to the quickest ten-win mark in the program’s history, the Crimson appeared well positioned to take on the Ivy schedule.

But without Harvey’s scoring and play-making abilities, the team stumbled through league play, ending the season with a disappointing 4-10 conference record.

It was Merchant who had to develop his game the most once Harvey was gone, as he found himself the key to the offensive system.

“Brady’s just a great teammate,” Norman said. “He always made people feel comfortable. He’s been a good friend of mine since freshman year.”

And while the loss of the team’s most electric player was devastating, the more active role in the lineup certainly benefited Norman, who got the starting nod in place of Harvey and finished the year averaging over five points a game.

“Personally, I’d say it did help in terms of getting more experience on the court in competitive situations,” sophomore center Brian Cusworth said. “I think he definitely did benefit from the situation, although it was tough on the team just losing a great scorer and a great teammate, a great defender. If you break it down, personally, Jason did benefit from the fact that that allowed for him to get more minutes, get more experience.”

But Norman, ever the humble man, tried to downplay his own part.

“It was tough, especially for me,” Norman said.

Invasion at Normandy

If Norman thought last year was tough, this year is going to be even more difficult. The loss of the entire starting lineup—which included Harvey, Merchant, Sam Winter ’03, Brian Sigafoos ’03 and Elliott Prasse-Freeman ’03—has cast a dark shadow over the Crimson’s hopes for Ivy success.

Harvard has been picked by the so-called experts to finish in the bottom half of a league that in general lost a lot of talent to graduation.