In a one-game playoff between the Ivy League co-champions for entry into the NCAA "March Madness" basketball tournament, Harvard lost to Princeton, 63-62, on a buzzer-beating shot that fell for the Tigers last Saturday afternoon. Yet the Crimson have more basketball to play, as sixth-seeded Harvard (23-6) will face third-seeded Oklahoma State (19-13) in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) on the evening of Tuesday, March 15, with a national telecast by ESPN. ESPN3 will also carry the game. It is Harvard's first trip to the NIT, after a season in which the team posted the most wins in program history as well as the most-ever Ivy League victories, with a 12-2 record.
Forward Keith Wright ’12 was named Ivy League Player of the Year, the second Harvard athlete so honored; the first was Joe Carrabino ’84 in the 1983-84 season.
In the NIT, Harvard will be seeking its first postseason basketball win, having lost in the first rounds of the 1946 NCAA tournament and last year's Collegeinsider.com (CIT) tournament. In November, the Crimson took down Colorado, 82-66, posting Harvard's first win over an opponent from Oklahoma State's Big XII conference.
