# 2017–18 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team

The 2017–18 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team represented Harvard University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Crimson, led by 11th-year head coach Tommy Amaker, played their home games at Lavietes Pavilion in Boston, Massachusetts as members of the Ivy League. They finished the season 18–14, 12–2 in Ivy League play to share the Ivy League regular season championship with Penn. As the No. 1 seed in the Ivy League tournament, they defeated Cornell in the semifinals before losing to Penn in the championship game. As a regular season league champion, and No. 1 seed in their league tournament, who failed to win their league tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to Marquette.

## Previous season

The Crimson finished the 2016–17 season 18–10, 10–4 in Ivy League play to finish in second place. They lost in the semifinals of the inaugural Ivy League tournament to Yale.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Siyani Chambers | 1 | G | 6'0" | 170 | Senior | Golden Valley, MN | Graduated |
| Zena Edosomwan | 4 | F | 6'9" | 245 | Senior | Los Angeles, CA | Graduated |
| Matt Franschilla | 12 | G | 5'10" | 165 | Senior | Dallas, TX | Graduated |
| Corbin Miller | 15 | G | 6'1" | 180 | Senior | Sandy, UT | Graduated |

### 2017 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Mario Haskett #67 SG | Chesterfield, VA | Lloyd C. Bird High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Jun 16, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 75 ||||||
| Reed Farley #87 SF | La Jolla, CA | La Jolla High School | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Oct 14, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 64 ||||||
| Danilo Djuricic PF | Toronto, ON | St. Michael's College School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Sep 23, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Harvard 2017 Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. "2017 Harvard Basketball Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. "ESPN Recruiting Nation Basketball". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. ||||||

### 2018 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2018 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Spencer Freedman #27 PG | Santa Monica, CA | Mater Dei High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 160 lb (73 kg) | Jun 9, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 82 |||||||
| Noah Kirkwood SF | Ottawa, ON | Northfield-Mt. Hermon School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 222 lb (101 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 80 |||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: |||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Harvard 2018 Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. "2018 Harvard Basketball Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. "ESPN Recruiting Nation Basketball". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 13, 2017. |||||||

## Schedule and results

The team earned a share of the 2017–18 Ivy League men's basketball season regular season title.
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season |||||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 7:00 pm, NESN+ | | MIT | W 73–64 | 1–0 | 20 – Towns | 10 – Lewis | 4 – Bassey | Lavietes Pavilion (1,472) Boston, MA |
| Nov 12, 2017* 2:00 pm, NESN+ | | Massachusetts | W 70–67 $^{OT}$ | 2–0 | 30 – Aiken | 8 – Aiken | 4 – Tied | Lavietes Pavilion (1,636) Boston, MA |
| Nov 16, 2017* 7:00 pm | | at Holy Cross | L 69–73 | 2–1 | 24 – Towns | 10 – Towns | 6 – Aiken | Hart Center (2,242) Worcester, MA |
| Nov 18, 2017* 1:00 pm | | at Manhattan | L 69–73 | 2–2 | 17 – Towns | 5 – Tied | 4 – Aiken | Draddy Gymnasium (1,250) Riverdale, NY |
| Nov 23, 2017* 4:00 pm, ESPNews | | vs. No. 21 Saint Mary's Wooden Legacy quarterfinals | L 71–89 | 2–3 | 22 – Aiken | 4 – Towns | 3 – Tied | Titan Gym (2,131) Fullerton, CA |
| Nov 24, 2017* 5:00 pm, ESPNews | | vs. Saint Joseph's Wooden Legacy consolation round | W 77–71 | 3–3 | 21 – Tied | 11 – Baker | 8 – Aiken | Titan Gym (2,513) Fullerton, CA |
| Nov 26, 2017* 9:30 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. Cal State Fullerton Wooden Legacy 5th place game | L 61–70 | 3–4 | 16 – Aiken | 8 – Baker | 3 – Tied | Honda Center (1,733) Anaheim, CA |
| Nov 30, 2017* 7:00 pm | | at Northeastern | L 61–77 | 3–5 | 26 – Aiken | 10 – Bassey | 2 – Tied | Matthews Arena (1,376) Boston, MA |
| Dec 2, 2017* 3:30 pm, ESPN | | at No. 7 Kentucky | L 70–79 | 3–6 | 25 – Towns | 7 – Djuricic | 3 – Tied | Rupp Arena (22,922) Lexington, KY |
| Dec 6, 2017* 7:00 pm | | at Fordham | W 47–45 | 4–6 | 15 – Aiken | 11 – Tied | 3 – Tied | Rose Hill Gymnasium (1,012) Bronx, NY |
| Dec 21, 2017* 7:00 pm, NESN+ | | Boston University | W 74–63 | 5–6 | 12 – Tied | 7 – Perez | 4 – Johnson | Lavietes Pavilion (1,175) Boston, MA |
| Dec 23, 2017* 12:00 pm, Stadium | | at George Washington | L 48–58 | 5–7 | 12 – Towns | 7 – Tied | 3 – Johnson | Charles E. Smith Center (2,421) Washington, D.C. |
| Dec 30, 2017* 2:00 pm, BTN | | at Minnesota | L 55–65 | 5–8 | 12 – Johnson | 10 – Bassey | 6 – Juzang | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 2, 2018* 7:00 pm, NESN+ | | Vermont | L 56–62 | 5–9 | 14 – Lewis | 5 – Towns | 3 – Tied | Lavietes Pavilion (1,215) Boston, MA |
| Jan 6, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Dartmouth | W 61–51 | 6–9 (1–0) | 16 – Towns | 6 – Tied | 4 – Juzang | Lavietes Pavilion (1,459) Boston, MA |
| Jan 10, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Wofford | L 62–63 | 6–10 | 20 – Towns | 7 – Lewis | 4 – Towns | Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium (2,259) Spartanburg, SC |
| Jan 20, 2018 7:00 pm, ELVN | | at Dartmouth | W 62–57 | 7–10 (2–0) | 26 – Towns | 10 – Bassey | 3 – Bassey | Leede Arena (1,630) Hanover, NH |
| Jan 26, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Yale | W 54-52 | 8–10 (3–0) | 16 – Lewis | 11 – Lewis | 5 – Towns | John J. Lee Amphitheater (2,532) New Haven, CT |
| Jan 27, 2018 6:00 pm, NESN+ | | at Brown | W 86–77 | 9–10 (4–0) | 30 – Towns | 6 – Lewis | 2 – Tied | Pizzitola Sports Center (2,149) Providence, RI |
| Feb 2, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Columbia | L 76–83 | 9–11 (4–1) | 31 – Towns | 6 – Bassey | 5 – Bassey | Levien Gymnasium (2,010) New York, NY |
| Feb 3, 2018 6:00 pm, ELVN | | at Cornell | W 76–73 | 10–11 (5–1) | 17 – Lewis | 7 – Towns | 6 – Towns | Newman Arena (1,188) Ithaca, NY |
| Feb 9, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | Princeton | W 66–51 | 11–11 (6–1) | 20 – Juzang | 8 – Bassey | 4 – Juzang | Lavietes Pavilion (1,636) Boston, MA |
| Feb 10, 2018 4:00 pm, NESN | | Penn | W 76–67 | 12–11 (7–1) | 25 – Lewis | 7 – Bassey | 6 – Juzang | Lavietes Pavilion (1,636) Boston, MA |
| Feb 16, 2018 7:00 pm, NESN | | Brown | W 65–58 | 13–11 (8–1) | 24 – Towns | 10 – Lewis | 2 – Tied | Lavietes Pavilion (1,486) Boston, MA |
| Feb 17, 2018 9:30 pm, ESPNU | | Yale | W 64–49 | 14–11 (9–1) | 18 – Lewis | 10 – Lewis | 8 – Juzang | Lavietes Pavilion (1,636) Boston, MA |
| Feb 23, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Princeton | W 72–66 $^{OT}$ | 15–11 (10–1) | 18 – Bassey | 9 – Towns | 7 – Juzang | Jadwin Gymnasium (2,739) Princeton, NJ |
| Feb 24, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Penn | L 71–74 | 15–12 (10–2) | 22 – Towns | 9 – Bassey | 4 – Bassey | Palestra (6,586) Philadelphia, PA |
| Mar 2, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Cornell | W 98–88 $^{2OT}$ | 16–12 (11–2) | 29 – Lewis | 11 – Juzang | 5 – Tied | Lavietes Pavilion (1,636) Boston, MA |
| Mar 3, 2018 7:00 pm | | Columbia | W 93–74 | 17–12 (12–2) | 17 – Johnson | 10 – Towns | 7 – Tied | Lavietes Pavilion (1,636) Boston, MA |
| Ivy League tournament |||||||||
| Mar 10, 2018 12:30 pm, ESPNU | (1) | vs. (4) Cornell Semifinals | W 74–55 | 18–12 | 24 – Towns | 12 – Towns | 4 – Juzang | Palestra Philadelphia, PA |
| Mar 11, 2018 12:00 pm, ESPN2 | (1) | at (2) Penn Championship game | L 65–68 | 18–13 | 16 – Lewis | 8 – Bassey | 3 – Lewis | Palestra (5,564) Philadelphia, PA |
| NIT |||||||||
| Mar 14, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | (7) | at (2) Marquette First round – Notre Dame Bracket | L 60–67 | 18–14 | 19 – Bassey | 12 – Bassey | 5 – Bassey | Al McGuire Center (3,607) Milwaukee, WI |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll,. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. |||||||||
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