This weekend marks the first of back-to-back road stints for the Crimson. First on deck this week is a Friday night game against Brown. Then, Harvard will travel to New Haven to take on the Bulldogs in a Saturday showdown. The Crimson’s basketball beat writers answer five questions about this weekend’s matchups.
1) How does Harvard keep the momentum going from last weekend's wins?
JSG: One of the biggest keys for the Crimson on this road trip will be treating these games as it did its last contest—that is, viewing Brown and Yale as just as big of threats as Princeton. While we all know that neither the Bears nor the Bulldogs have the same level of the talent that the Tigers do, having a let-down game after a big win is all too common in sports. If Harvard wants to keep the momentum rolling from last week, it must throw some early knock-out punches—it must come out with energy and passion in the first halves of the respective games, and not rely on the previous success it has had coming back from large deficits against lesser teams. It is all about energy for the Crimson—whether it be that of sophomore Kenyatta Smith on the defensive end or that of freshman Siyani Chambers on the offensive side of things—they must show early on that they care and that they take this weekend’s match-ups seriously.
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Although the Harvard basketball team stole most of the weekend headlines with its important victories over Ivy League rivals Penn and Princeton, a few other Crimson teams had equally impressive weekends.
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Of the 2195 fans who packed Lavietes Pavilion on Saturday night to watch Harvard top Princeton, one has a particularly large stake in the future of the Crimson men’s basketball program.
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Kenyatta Smith had a monster weekend for Harvard men's basketball, almost netting the first triple-double in school history and earning this week’s top honors. However, in a great week for Harvard sports fans, three other Crimson athletes put in impressive performances.
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If you think of skiing as simply a fun sport to watch in the Winter Olympics or a recreational activity when there’s snow outside (thanks, Nemo!), 26 people at Harvard would beg to differ. Although there’s no way to watch these alpine and Nordic skiers unless you make the three-hour drive to Vermont, The Back Page’s new series presents five things you should know about their sport to support their teams from the comfort of your dorm.
5. GIANT
No, giant slalom does not equate a larger mountain that alpine skiers must ski down. Instead, the gates that a skier must maneuver around are spaced further apart than they are in slalom, yielding a slightly slower speed than in its sister event. While alpine skiing is also composed of the “super giant slalom” (even more space between the poles) and “downhill” (few turns, and as the name suggests, going straight down a mountain), collegiate races often use only the technical events—giant slalom and slalom.
4. Skates or skis
When you looked outside your window this weekend and saw people skiing around on the streets, Nordic coach Chris City would term that “Classic” skiing. In an actual race, classic skiing is done in parallel tracks, but the Nemo skiers resemble more of classic skiers than they would the “skate” style. In skate skiing, the skiers look more like skaters than normal skiers (with the parallel skis)—the skis are angled outwards and often yields a faster speed through the course.
3. Size does matter
If you see the skiers walking around campus with their ski bags, don’t be alarmed by how heavy their bags look—they have more than just one pair of skis. For alpine skiers, GS skis are often longer and wider than slalom skis to keep as much contact with the snow between gates, while slalom skis are shorter to increase speed. On the Nordic side, skate skis are often shorter than their classic counterparts, causing a need for ski bags with a lot of room.
2. Waxing their equipment
When a skier talks about waxing before a race, rest assured that they’re (probably) not talking about a body part. In order to make their skis glide faster, skiers will wax before a race—their skis, that is. By applying a thin layer of glide wax (for alpine skis or Nordic skate skis) or grip wax (for Nordic classic skis), the skis develop a thin film in contact with the snow that makes the ski friction with the snow optimal.
1. Crimson stars
Although the Harvard skiers may be competing far from home, success is never far from their grasp. Last year, alpine skier Rebecca Nadler took home the Crimson’s first ever national title at the NCAA Championships in Montana and is looking for a repeat title in 2013. On the Nordic side, freshman skier Emily Hannah recently made it to the 2013 FIS Junior World Championships for the second time in a row, a step which her coach calls a catalyst for the rookie to possibly make it onto the US National team someday.
