Harvard will play a basketball game beyond the regular season for the first time since it was in the NCAA Tournament in 1946 and, for Coach Tommy Amaker, he personally sees North Carolina as a great place to resume postseason basketball for his program.
Amaker's Harvard Crimson will play at Appalachian State Wednesday night in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
"We are excited," Amaker said. "It's been a fun year for our kids and they've done a tremendous job, so we are appreciative and excited for the opportunity to keep playing."
Amaker, a former Duke point guard and former coach at Michigan and Seton Hall, is in his third season as the coach at Harvard. Kenny Blakeney, a former Duke player, and Brian DeStefano, a former Duke graduate assistant, are assistants to Amaker. Kirsten Green, a former manager at Duke, is director of basketball operations at Harvard.
Amaker's team is young overall, with 11 freshmen and sophomores on the roster, and two of the freshman are from North Carolina and have played in every game -- Brandyn Curry of Huntersville and Dee Giger of Arden.
"To have the opportunity to have this game in North Carolina is a special bonus," Amaker said. "Certainly North Carolina is a special place for our staff and some of our players."
In Amaker's three seasons at Harvard, the program has gone from 8 to 14 to a school-record 21 wins.
"We like to play a transition, up-tempo type of game and our players enjoy that," Amaker said. "We've played a more challenging schedule, we've gone out to upgrade that, and we've been able to make our mark a little bit. Our kids have been able to develop some confidence."
Amaker and Buzz Peterson of ASU have never coached against each other, but played against each other in the 1980s when Amaker was at Duke and Peterson at North Carolina.
"I try not to remember some of those games," Amaker said. "Buzz was obviously a good player and he played with some great teams in Chapel Hill. Some of those memories I've sort of let go of."
Peterson said: "I've known Tommy ever since we both were on a visit to the University of Maryland in about 1980. He went to Duke and I was at Carolina. I played against him for three years and he was part of that group that kind of turned Duke around. He was a solid point guard, had a great career and then we both went into coaching, him at Duke and me at N.C. State. We'd travel a lot together out of the Raleigh airport and he drove me home a time or two. He's a class act."
As coaches, both have an NIT championship to their credit. Peterson won the NIT at Tulsa in 2001; Amaker won at Michigan in 2004.
"I think the world of him," Amaker said. "Buzz is one of the good guys. Anyone that has any knowledge of him for an extended time recognizes what a super person and solid guy he is, and he's done a tremendous job.
"We've kind of traveled similar paths, if you will, in terms of playing and coaching and getting fired and moving on."
tbowman@wsjournal.com.
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