Harvard hoop co-captain Jeremy Lin poised for ’09–10 season.

by Dan Totten

Jeremy Lin. Harvard University Basketball. Admit it. You’ve likely never heard of one and the other is far removed from any semblance of hoop hotbed status. Harvard is also likely far removed from being a possible bracket choice for any NCAA Tournament predictions you might be inclined to make for this season.

While you may not pencil in Harvard as one of your predictions to make the NCAA tournament, if you get the opportunity to see Jeremy Lin play basketball for Harvard this season, by all means do so. Immediately!

Jeremy Lin is a 6-3 leaper, who is now a senior guard on the Harvard University basketball team. His much-touted break-through game came against Boston College last season on January 7, 2009. While a snowstorm swirled outside at the heights that evening, a similar storm of epic proportions brewed inside. That game saw a BC letdown of major proportions, after the Eagles beat nationally ranked and ultimate 2009-2010 National Champion North Carolina just a few days prior.

Lin’s stats for that game were 27 points, 6 steals, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and in case anybody thought he was not thinking of his teammates, Lin had 8 assists. The biggest compliment paid that evening was from Tyrese Rice (now playing professionally in Greece) toward Jeremy Lin. Whenever Rice faced Lin on the defensive end, he stayed 3-4 feet off Lin the entire game -– true testament to Rice respecting Lin’s quickness. This respect for Lin’s quickness is quite deserved. Lin has slashed his way through the middle and dunked on unsuspecting defenders who chose to layoff him defensively in the past. Lin will have no such luxury this season as many a defense will focus on containing Jeremy Lin.

Granted, BC played an incredible game against the Tar Heels just a few days prior to their January loss to Harvard. It could be argued that such an expenditure of effort against the team that ultimately won the national championship could warrant a bit of a letdown by anybody. Unfortunately that particular January evening not a single Eagles player brought any semblance of their Tar Heel game.

BC went on to post a solid, very respectable 22-12 season record while making the NCCA tournament (suffering a 1st round loss to USC, 72-55). Harvard went onto a 14-14 season record while seeing Lin and graduating senior Drew Houseman(now playing professionally in Europe – Israel) make the All-Ivy league team (Lin 1st team, Housman 2nd team).

Make no mistake the Atlantic Coast Conference Harvard is not athletically. Nor does Harvard present their school (obviously) as focused on athletics. By the same token most other colleges across the nation do not present themselves as being in the same league as Harvard academically. Needless to say, Lin and his teammates brought their A-game against BC. Jeremy Lin and Company dismantled Boston College. Harvard was led by Lin’s energy and offensive output. While the BC-Harvard game was a complete Crimson team effort, Jeremy Lin’s play and floor leadership that evening was the catalyst that prompted such a complete effort. Lin leads in a quiet unassuming way with his actions doing much of the talking for him.

Lin is a senior economics major now and a basketball co-captain. He continues to make the most of his Ivy League educational opportunity as well as his basketball opportunity with the Crimson.

Third year Harvard Coach Tommy Amaker, in previous public comments about Lin has stated he “loves to coach Lin” and “Lin could have a basketball career after college if he wants.” Those are strong words coming from someone with Amaker’s basketball pedigree. That background includes two collegiate NCAA championships as a player at Duke as well as two championships at Duke as an assistant coach before he moved into the head coaching ranks at Division 1 schools: Michigan and Seton Hall.

Amaker would know prospective NBA talent when he sees it. Amaker played against and coached many athletes possessing such talent. Tommy Amaker was named the nation’s top defensive player in his senior year at Duke. Jeremy Lin would be wise to soak in all he can from Coach Amaker and Lin seems to be doing exactly that. In his college coaching career, Amaker has seen five of his players drafted or signed to NBA contracts, while others have moved on to play professionally in Europe.

This Harvard hoop season should prove interesting with trio of Lin, Oliver McNally and prized recruit Brandyn Curry sharing time in the back-court. Lin is also slated for some time at small forward. Jeremy Lin, Oliver McNally and point guard Brandyn Curry will be a high energy trio working with their experienced teammates in the front court to make it tough for Crimson opponents this year.

Cambridge is a long way from Palo Alto, California for Jeremy Lin. During his Sr. year in High School Lin lead his school to the California State Championship against Cal powerhouse Mater Dei. (Celtics strongman and legend of the 50s and 60s “Jungle” Jim Loscutoff was a Palo Alto product.)

SLAM caught up with Jeremy Lin and in his straightforward and intelligent yet reserved and unassuming way Lin responded to the following questions:

SLAM: You mentioned in a prior interview that you were interested in Harvard, Stanford or Berkley – were you recruited by any other Division I schools for basketball?
Jeremy Lin: Harvard and Brown were the teams who told me they wanted me to play for their teams while Stanford and Berkley was more of a walk on situation. Even though Harvard and Brown can’t give scholarships I was looking at those Ivy League Schools so I could play or recruited walk on situations at Pac 10 schools.

SLAM: Consider any other schools seriously?
JL: I was just looking at Ivy League Schools or recruited walk on situations at Pac-10 schools.

SLAM: You’re a co-captain this year along with Doug Miller. What does being a captain mean to you?
JL: Obviously it’s an honor and a privilege to be able to be a captain. It’s not something that we take lightly and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. We try to lead by example and come out here and set the pace and push everybody.

SLAM: There are seven freshmen on your team this year. What impact will they have on the team? Impact on the season?
JL: They definitely will be key for us – they give us a lot of depth, a lot more energy. There will be a time when we rely on the freshman for their energy and for their talents. We have a very talented class coming in. They are very talented, they are humble and they want to learn. I don’t know if Harvard has seen anything like this in the last few years. They are ready to learn and they don’t think they know it all and that’s the best part of being around them and that’s going to go a long way.

SLAM: There’s a large Duke influence on the team throughout the coaching staff and beyond. Any chance Coach Amaker will be scheduling the Crimson against Duke in the future
JL: I asked about it and they said Coach K does not like playing against former players, so as long as Coach Amaker is here that’s never going to happen.

SLAM: Harvard beat Cornell last February 28th. They were ultimately the Ivy League Champ and went onto the NCAA. How do you think you’ll fare against them this year?
JL: They’ll be very similar to past years, maybe even with some better chemistry. But for us we are a pretty different team this year so I’m not exactly sure how it’s going to play out but we definitely have them on our calendar and we are excited and we are going to go out and battle and we’ll also be trying to fix our problems from the past.

SLAM: What has surprised you, if anything about Harvard Basketball?
JL: With the new coaching staff it’s been an awesome experience, I could not have asked for anything better, it’s been a pleasure to be here. I didn’t imagine my career going the way it has. I’m really blessed to be in this situation. We are creating a family atmosphere and the guys all enjoy being around each other. Outside of basketball it’s awesome because we are all really close to each other. In terms of basketball we know we have not accomplished what we wanted to in the past and we have (the seniors) one year to accomplish those goals, so we’d like to start hanging some banners here.

SLAM: Did you play in any summer leagues last summer?
JL: I played in the San Francisco Pro-Am. That was the only one. You are only allowed to play in one NCAA sanctioned league.

SLAM: What aspects of your game did you work on over the summer?
JL: I actually played point guard this summer so I focused on my passing and ball-handling and becoming a better playmaker. Here I have more of a scoring role so it should help me here in terms of my working on play-making, it will help if teams are doubling and using ball-screens and things like that.

SLAM: Has balancing a rigorous academic schedule with a demanding basketball schedule gotten any easier?
JL: It’s gotten a lot easier. I am used to it now so I know how to be more efficient and I have improved my time management. It was really hard for me my freshman and sophomore years, but I’ve gotten a lot better in terms of time management.

SLAM: Last Year was a brutal winter, weather-wise around Boston and New England – are you used to the weather yet?
JL: I’m a California guy so I don’t think I’ll ever be used to it. But I know this is my last one so I won’t have to deal with it much longer.

SLAM: What if you get drafted by the Celtics, will you be disappointed?
JL: NO, I will NOT be disappointed if I get drafted by the Celtics. That will be a dream come true and If I get drafted by the Celtics I’ll be so happy I won’t even worry about the winters !

SLAM: You’ve said in other interviews that a pro career would be a dream- come true. If the NBA or overseas do not become a reality, would you be open to playing in the NBA D-league?
JL: Yeah, I definitely would consider playing professionally. I love the game, I have a strong passion for the game and that’s definitely what I am looking at right now.

SLAM: Coach Amaker has a tremendous hoop background. What’s he like to play for?
JL: It’s really humbling sometimes, when you look at his resume he’s accomplished a lot, I’m still kind of shocked that I get to be coached by someone like that every day, his resume speaks for itself and everybody respects him when he speaks, he’s our leader and everybody listens when he speaks, there’s no doubt about that and he’s our leader and the head of our program.

SLAM: One of your inte