By Joe Budzelek
Prior to hiring Tommy Amaker in 2007, Harvard was mostly an Ivy hoops afterthought, as the Crimson finished above .500 in conference play in only six seasons throughout the previous six decades.
Following an arduous two-year construction of the program from the ground up, the 2010s marked a new era as Harvard became one of the most consistently respected mid-majors in college basketball. A four-season stretch between 2012 and 2015 included NCAA Tournament appearances in every season, highlighted by two first-round victories and multiple weeks ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll.
The COVID-19 pandemic halted Harvard’s entire 2020-21 season, which, in turn, also mired the program in a four-year slog of mediocre, at-best basketball.
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| Harvard guard Robert Hinton powers through Marist guard Elijah Lewis in an early season non-conference victory last season (photo credit: Dylan Goodman) |
After losing 13 of their first 21 games during the 2024-25 season, Robert Hinton and Thomas Batties II, two of the team's foundational upperclassmen entering next season, became catalysts for Harvard’s brighter future, as each player posted a 30-point scoring effort across the Crimson’s final seven games, during which Harvard won all but two.
Parlaying that positive momentum, Harvard just finished its best season since 2019-20 after earning its first Ivy League Tournament appearance since 2019, and it will look to make next season even better as the team returns 82% of its scoring from last year following the graduation of versatile wing Chandler Pigge.
This continuity of talent will maintain the bedrock of Harvard’s strengths from last season: a stout defense that won with strong closeouts and good help-side positioning that forced opponents to take tough shots.
According to EvanMiya.com, Pigge finished last season as the team’s most efficient defender, which is no surprise thanks to his versatility, physicality, and defensive instincts. Batties II remains another anchor on defense after finishing last season with the highest block rate in the Ivy League despite his not-so-typical 6-foot-7, 225-pound rim-protector frame.
With Pigge playing last season as the team’s undersized 4 and Batties II manning the 5, it will be interesting to see if Amaker runs more traditional rotations like those he used two seasons ago, with Batties II at the 4 alongside either senior Luca Ace-Nasteski or sophomores Ryan Sullivan and Kenan Parrish manning the center spot. As a result of this change, Harvard’s defense could look even stouter against larger lineups.
Returning starting junior point guard Ben Eisendrath has also been one of Harvard’s heroes on defense. “He leads our team in terms of how he guards the ball out front, and that's the standard for us,” said Amaker following their overtime semifinal loss to Penn. “He lifts us up as players behind him. So that's the first thing he does exceptionally well. He puts pressure on the ball up top.”
Boasting the third-best steal rate and 12th-best block rate in the Ivy League, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Los Angeles native is a tough-as-nails, throwback on-ball defender, but he remains limited on offense due to his discomfort shooting from the perimeter (career 16% from three) and his high turnover rate (30.4% for his career).
Clearly, when you share the backcourt with high-usage offensive generators like Robert Hinton (16.8 ppg, 2.1 apg) and Tey Barbour (13.6 ppg), Eisendrath has the ball in his hands much less frequently than a traditional point guard.
Hinton, Barbour, and Batties II, for that matter, are what you’d call "closers"—when the game is close late, they can make something happen with the ball in their hands, and if they get fouled, they calmly hit their free throws.
Weighing 10 pounds more last season than he did as a freshman, Hinton complemented his creative off-the-dribble footwork, confidence, moxie, and deft body control with an added physical element that helped him finish more efficiently around the rim, making him one of the elite three-level scorers in the Ivy.
With the sixth-highest offensive rating in the Ivy League, fellow junior Tey Barbour looks at first glance like a classic catch-and-shoot floor spacer to complement Hinton and Eisendrath’s interior play. However, Barbour more than quadrupled his free-throw rate from his freshman season, a testament to his increased strength, which allows him to absorb bumps on drives, create space, and finish through contact even though he lacks Hinton’s explosiveness. Barbour can get hot fast, but he unselfishly meshes very well with his backcourt mates.
A big question moving forward is how Harvard’s talented group of junior guards—including the now-healthy and offensively versatile Austin Hunt—will mesh with Jason Singleton, the Crimson’s first consensus four-star recruit since landing Robert Hinton.
Widely considered the highest-rated incoming freshman in the Ivy, the 6-foot-4 combo guard finished last season as the Ohio Division V Player of the Year, and his clearest path to minutes is as an offensive spark off the bench, with the size and skill set to earn minutes at all three backcourt spots.
One of the backcourt’s biggest issues last season was finding a guard off the bench who could facilitate alongside Hinton when Eisendrath sat, so there is a good chance Singleton will fend off senior Xavier Nesbitt for backup point guard minutes.
Rotations with Singleton and Hinton sharing the floor could create nightmares for opposing defenses, as the incoming freshman can capitalize on the defensive attention devoted to Hinton, allowing Singleton to apply his off-ball smarts to make plays based on reads. In turn, if Singleton demands more attention from opposing defenses, that opens up even more space for Hinton and Barbour.
With a roster rich in talent and versatility, it will be fun to see how Amaker and his staff adjust and aim to take the next step with this current group as Harvard looks to be the biggest threat to dethroning Penn atop the Ivy League as the Crimson look for their first Ivy League tournament crown and first regular season championship in a dozen years.
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