After a long search, graduating senior Patrick Steeves will extend his playing career for at least one more year at George Washington University. Steeves, who did not play a game until his senior season due to recurring knee and foot injuries, benefits from an NCAA exception that grants extra years of eligibility to players who missed seasons due to injury.

In his words, it was an ideal fit.

“They have a good basketball team and they have a need for my position,” Steeves said. “They are graduating their big men this year. All the pieces hit together pretty much.”

Steeves, who will be pursuing a Masters in Business Analytics at George Washington, was not allowed to continue playing for his original team—as is common for most players granted an extra year of eligibility—because Ivy League rules prohibit graduate students from competing on college teams.

As a consequence, after the season ended, he began to field calls from other teams looking to acquire the versatile 6’7” wing who led the Ivy League in three-point percentage. Since his team’s season ended early—Harvard did not make a postseason tournament for the first time since 2009—Steeves waited as possible suitors finished their seasons and began to get an idea of what their rosters would look like for the next season.

The Colonials were one of the final teams to finish, winning the NIT over Valpariso on the last day of March. However, in April the team learned that forward Anthony Swan and sophomore Paul Jorgensen would be transferring, trimming a rotation that was already thin due to the graduation of Kevin Larsen, Alex Mitola, and Patricio Garino.

The coaching staff then placed a call to Steeves.

“I reached out to them in late March and they were still playing,” Steeves recalled. “I didn’t know I’d have a spot until a couple days after they stopped playing where one of the guys transferred and they told me they had a spot."

—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com.