First Time Ever

In case you didn't know or have been under a rock lately, Harvard is ranked this week for the first time ever.   The Crimson is Number 25 in the ESPN and AP polls, and ranked 24th in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Those with a penchant for stats will be interested to know that the last Ivy League team to break into the top 25 was Princeton late in the 1997-98 season, under Pete Carril-- winningest Ivy b-ball coach ever and designer of the famous Princeton offense.   The Crimson coach Tommy Amaker played and coached at Duke.   This year's team played in their first ever regular season tournament, the Battle 4 Atlantis and won it, defeating Utah, Fla State and Central Florida.

All of this from a tiny gym reminiscent of Cameron.

Bleachers at a top 25 basketball arena.  Where else but Harvard?

We were there for their first ever Crimson and White scrimmage.

Checking stats after the scrimmage.

Fred's room-mate is #14 Steve Moundou-Missi.  He played against Austin Rivers in AAU ball in Florida.   Carl and Fred have season tickets.

Next up for the Crimson is most everyone's favorite:  the defending national champions and current #9 U Conn in Storrs CT.  This weekend will be the last round of games for the Huskies before the start of the Big East schedule and a 3-game suspension for Calhoun.   While Coach Amaker muses:  “.... the grand prize is now we’ve got to go down and play at Storrs—so I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not”  the astute basketball analyst Carl Ward comes on strong to his grandmother with his prediction, backed up by another area where he has been right so far: 


The weather here is even better than Durham it seems Joan, so far my prediction is true, see I told you all. I know you all saw that Harvard is ranked for the first time today, they play UConn on thursday, I predict Amaker will out coach Calhoun and we will cruise to 15 pt victory.  


Harvard v. UConn, Thursday Dec 8, 7PM est on espn 2


onwards.

UPDATE:  C&F will be at the UCONN game so look for them on TV!