Kyle Juszczyk
With the NFL Draft happening later this week (the first round will be held on Thursday night), The Back Page is bringing you full coverage of Harvard’s lone notable prospect, former tight end and current fullback senior Kyle Juszczyk. To start the coverage off, staff writer David Freed previews what analysts have been saying about Harvard’s leading receiver from 2012.
After being projected as a late seventh rounder earlier in January, forecasts for Juszczyk have continued to improve over time. The fullback was invited to the Senior Bowl but not to the combine, but impressed at his Pro Day with a 4.71 time in the 40-yard dash and a vertical jump of 37 inches. According to nfldraftscout.com, 15 teams came to Juszczyk’s pro day and Gil Brandt of NFL.com wrote at the time “this showing will earn Juszczyk a draft selection somewhere in the fifth or sixth rounds.” Since, NFLDraftScout revised Brandt’s estimates to put the former tight end in the third or fourth round.
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The Harvard men’s tennis team (17-4, 5-0 Ivy) is undefeated in Ivy League play this season, and just clinched a share of its second straight Ivy League title after Sunday’s victory over Yale. The Back Page looks at some of the important numbers for the Crimson this season and a few more looking forward.
2...The number of years in a row Harvard has won at least a share of the Ivy League title. Last season, the Crimson went 6-1 in Ancient Eight play, losing only to Columbia en route to the conference title.
5…The number of years since the Harvard last completed an unblemished conference slate, since the 2007-08 season. The Crimson has a chance to wrap up a perfect 7-0 record with wins against Brown and Dartmouth this week.
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In his first bracket for 2013-14, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has placed the Harvard men's basketball team as a 12 seed in the Southern region of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The Crimson was a 14 seed in 2012, when it defeated the New Mexico Lobos in its first game before falling to the Arizona Wildcats in the round of 32. It was a 12 seed in the 2011 tournament, when it lost to fifth-seeded Vanderbilt in the round of 64.
Harvard is set to play Tennessee in the bracket. While the Volunteers missed out on the NCAA tournament in 2012, the team scored noteworthy victories over Final Four squad Wichita State and the Florida Gators, who made the Elite Eight. The squad went 9-3 in its last twelve games of the regular season and finished with a higher Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) than the Crimson did.
Next year, Harvard will return Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry as well as introduce class of 2017 freshman Zena Edsomowan. They have already been touted as a preseason top-25 team by ESPN's Jay Bilas.
A week after CBS Sports named the Harvard Crimson the 21st best men's basketball team in the nation in a preseason poll for the 2013-2014 season, ESPN’s Jay Bilas placed the Crimson as the 22nd-ranked team in his early top 25 poll.
Bilas has Kentucky at the top of his poll after the signings of Class of 2017 freshmen Julius Randle, Dakari Johnson, and James Young. Reigning national champion Louisville, Michigan State, Duke, and Arizona—who defeated Harvard in the NCAA Tournament in March—round out the top five.
On Harvard, Bilas commented that Harvard coach Tommy Amaker “retains most of [his] rotation from a team that won its third Ivy League title in a row, earned its second straight NCAA tournament bid and its first-ever NCAA win.” The Crimson are the last in a series of three mid-majors that begin the 20s, ranked behind Final Four team Wichita State and second-round victim New Mexico.
Bilas cited the potential return of departed seniors Brandyn Curry and Kyle Casey, as well as incoming recruit Zena Edosomwan, as reasons for the Crimson's improvement. Curry, Casey, and Edosomwan should lengthen an Amaker rotation that was as small as six players at points last season and will give the coach a variety of options at the guard and forward spots. After a year in which the Crimson had four of the top 10 Ivy League players in terms of minutes played, a lengthened bench will be a new luxury for Amaker.
Pitcher Sam Dodge took home the Athlete of the Week Award, but The Back Page recognizes other athletes in Harvard sports who excelled over the course of the weekend's games.
Erica Veidis and Jarvis Harris, Track and Field
The two athletes were the stars of the weekend’s annual Harvard-Yale track and field meet. Veidis, a sophomore indoor All-American, won the 800 meters with a 2:05.92 mark that was the second-fastest time ever run at the event. She led a one-two-three Harvard finish in the event. On the men’s side, Harris broke the school record with his 110 hurdles victory, beating the previous one by .11 seconds with a time of 14.13 seconds.
First Varsity, Women’s Heavyweight and Men’s Heavyweight
The first varsity teams for both the men’s and women’s heavyweight crew teams put forth winning efforts over the weekend. The 11th-ranked women picked up their first win of the spring with a victory over the fifth-ranked Princeton Tigers and 17th-ranked Cornell Big Red on Saturday morning. The team won by nearly five seconds over Princeton and almost eight over the Big Red. The fourth-ranked men’s team won three of the five races against the Brown Bears on Saturday morning and took home the Stein Cup for the third straight year.
Murphy Vandervelde, Men’s Lacrosse
With his overtime goal against the 14th-ranked Penn Quakers, the sophomore from Wellesley, Massachusetts, sent the Harvard men’s lacrosse team to its first victory over a ranked opponent. Since scoring his first career goal on March 23rd, Vandervelde has eleven goals in five games, including consecutive hat tricks against Albany and Duke. With the win, the team attained a slim hold on the final playoff berth in the Ivy League.