mrjames
Professor
Posts: 6062
Loc: Montclair, NJ
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-25-19 01:48 PM - Post#282674
In response to mobrien
One more point on a more macro issue...
The biggest thing I'll be watching between now and start of season 2019-20 is the recruiting efforts.
Harvard graduates 7 seniors and is only up to 12 in the last three classes. That leaves it with the ability to take a class of 8-9 (though it'll undoubtedly be less than that, it can still be a sizeable class).
The goal by tip in early November would be to have a class in place that makes 2019-20 more of a beachhead for a new normal than a top of cycle peak followed by a sizeable regression (like happened following the Saunders class graduating). While Haskett, Kirkwood, Ledlum, Djuricic and Forbes (plus Catchings, Freedman) is already a step up over TMac, Johnson, Okolie, Cummins, Z (plus Miller, Steeves), there are still some holes to plug in order to stay close to the level the team might reach next season.
Harvard should be set for 2/3s in the near future... Kirkwood, Ledlum and Haskett (much, much better suited as a wing than a PG) are proven/expected to be solid while Tretout and Catchings should provide even more depth there. The huge needs are a pure playmaker point guard (or two, frankly the past two years have highlighted how important it is to have two reliable ball-handler/creators), a stretch 4 and a real post presence.
While I don't think the team will feel the same pressure as fans might that this is "the last stand," certainly I wouldn't want the tenor of next season both for Harvard and for the league to be live and die by every game because it's a unique opportunity for the league that has to be seized in this moment. For Harvard to have an answer for losing Aiken, Towns and Lewis (as well as Penn for AJ and Yale for Miye/Bruner) already in place in the 2020 class could go a long way toward shifting the framing of next season from the "last of" to the "first of."
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