Great programs are able to recuperate after losing players to graduation and other circumstances.

They are able to do so by giving themselves the opportunity to improve by recruiting top-notch players, nurturing them excellent basketball environments, and then providing chances for them to achieve greatness. Harvard already has the pieces to retool thanks to Amaker’s ability to recruit elite talent.

Successful programs also figure out how to cope with adversity. In 2010, when Duke lost future NBA star guard Kyrie Irving to a toe injury eight games into the season, it didn’t hang its head in despair. Coach Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils moved forward and played without Irving for the majority of the season to notch a 32-5 year.

In 2011, when UConn coach Jim Calhoun came under fire from the NCAA for compliance issues, the Huskies continued to take care of business and win a national championship.

The point here isn’t that Harvard should do whatever it takes to win, at whatever cost. It’s that elite collegiate basketball programs are able to treat defining victories and losses the same, staying hungry and continuing to prepare themselves at the highest level mentally and physically. They persist, they endure, and they play everyday with a chip on their collective shoulder.

Over the past few seasons the Crimson basketball team has showed it can compete on the national level. It has brought Harvard athletics to new heights in the basketball world that few saw coming.

But if the Crimson hopes to join the ranks of the elite, it must win another Ivy League title this season, not the next. Amaker & Co. must find a way to work past the roster uncertainties and put the distractions of the cheating scandal behind them in order to trump adversity and achieve success.

—Staff writer Joseph Pak can be reached at jpak@college.harvard.edu.

—Follow him on Twitter @josephpak.