2012–13 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 2012–13 Harvard Crimson Harvard Crimson logo.svg 150 Ivy League Ivy 20–10 11–3 Tommy Amaker 6th Brian DeStefano Yanni Hufnagel Brian Adams Lavietes Pavilion Ivy League Champions NCAA tournament Round of 32 The 2012–13 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team represented Harvard University during the 2012–13 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Crimson, led by sixth year head coach Tommy Amaker, played their home games at Lavietes Pavilion and are members of the Ivy League. Harvard entered the season as the two-time defending Ivy League Champion, but its roster was greatly changed due to graduation and the 2012 Harvard cheating scandal that led to the withdrawal of two star players. With reduced expectations, the team entered the season expected to finish second in conference. During the season, the team swept the three opponents that are also from Boston. The win against Boston College, gave Amaker his sixth victory against no defeats over Atlantic Coast Conference foes. Despite the team's turmoil, it prevailed to win the 2012–13 Ivy League men's basketball season regular season championship, earning the team an automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, where it won the school's first ever NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament game. The tournament victory over #3 seed New Mexico was also the school's first victory over a top 10 ranked team. The team was led by Wesley Saunders who was unanimous First Team All-Ivy and Ivy League Rookie of the Year Siyani Chambers who was also a first team honoree. Both Steve Moundou-Missi and Laurent Rivard earned honorable mention All-Ivy recognition. Harvard tied an Ivy League single-season team record with 13 combined Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week Awards. Roster 2012 Harvard Crimson y Laurent Rivard 0 G 6 5 214 JR Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec Siyani Chambers 1 G 6 0 170 FR y Golden Valley, Minnesota Alex Nesbitt 2 G 6 1 175 SO Chicago, Illinois Jeff Georgatos 12 F 6 7 210 SR Dallas, Texas Steve Moundou-Missi 14 F 6 7 225 SO Yaoundé, Cameroon Christian Webster 15 G 6 5 205 SR Washington, D.C. Patrick Steeves 20 F 6 7 220 FR Montreal, Quebec Wesley Saunders y 23 G 6 5 215 SO Los Angeles, California Jonah Travis 24 F 6 6 225 SO Minneapolis, Minnesota Kenyatta Smith 25 C 6 8 250 SO Sun Valley, California Evan Cummins 33 F 6 9 215 FR Westborough, Massachusetts Tom Hamel 34 F 6 9 235 JR yes Methuen, Massachusetts Agunwa Okolie 35 G 6 8 205 FR Ajax, Ontario Michael Hall 44 F 6 10 205 FR Atlanta, Georgia Tommy Amaker (Duke) Brian Adams (Connecticut College) Brian DeStefano (Duke) Yanni Hufnagel (Cornell) http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/roster 2013-03-13 Preseason Prior to the season, Harvard won all four games on its international training trip to Italy. The team announced that senior Christian Webster and junior Laurent Rivard would serve as captain.http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121025_Preseason_Poll Harvard Men's Basketball Chosen Second in Ivy Preseason Media Poll 2013-01-13 2012-10-25 GoCrimson.com 2013-05-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20130510105651/http://gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121025_Preseason_Poll dead The Crimson only returned one starter from the prior year.https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1284497-college-basketball-preseason-ivy-league-preview-for-the-2012-13-season 2012–13 Ivy League College Basketball Preview 2013-01-13 2012-10-09 Bleacher Report Kramer, Jesse Harvard's two captains from the prior season, Keith Wright and Oliver McNally were seniors.http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/videos/20111011 Harvard Men's Basketball Media Day Interviews 2011-12-07 2011-10-11 Harvard University GoCrimson.comhttp://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/20111011_media_day Men's Basketball Attends Media Day 2011-12-07 2011-10-11 Harvard University GoCrimson.com January 6, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120106135230/http://gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/20111011_media_day dead Wright had been the Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 2011.http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/releases/Mens_Basketball_All-Ivy_--_2010-11 Men's Basketball All-Ivy – 2010–11 2011-03-12 2011-03-09 IvyLeagueSports.com https://web.archive.org/web/20110313110640/http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/releases/Mens_Basketball_All-Ivy_--_2010-11 2011-03-13 dead Wright, the Crimson all-time leader in blocked shots, signed with Uppsala Basket of the Swedish Basketball League,http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121027_Wright Wright Agrees to Contract with Uppsala Basket 2013-02-13 2012-10-27 Harvard University GoCrimson.com 2017-07-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20170703191241/http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121027_Wright dead and McNally, signed with the Moncton Miracles of the National Basketball League of Canada.http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121026_McNally McNally Signs Professional Contract with NBL's Moncton Miracles 2013-02-13 2012-10-26 Harvard University GoCrimson.com May 10, 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130510130257/http://gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121026_McNally dead The team welcomed five freshmen and ten returning players.http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121025_Preseason_Poll Harvard Men's Basketball Chosen Second in Ivy Preseason Media Poll 2013-02-13 2012-10-25 Harvard University GoCrimson.com 2013-05-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20130510105651/http://gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121025_Preseason_Poll dead The Ivy League media selected Harvard as the preseason runner-up to Princeton, giving the team the only first place vote that did not go to Princeton.http://www.goprincetontigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=46548&SPID=4231&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=10600&ATCLID=205719295 Men's Basketball Picked First in Ivy Preseason Media Poll 2013-01-12 2012-10-25 GoPrincetonTigers.comAugust 2026 InternetArchiveBot Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports also selected Princeton first and Harvard second with his preseason predictions, noting that Harvard had been his preseason favorite until the September cheating scandal that involved about 125 athletes and students ensnared Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry, leading to their withdrawal.http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/20642019/college-basketball-previews-princeton-led-by-ian-hummer-is-new-ivy-league-favorite College Basketball Previews: Princeton, led by Ian Hummer, is new Ivy League favorite 2013-01-12 2012-10-22 CBS Sports Goodman, Jeff Casey and Curry had been first-team and second-team All-Ivy selections respectively for the 2011–12 Ivy League men's basketball season, respectively.http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/Mens_Basketball_All-Ivy_--_2011-12 Men's Basketball All-Ivy – 2011–12 2012-03-12 2012-03-07 IvyLeagueSports.com https://web.archive.org/web/20120829033924/http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/Mens_Basketball_All-Ivy_--_2011-12 2012-08-29 dead Both players withdrew from school in hopes of preserving their final year of athletic eligibility following the investigation.http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/ncaa/09/10/harvard-casey/index.html https://archive.today/20130119215204/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/ncaa/09/10/harvard-casey/index.html dead January 19, 2013 Harvard to be without Casey, Curry in wake of cheating scandal 2013-01-12 2012-09-11 Sports Illustrated Winn, Luke Harvard appeared on 14 televised games in the regular season. Of these 14, six came on the NBC Sports Network. In addition, the team had four games broadcast on four different ESPN networks. Its February 23 game against Yale was televised by CBS Sports.http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121102_NBC_Sports Harvard Men's Basketball Games Against Saint Joseph's, Vermont to Air on NBC Sports 2013-02-10 2012-11-02 GoCrimson.com May 10, 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130510124240/http://gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121102_NBC_Sports dead Schedule Harvard's November 14 contest against Massachusetts was televised on ESPN as part of the network's Tip-Off Marathon.http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121111_UMass_Preview Harvard Men's Basketball Visits UMass Tuesday for ESPN's Tip-Off Marathon 2013-06-22 2012-11-12 GoCrimson.com 2013-05-10 https://web.archive.org/web/20130510130411/http://gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20121111_UMass_Preview dead Harvard lost the contest 67–64.https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/recap?gameId=323180113 UMass 67, Harvard 64 2013-06-22 2012-11-14 ESPN On December 4, the team defeated Boston College for its fifth consecutive victory against Boston College Eagles men's basketball,https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/recap?gameId=323390103 Harvard 79, Boston College 63 2013-06-11 2012-12-04 ESPN making Amaker a perfect 6–0 against the Atlantic Coast Conference.http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/amaker_tommy Tommy Amaker 2013-06-11 GoCrimson.com 2011-07-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20110722012247/http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/amaker_tommy dead The team also defeated cross-town rivals 2012 men MIT Engineers Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT and Boston University as well as in-state rival Holy Cross. Harvard's contest against Columbia that was originally scheduled for February 9 at 7:00 PM at Levien Gymnasium in Manhattan was postponed until February 10 at 2:00 PM due to the February 2013 nor'easter (also known as Winter Storm Nemo).http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens-basketball/2013/02/09/storm-forces-postponements-cancellations-college-sports/58JtFNNQnRQuBPNqHdYyjK/story.html https://web.archive.org/web/20131203143213/http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens-basketball/2013/02/09/storm-forces-postponements-cancellations-college-sports/58JtFNNQnRQuBPNqHdYyjK/story.html dead December 3, 2013 Storm forces postponements, cancellations in college sports 2013-02-10 2013-02-08 Boston.com The Boston Globehttp://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/2013_Storm_Central February 2013 Storm Central Update Page 2013-02-10 2013-02-10 GoCrimson.com March 12, 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20130312013637/http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/2013_Storm_Central dead Harvard had cruised to a 9–1 record in conference play and then fell to 7–2 Princeton on March 1.https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/02/sports/ncaabasketball/princeton-tops-harvard-and-ivy-league-race-tightens.html Princeton Tops Harvard and Ivy League Race Tightens 2013-11-30 2013-03-02 The New York Times Associated Press The following night, Princeton defeated Dartmouth and Harvard lost to Penn to give Princeton the lead in the conference race.http://www.nj.com/princeton/index.ssf/2013/03/princeton_university_mens_bask_10.html Princeton University men's basketball moves to top of Ivy League 2013-11-30 2013-03-02 NJ.com Eckel, Mark Harvard earned the Ivy League Championship with wins on March 8 and 9 over Columbia and Cornell to finish at 11–3 in conference as Princeton was swept on the same nights to Yale and Brown to fall to 9–4 in conference.https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/09/sports/ncaabasketball/harvard-moves-into-first-place-in-ivy-league.html Harvard Takes Lead in Mens Ivy League Conference 2013-11-30 2013-03-08 The New York Times Associated Presshttps://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/sports/ncaabasketball/east-basketball-roundup.html Harvard Wins, Waits and Then Celebrates 2013-11-30 2013-03-09 The New York Times Associated Press On March 21 in the 2013 NCAA tournament, Harvard earned the school's first NCAA tournament victoryhttps://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/recap?gameId=330800167 14-seed Harvard pulls upset over 3-seed New Mexico 2013-03-22 2013-03-21 ESPN and its first victory over a top 10 opponenthttp://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/3/21/harvard-mens-basketball-ncaa-tournament-halftime-new-mexico/ Harvard Men's Basketball Upsets New Mexico, 68-62, To Win First-Ever NCAA Tournament Game 2013-03-22 2013-03-21 Harvard Crimson Sherman, Scott A. when it defeated number three seeded New Mexico (#10 AP Poll/#10 Coaches' Poll). The victory was the first by an Ivy League team in the tournament since the 2009–10 Cornell Big Red men's basketball team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Two days later, the team lost to Arizona, ending its season.https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/recap?gameId=330820012 Arizona opens on 30-9 run, cruises past Harvard 2013-03-24 2013-03-23 ESPN 2012-13 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings 2012 yes yes |- !colspan=9 style="background:#991111; color:#FFFFFF;"| Regular season 11/09/2012 7:00 pm yes MIT Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,755 69–54 1–0 11/13/2012 10:00 am yes yes Massachusetts Mullins Center Amherst, MA ESPN Tip-Off Marathon 3,874 ESPN 64–67 1–1 11/16/2012 7:30 pm yes Manhattan Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,506 79–45 2–1 11/20/2012 7:30 pm yes yes Saint Joseph's Hagan Arena Philadelphia, PA 3,841 NBCSN 56–75 2–2 11/27/2012 7:00 pm yes Vermont Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,093 NBCSN 78–85 2–3 12/01/2012 1:00 pm yes Fordham Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,578 73–64 3–3 12/04/2012 7:00 pm yes yes Boston College Conte Forum Chestnut Hill, MA 3,128 ESPN3 79–63 4–3 12/07/2012 7:00 pm yes yes Connecticut Harry A. Gampel Pavilion Storrs, CT 9,113 SNY 49–57 4–4 12/11/2012 7:00 pm yes Boston University Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,257 65–64 5–4 12/22/2012 2:00 pm yes Holy Cross Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,851 72–65 6–4 12/29/2012 8:00 pm yes yes California Haas Pavilion Berkeley, CA 8,334 P12N 67–62 7–4 12/31/2012 8:00 pm yes yes Saint Mary's McKeon Pavilion Moraga, CA 2,847 ESPN2 69–70 7–5 01/05/2013 4:00 pm yes Rice Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,722 92–62 8–5 01/12/2013 4:00 pm yes Dartmouth Leede Arena Hanover, NH 997 75–65 9–5 (1–0) 01/19/2013 12:30 pm yes yes Memphis FedExForum Memphis 16,204 FSN 50–60 9–6 01/26/2013 2:00 pm Dartmouth Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,807 NBCSN 82–77 OT 10–6 (2–0) 02/01/2013 7:00 pm Yale Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 2,195 67–64 11–6 (3–0) 02/02/2013 7:00 pm Brown Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,830 89–82 2OT 12–6 (4–0) 02/08/2013 7:00 pm yes Cornell Newman Arena Ithaca, NY 2,873 67–65 13–6 (5–0) 02/10/2013 2:00 pm yes Columbia Levien Gymnasium New York City, NY 1,853 63–78 13–7 (5–1) 02/15/2013 7:00 pm Penn Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 2,195 73–54 14–7 (6–1) 02/16/2013 7:00 pm Princeton Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 2,195 NBCSN 69–57 15–7 (7–1) 02/22/2013 7:00 pm yes Brown Pizzitola Sports Center Providence, RI 1,321 65–47 16–7 (8–1) 02/23/2013 8:00 pm yes Yale John J. Lee Amphitheater New Haven, CT 2,139 CBSSN 72–66 17–7 (9–1) 03/01/2013 7:00 pm yes Princeton Jadwin Gymnasium Princeton, NJ 4,413 ESPNU 53–58 17–8 (9–2) 03/02/2013 6:00 pm yes Penn Palestra Philadelphia, PA 5,267 NBCSN 72–75 17–9 (9–3) 03/08/2013 7:00 pm Columbia Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 1,825 56–51 18–9 (10–3) 03/09/2013 5:30 pm Cornell Lavietes Pavilion Cambridge, MA 2,195 NBCSN 65–56 19–9 (11–3) |- !colspan=9 style="background:#991111; color:#FFFFFF;"| 2013 NCAA Tournament 03/21/2013 10:10 pm yes yes 14 W New Mexico 11 3 W EnergySolutions Arena Salt Lake City, UT Second Round 14,345 TNT 68–62 20–9 03/23/2013 6:10 pm yes yes 14 W Arizona 6 W EnergySolutions Arena Salt Lake City, UT Third Round 16,060 TNT 51–74 20–10 AP Poll Eastern Time(#) during NCAA Tournament is seed with Region W=West N.B. Source:https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/team/schedule/_/id/108/year/2013/harvard-crimson Harvard Crimson Schedule - 2012-13 2013-06-22 ESPN In season Each week the Ivy League selects a player of the week and a rookie of the week.http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/weeklyreleases 2012-13 Men's Basketball Weekly Releases 2013-01-13 IvyLeagueSports.com 2April 2019 InternetArchiveBot yes Led by Wesley Saunders' 5 Ivy League Player of the Week Awards and Siyani Chambers' 6 Rookie of the Week Awards, Harvard tied the Ivy League record with 13 single-season weekly recognitions.http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/weeklyreleases/2012-13_MBB_Postseason_Release_2.pdf 2012-13 Ivy League Men's Basketball: Postseason #2 • March 22, 2013 2013-04-06 2013-03-22 IvyLeagueSports.com 13 https://web.archive.org/web/20150918081727/http://ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/weeklyreleases/2012-13_MBB_Postseason_Release_2.pdf September 18, 2015 dead mdy-all Player of the Week Rookie of the Week Name School Class Position Name School Position December 3, 2012Wesley SaundersHarvardSo.G/FSiyani ChambersHarvardG December 10, 2012Wesley SaundersHarvardSo.G/F December 17, 2012Siyani ChambersHarvardG January 7, 2013Siyani ChambersHarvardG January 14, 2013Wesley SaundersHarvardSo.G/FSiyani ChambersHarvardG January 28, 2013Christian WebsterHarvardSr.GSiyani ChambersHarvardG February 4, 2013Wesley SaundersHarvardSo.G/F February 18, 2013Kenyatta SmithHarvardSo.C February 25, 2013Wesley SaundersHarvardSo.G/F March 10, 2013Siyani ChambersHarvardG All-Ivy Siyani Chambers was named the unanimous choice for Ivy League Rookie of the Year and the first freshman to be first team All-Ivy. Chambers and Saunders were the first Harvard teammates selected together as first team All-Ivy. The following players earned Ivy League postseason recognition:http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/Mens_Basketball_All-Ivy_--_2012-13 Men's Basketball All-Ivy – 2012–13 2013-03-14 2013-03-12 IvyLeagueSports.com https://web.archive.org/web/20130524192520/http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/Mens_Basketball_All-Ivy_--_2012-13 2013-05-24 dead First Team All-Ivy ^Wesley Saunders, (So., G/F - Los Angeles) Siyani Chambers, (Fr., G - Golden Valley, Minn.) Honorable Mention All-Ivy Steve Moundou-Missi, (So., F - Yaounde, Cameroon) Laurent Rivard, (Jr., G - Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Québec, Canada) ^Unanimous Selection On March 12, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association named Saunders to its 2012–13 Men's All-District I (ME, VT, NH, RI, MA, CT) Team, based upon voting from its national membership.http://www.sportswriters.net/usbwa/news/2013/alldistrict130312.html United States Basketball Writers Association USBWA Names Men's All-District Teams 2013-03-13 2013-03-12 The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their Division I All-District teams on March 26, recognizing the nation's best men's collegiate basketball student-athletes. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, 240 student-athletes, from 24 districts were chosen. The selections on this list were then eligible for the State Farm Coaches' Division I All-America teams. Saunders and Chambers were among the District 13 first team selections.http://www.nabc.com/awards/all_district/FINAL-2012-13NABC-D1-ALL-DISTRICT-TEAMS-5.pdf National Association of Basketball Coaches Announces 2012-13 Division I All-District Teams 2013-05-18 2013-03-26 National Association of Basketball Coaches October 29, 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193437/http://www.nabc.com/awards/all_district/FINAL-2012-13NABC-D1-ALL-DISTRICT-TEAMS-5.pdf dead References 33em Category:Harvard Crimson men's basketball seasons Harvard Harvard Harvard Crimson men's basketball Harvard Crimson men's basketball Harvard Crimson men's basketball Harvard Crimson men's basketball