As the first freshman in conference history to be selected to the All-Ivy First Team, the national leader among freshmen in minutes per game played, and the runner-up for rookies in assists per game with 5.6 a game, it is safe to say that point guard Siyani Chambers had a memorable first year on campus. Especially considering Chambers wasn’t even supposed to be in the starting lineup.

Following the departure of several key contributors from the 2011-2012 squad, Chambers was forced to step up—and to do so quickly. A season after winning a Minnesota high school state championship, Chambers was handed the responsibility of leading the Crimson’s offense as he learned it on the fly.

“I’m not sure there is a more important player than Siyani and that’s who he has been for us,” said Harvard coach Tommy Amaker at the NCAA Tournament’s press conference in Salt Lake City. “At the beginning of the season, I remember thinking, considering the circumstances and all the things I knew about, how incredibly important he was going to be.”

Chambers’ contributions, according to both Amaker and his teammates, were both qualitative and quantitative. Leading the conference in assists and finishing second on the team with 12.4 points per game, Chambers pushed the ball on offense while being one of the team’s most consistent defenders, indicated by his 1.4 steals per game.

When sophomore Wesley Saunders, the team’s leading scorer, was asked about his own improvement this season, Saunders said it was in part the efforts of backcourt-mate Chambers that allowed him to flourish.

“Siyani is great,” Saunders said in March. “It’s been a collective effort on offense and defense.”

Chambers’ performance pushed the team to new heights. Not only was he productive on the stat sheet, but what Amaker called his “presence,” “vision,” and “command…on the floor” also led the coach to declare after the March 9 game against Cornell that the contribution Chambers made to this program was “phenomenal.”

For Chambers, the culmination of the season in the NCAA Tournament was important not only as proof of the team’s achievements, but also as a realization of his individual goals.

“In high school and coming up you are always watching [March Madness] and wishing you were a part of it,” Chambers said. “Hearing our team’s name being called, it was very nice and it is very exciting for our team as well.”

—Staff writer Juliet Spies-Gans can be reached at jspiesgans@college.harvard.edu.