The 2009–10 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team represented Harvard University in the Ivy League athletic conference during the 2009-10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played its home games in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the Lavietes Pavilion, which has a capacity of 2,195. The team was led by third-year head coach Tommy Amaker and starred highly touted prospect Jeremy Lin.
| 2009–10 Harvard Crimson men's basketball | |
|---|---|
 | |
2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament, First round | |
| Conference | Ivy League |
| Ranking | |
| Coaches | No. NR |
| AP | No. NR |
| Record | 21–7 (10–4 Ivy League) |
| Head coach | |
| Assistant coaches |
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| Home arena | Lavietes Pavilion |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cornell | 13 | – | 1 | .929 | 29 | – | 5 | .853 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Princeton | 11 | – | 3 | .786 | 22 | – | 9 | .710 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Harvard | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | 21 | – | 9 | .700 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yale | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 12 | – | 19 | .387 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Columbia | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 11 | – | 17 | .393 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Brown | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 11 | – | 20 | .355 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Penn | 5 | – | 9 | .357 | 6 | – | 22 | .214 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dartmouth | 1 | – | 13 | .071 | 5 | – | 23 | .179 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As of March 21, 2010 Rankings from AP Poll | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Building on the success of the prior season when the 2008–09 team beat then ranked Boston College (#17 AP Poll/#24 Coaches' Poll) for the program's first win over a ranked team in the school's history,[1] The 2009–10 team broke many all-time program records including the following:[2]
- most wins (21)
- most non-conference wins (11)
- most home wins (11)
- most road/neutral wins (10)
The team received a vote in the AP Poll four times: (November 23, January 11, January 18 and 25).[3] Amaker was a nominee for the inaugural Ben Jobe Award as the top minority Division I college basketball coach.[2] Amaker was recognized by Fox Sports as the 2010 Ivy League Coach of the Year.[4]
As a result of its 21–7 overall record and a 10–4 Ivy League conference record, the team was invited to play in the 16-team single-elimination 2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
Over the course of the season, the team was highly publicized, with Lin being featured in Sports Illustrated and ESPN,[5][6] while the team's early match against defending conference champion Cornell was written up in Time.[7]
Preseason
The Ivy League held its pre-season media day on October 28, 2009, in Princeton, New Jersey. The league's media unanimously voted Cornell the preseason #1 for the second straight season. Harvard was ranked fourth.[8]
Honors
Over the course of the season, the Ivy League office recognized several members of the team regularly for excellent play:
| Week | Player of the week | Rookie of the week |
|---|---|---|
| November 16[9] | Jeremy Lin, G, Harvard | Dee Giger, G, Harvard |
| December 7[10] | Jeremy Lin, G, Harvard | |
| December 14[11] | Jeremy Lin, G, Harvard | |
| January 4[12] | Kyle Casey, F, Harvard | |
| January 25[13] | Kyle Casey, F, Harvard | |
| February 8[14] | Kyle Casey, F, Harvard | |
| February 15[15] | Kyle Casey, F, Harvard | Kyle Casey, F, Harvard |
| March 1[16] | Jeremy Lin, G, Harvard | Brandyn Curry, G, Harvard |
| March 8[17] | Brandyn Curry, G, Harvard |
During the season, Lin was recognized as one of eleven finalists for the Bob Cousy Award.[18] He was one of 31 midseason watchlist candidates for the Wooden Award.[19] At the conclusion of the 2009–10 Ivy League men's basketball season, Lin was selected as a repeat first team All-Ivy selection after becoming the first player in Ivy League history to record 1,450 points (1,471), 450 rebounds (487), 400 assists (401) and 200 steals (224).[20] He was also selected to the United States Basketball Writers Association All-District team.[21]