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. 15 North Carolina Tar Heels from the ACC.
Record: (23-8, 13-5 ACC)
Best Wins: #3 Louisville, #1 Michigan State, #5 Duke, #11 Kentucky
Worst Losses: Belmont, UAB, Miami
RPI: 20
Ken Pomeroy Ranking: 23
Projected Seed (from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi): 4
Star Players: Marcus Paige (So. Guard) 17.1 ppg, 4.5 apg, James Michael McAdoo (Jr. Forward) 14.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg
As the tournament approaches, bracketologists often revert to the transitive property to help pick upsets. If this property has any glimmer of verity, Harvard could be projected to beat North Carolina, as the Crimson’s margin of victory over Boston College is greater than UNC. Additionally, the Tar Heels have even recorded losses against second-tier teams, such as Belmont and University of Alabama at Birmingham.
But these contests don’t give the full picture. That’s because UNC plays best when the lights are the brightest. On November 24, with the a national audience on ESPN, the Tar Heels exploded with a 93-84 win over #3 ranked Louisville behind 32 points from guard Marcus Paige.
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While sophomore wrestler Todd Preston’s double sudden death overtime victory at the EIWA Championships all but guaranteed him Athlete of the Week honors, here were some other baller performances (read: they all played really good basketball) by Crimson athletes this past weekend.
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The culmination of the regular season has inundated the Harvard men’s basketball team (26-4,13-1) with awards, as six members of the Crimson were announced to the All-Ivy League team on Wednesday.
Junior guard Wesley Saunders led the pack, as he was unanimously voted to the first team for the second straight year. Saunders was also named the Ivy League Player of the Year, becoming only the third player in Harvard’s history to garner the award. Saunders averaged 14 points per game and dropped 20 points five times this year.
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As the Harvard men’s basketball team (26-4,13-1) heads into post-season play for the third straight season, individual honors continue to pour in for the Crimson. Junior guards Wesley Saunders and Siyani Chambers, who helped Harvard capture its fourth straight Ivy League Title, were tabbed to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District Teams in District 13.
Saunders, who has led Harvard in scoring, was named to the first-team for the second year in a row. Saunders was also named to United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District I Team, association officials announced Tuesday.
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While you were busy power-watching housing day videos and writing strongly worded letters to your various friends in Kirkland house, here is what happened in Harvard sports this weekend.
With its 70-58 win over Yale on Friday night, the men’s basketball team secured the Ivy League championship outright and earned its third straight bid to the Dance. Sports writers nationwide rejoiced with the win, immediately pitching Tommy Amaker features to everyone around them. “It is such a great story for a long-form feature,” they exclaim. TRUST US, WE KNOW. JUST STOP ALREADY. Besides, the original is still the best.
Speaking of top-notch basketball coaches, women’s basketball coach Kathy Delaney-Smith now owns the most wins in Ivy League basketball history, passing Princeton legendary men’s basketball coach Pete Carril with her 515th against Yale on Friday night. It remains unclear whether Delaney-Smith will be getting the Amaker treatment or not (she is certainly more than deserving), but Bartley’s Burger Cottage, known for its special burgers named after pop culture references, did have a Delaney-Smith special on Friday afternoon. While rumors abound on the Cambridge community’s desire for a “Fire Donato!” special, Bartley’s has neither confirmed nor denied that such a burger is in the works.
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