While the frontcourt has received all the early season praise, the backcourt boasts senior guard Kevin Rogus—Harvard’s all-time record holder for most three-point conversions in a season. Despite claiming that record, Rogus finished the season with a 34.3 shooting percentage from behind the arc—a disappointing statistic that should improve as defenses have to worry about more offensive weapons.

“You’d be hard pressed to find anybody in the league that worked harder than Kevin did this summer,” Stehle says. “He was here [in Lavietes] two or three times a day. Every single aspect of his game has improved.”

The depth of the back court is quite impressive as Rogus, Norman, sophomore Jim Goffredo and junior Michael Beal will all see substantial time at the two and three positions.

The only question lies in the point guard position. It was the black hole of the offense last season as the Crimson stumbled to a .57 assist to turnover ratio—far and away the worst in the league—and it was a No. 1 priority in the offseason.

“The point guard play for us was makeshift throughout last season,” Sullivan says. “That clearly is the position that we need to clean up dramatically. We can’t play another season with the assist-turnover ratio that existed among all three perimeter positions, but more significantly at the point guard position.”

Senior David Giovacchini, Beal and Klunick will vie for time at the point this season, and the emergence of a strong presence at the position will be the key to the team’s success or failure this season.

But such a complex breakdown of the Crimson might be a bit superfluous. For this Harvard team, it’s not about point guard play or frontcourt dominance or any such nuanced analysis. The goal this year is much simpler than any of that.

“After you go through a season like that,” Sullivan says. “You just want to win.”

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.