Cheating scandal knocks Harvard basketball team down a peg

Associated Press
Posted: November 07, 2012

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard was stocked up and ready to make a run at its third straight Ivy League men's basketball title. Then came a cheating scandal that cost the Crimson two of its top seniors and, probably, their chance at an NCAA tournament berth.

Co-captains Kyle Casey and Brandyn Curry have been scratched from the roster after a schoolwide investigation into whether as many as 125 students shared answers or plagiarized on a take-home, open-book final exam in a single course. Although potential punishments could range from an admonishment to a year away from school, the two seniors reportedly withdrew from the university rather than endanger their final season of eligibility.

Now the two-time defending Ivy champion - Harvard shared the title with Princeton in 2011 - has come back to the pack and restored Princeton to its usual spot as a favorite to earn the conference's automatic NCAA berth.

"With the nature of college sports, you're going to have instability," Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said in a conference call with reporters. "You learn to adjust, and that's what we're doing. And those things can bring out magical moments or interesting times, or growth moments. And those are the things we have our sights set on, to think of it in that regard: as an opportunity."

So far, Harvard's roster shuffle is mostly an opportunity for Princeton: In a poll of Ivy League media, the Tigers were installed as the preseason favorite to win to win their 27th title. Princeton was ranked first on 16 of 17 ballots in the poll taken in October, after the Harvard players had withdrawn.

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