When coach Tommy Amaker arrived on the Harvard campus in 2007, Harvard was coming off another in an endless string of also-ran finishes, just like every year since the league was formed in the mid-1950s.
Penn has not been close to winning a title during Bernardini's first four seasons (he took a medical redshirt) or Rosen's first three. This season (and perhaps this game) represents their last chance.
Harvard (20-2, 6-0 Ivy) has been 5 years in the making. The Crimson were 8-22 in Amaker's first season, 14-14 in his second, followed by 21-8 and last season, 23-7, 12-2 Ivy and the school's first conference championship. Actually, Harvard tied with Princeton and lost a playoff game on a Douglas Davis jumper at the buzzer. But, this being the Ivy, ties are considered championships, even if they don't get you to the NCAA.
This season, Harvard is supposed to win clear. So far, it has done what was expected. Penn (12-10, 4-1) and Yale (15-5, 5-1) look like the only challengers. Harvard won at Yale by 30 exactly 14 nights ago. Now, it is Penn's turn.
"We need to be who we are, play the way we are capable of playing," Penn coach Jerome Allen said. "Defensively, imposing our will, our principles, pressuring the ball, fighting the block, denying one pass away and finishing possessions."
Harvard did not get here without any controversy. There were questions about recruiting and lessening of academic standards when talented players that never would have been seen in Cambridge, suddenly were making commitments. Eventually, it was determined that no violations occurred. So, here Harvard is - talented, experienced, ranked.
Harvard senior big man Keith Wright is a very difficult cover for any team in the Ivy, especially Penn, which is inexperienced up front. Forward Kyle Casey presents similar issues.
