When the start of the NFL season rolls around this September, Harvard alum Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 will once again take a crack at winning the AFC South division title. However, this time around, he will be suiting up for a new team.

The former Tennessee quarterback agreed to a two-year deal with the Houston Texans Thursday. According to the Houston Chronicle, the deal will be worth $7.5 million.

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In the wake of Harvard’s upset victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats in the NCAA Tournament round of 64 here on Thursday, the Back Page caught up with some key players for Michigan State, the four seed in the East region and the Crimson’s opponent in Saturday’s round of 32.

ADREIAN PAYNE, Senior Center

“I was watching a little bit on TV and I heard that they don’t run a lot or push the ball a lot, so it’s probably sort of a team like Wisconsin maybe, you know they’re really smart and they don’t turn the ball over a lot. They’re just solid, so we’re just going to have to come out and be solid too because they’re not going to be doing anything crazy.”

BRANDEN DAWSON, Junior forward

“We really didn’t watch a lot of their game. We were in here in the locker room and we watched a little of it towards the end. Those guys have great guards, they play solid, they don’t make mistakes.”

ALVIN ELLIS III, Freshman guard

“We’re not familiar with them, but we have managers and stuff to do research on them, and we’re going to watch some film tonight and tomorrow and learn their plays and see what it takes on Saturday.”

KEITH APPLING, Senior guard

“A lot of people had those guys picked to win that game [against Cincinnati]. Me, honestly, I thought that Cincinnati's athleticism would take over, but Harvard, they just seem like a grind it out team that can win many different ways.”

MATT COSTELLO, Sophomore forward

“We’ll learn a lot tonight. That’s the plan. I’m not quite sure what’s going with that but we’ll watch a lot of film tonight and see what we can do.”

With Selection Sunday just around the corner, the Harvard men’s basketball team will know who it will be matched up with in the round of 64 of the NCAA tournament soon enough. But sometimes speculation is more fun than reality, so we at The Back Page decided to look at what we consider to be the Crimson’s potential opponents in the NCAA tournament and to try and speculate what chance—if any—Harvard will have at pulling the upset.Here, we take a look at Kentucky from the SEC.

Record: 24-9, 12-6 SEC

Best Wins: #6 Louisville, Tennessee, Missouri

Worst Losses: Arkansas, LSU, South Carolina

RPI: 15

Ken Pomeroy Ranking: 19

Projected Seed (from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi): 6

Star Players: Julius Randle (Fr. Forward) 15.4 ppg 10.6 rpg, Willie Cauley-Stein (So. Center) 7.4 ppg 6.3 rpg 2.9 bpg, Andrew Harrison (Fr. Point Guard) 10.8 ppg 3.7 apg

If Harvard draws Kentucky in tomorrow’s Selection Sunday Show, they will already be leading Wildcats in one category: age. Kentucky’s average age is 18.75 years, as the team is stacked with nine freshmen. This isn’t a new phenomenon in Lexington, however, as Wildcats coach John Calipari is notorious throughout college basketball for providing a one-year trampoline to the NBA for the country’s top incoming freshmen.

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With Selection Sunday just around the corner, the Harvard men’s basketball team will know who it will be matched up with in the round of 64 of the NCAA tournament soon enough. But sometimes speculation is more fun than reality, so we at The Back Page decided to look at what we consider to be the Crimson’s potential opponents in the NCAA tournament and to try and speculate what chance—if any—Harvard will have at pulling the upset. Here, we take a look at the No. 20 New Mexico Lobos from the Mountain West.

Record: 26-6, 15-3 Mountain West

Best Wins: #8 San Diego State, #13 Cincinnati

Worst Losses: New Mexico State, UNLV, Boise State

RPI: 18

Ken Pomeroy Ranking: 48

Projected Seed (from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi): 6

Star Players: Cameron Bairstow (Sr. Forward) 20.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg, Kendall Williams (Sr. Guard) 16.4 ppg, 5.0 apg

After knocking off New Mexico in one of last year’s biggest NCAA tournament upsets, the Crimson could once again find itself paired up with the Lobos on Selection Sunday. Both New Mexico and Harvard graduated just one starter from last year’s squads, so this game could potentially be one of the most interesting second-round matchups. 

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With Selection Sunday just around the corner, the Harvard men’s basketball team will know who it will be matched up with in the round of 64 of the NCAA tournament soon enough. But sometimes speculation is more fun than reality, so we at The Back Page decided to look at what we consider to be the Crimson’s potential opponents in the NCAA tournament and to try and speculate what chance—if any—Harvard will have at pulling the upset.Here, we take a look at UMass Amherst from the Atlantic 10.

Record: (24-7, 10-6 A 10)

Best Wins: #19 UNM, #23 VCU,

Worst Losses: St. Bonaventure, Richmond, George Mason

RPI: 16

Ken Pomeroy Ranking: 48

Projected Seed (from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi): 8

Star Players: Chazz Williams (Sr. Guard) 15.6 ppg, 7.0 apg, Cady Lalanne (Jr. Center) 11.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg

Sampson Carter is a name that most people won’t know before they fill out their brackets this year. In fact, the only real storyline about the senior heading into March Madness is that older brother, Shyrone Chatman, is his assistant coach. But if Harvard draws UMass Amherst in the first round, you can be sure Carter’s name will be weighing on the minds of Crimson fans for much more than his family ties.

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