Obsessedsportsnut's Blog

Today’s headline: “Boston College hires Cornell’s Steve Donahue as coach”

Steve Donahue lead Cornell to an amazing run in the NCAA tournament. After winning the Ivy League, they made it all the way to the Sweet 16 before losing to Kentucky. This was also the same Cornell team that was up by 3 on Kansas at the half back in January, before losing by only 5. Donahue coached a great team…a team led by 4 seniors, including stars Ryan Whitman and Louis Dale. They were a strong team with a ton of experience…a team that had great post players and players who could shoot well.

The only reason why I know the Cornell team well this year was because they were Jeremy Lin and Harvard’s main competition this season. Unlike other conferences in the country, the Ivy League doesnt have a season ending tournament, where the winner gets the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The representative from the Ivy League is the winner of the regular season title, hence the regular season is often referred to as the “14 Game Tournament.”

The regular season is extremely important, and every single game matters. Cornell and Harvard played twice this year, one home and one away, and both times Cornell completely dominated and outclassed Harvard. Cornell’s four best players were seniors. Other than Jeremy Lin, Harvard’s 4 other top players were 3 freshman and 1 sophomore. Harvard’s starting 5 was extremely talented, but they simply lacked the experience to play with Cornell.

I really wanted to see Jeremy Lin lead Harvard to the Ivy League title, and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. I really wanted him to get that opportunity to play on the national level, and let the entire country see how good he is. But while he may have been disappointed in not winning the Ivy League this year, he should take encouragment/comfort/satisfaction in knowing that he laid down the foundations for a solid program at Harvard for the years to come.

With Cornell’s coach leaving and 4 best players graduating, the Ivy League race will come down to a battle between Harvard and Princeton next year. This year, Harvard had a great group of underclassman in Kyle Casey, Keith Wright, Christian Webster, and Brandyn Curry. After a year’s of experience, they will only get better in the years to come. Also, coach Tommy Amaker is bringing in a surprisingly good recruiting class. Even though Harvard is losing great talent in Jeremy Lin next year, they are returning almost the entire team and are bringing in a ton of new recruits that its highly probable that Harvard will gain a bid to the NCAA tournament next season.

All of this couldn’t have happened without Jeremy Lin. Jeremy was one of the few players who interviewed Tommy Amaker in 2007 for the open coaching position, and has been a leader of this team for the past three years. In his first season under Amaker in Lin’s sophomore year, he lead Harvard to an 8-22 (3-11 conference) record. By the time Jeremy was a senior, Harvard went 21-7 (10-4). As the team’s leader, and one of the few seniors on the team, Jeremy had to lead the youngsters by example during every game and every practice.

I dont know the history of Harvard Basketball or who have written their names in the history books while at Harvard. However, even though Jeremy Lin didn’t make it to the NCAA tournament or lead Harvard to an Ivy League title, he has to go down as one of the best in Harvard basketball history. If not for the numbers and stats that he put, then for the winning program he helped established.