In his first Bracketology prediction of the year, ESPN expert Joe Lunardi has placed the Crimson as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This would be the highest seed that Harvard has ever had in the Big Dance by a factor of a half after the Crimson entered the Big Dance last year as a then-record 12th seed.

The seed is roughly commensurate with Harvard’s preseason No. 25 Associated Press ranking, although Lunardi drops the two teams directly ahead of the Crimson in the poll—Syracuse and Michigan—to No. 7 seeds. It would make Harvard the second-highest seed from a one-bid league, coming in right behind projected No. 2 seed Wichita State (of the Missouri Valley Conference).

Lunardi projects only one team that the Crimson is scheduled to play this year to make the tournament—Virginia. The Cavaliers, who were selected as a No. 3 seed, will host Harvard in late December. Other key Harvard nonconference opponents, such as Arizona State and UMass, were not picked to make the tournament.

—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at david.freed@thecrimson.com. Follow him on twitter @CrimsonDPFreed.