“He did great things for us here, but he didn’t just drop out of the sky; I know that’s how most people view it,” Amaker says. “From day one, he has had a tremendous impact from how he’s conducted himself, how hard he’s worked, and certainly his performance.”

Lin would only get better. As a junior, he was the only player in NCAA Division I men’s basketball to rank among the top ten in his conference in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, field-goal percentage, free-throw percentage, and three-point percentage.

And as a senior, Lin was a unanimous choice for the All-Ivy First Team and led Harvard in scoring. One of 20 finalists for the John R. Wooden award for the national player of the year and one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy award for the nation’s top point guard, Lin completed his Harvard career as the only player in program history to record 1,450 points, 450 rebounds, 400 assists, and 200 steals. While Lin received publicity as a senior, it has grown exponentially since his time with the Knicks.

“The masses now know that Jeremy Lin went to Harvard and played at Harvard,” Amaker says. “He did tremendous things for this program, and he made an incredible name for himself in the Ivy League. Now that he’s moved on from Harvard and gone on to the professional ranks, the notoriety, the exposure, the attention has certainly helped us because usually they don’t mention [Harvard basketball] in any shape or form, whether its interview, print, or even television. [Harvard and Jeremy Lin] are somehow already interrelated and that’s just an amazing phenomena.”

While it is hard to fully gauge the effect of Lin’s success on the Harvard basketball program, Amaker hopes that Lin’s example will give the program credibility and increased exposure, which could help with recruiting.

“The impact he’s had has given us credibility for the fact that a young man such as himself has come through Harvard, has come through our program, has come through the Ivy League,” Amaker says. “I think there are certainly hopes of being able to present our program to kids who have dreams of being an NBA player. Maybe that in itself will give us some traction with regards to recruiting. That in itself is worth its weight in gold.”

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 says that the impact from Lin’s exposure will not be limited to Ivy League basketball.

“We [look at demography], looking five, ten, 15, 20 years out. That’s really what our time perspective is,” Fitzsimmons says. “When you think about the effect that that type of publicity can have both here in the United States and abroad, there’s no question that [Lin’s] example and all the wonderful things in the press could well have a very positive effect for Harvard really for years to come.”

Fitzsimmons sees Lin’s impact as a very positive thing for Harvard admissions in both the short and long term, in the United States and all over the globe.

“It’s one thing to see and hear numbers about Harvard,” Fitzsimmons says. “It’s another to see, in some sense, Harvard personified in such a positive way. In some respects it’s very much the American Dream.”

AROUND THE IVIES

The focus on Lin’s successes has spread to other points in the Ivy League.

Yale senior center Greg Mangano has been following Lin’s success in the NBA during his own period of NBA recruitment.

“It’s definitely helped,” says Mangano, a two time member of the All-Ivy First Team. “I followed [Lin] really closely because I knew it was going to help having him and anyone else who is trying to play at the next level.”

NBA Director of Scouting Ryan Blake suggests that scouts have been following the Ivy League for a while, even before Lin’s recent successes.