The 2009–10 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team represented Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in the Ivy League

Ivy League

The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

 athletic conference during the 2009-10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played its home games in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

 at the Lavietes Pavilion

Lavietes Pavilion

The Ray Lavietes Basketball Pavilion at the Briggs Athletic Center is a 2,195-seat multi-purpose arena in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...

, which has a capacity of 2,195. The team was led by third-year head coach

Head coach

A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

 Tommy Amaker

Tommy Amaker

Harold Tommy Amaker is the current head coach of the Harvard University men's basketball team. He has also served as head basketball coach for the University of Michigan men's basketball team and at Seton Hall University. He played point guard and later served as an assistant coach at Duke...

 and starred highly touted prospect Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Shu-How Lin is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association...

.

Building on the success of the prior season when the 2008–09 team beat then ranked

2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Two human polls made up the 2008–09 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings, the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll, in addition to various publications' preseason polls.-Legend:-AP poll:...

 Boston College (#17 AP Poll

AP Poll

The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...

/#24 Coaches' Poll) for the program's first win over a ranked team in the school's history, The 2009–10 team achieved its winningest season ever. It broke the many all-time program records including the following:

• wins (21)
• non-conference wins (11)
• home wins (11)
• road/neutral wins (10)

The team received a vote in the AP Poll four times: (November 23, January 11, January 18 and January 25). Amaker was a nominee for the inaugural Ben Jobe Award

Ben Jobe Award

The Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding minority men's college basketball head coach in NCAA Division I competition...

 as the top minority Division I college basketball coach. Amaker was recognized by Fox Sports

Fox Sports (USA)

Fox Sports is a division of the Fox Broadcasting Company . It was formed in 1994 with Fox's acquisition of broadcast rights to National Football League games...

 as the 2010 Ivy League Coach of the Year.

As a result of its 21–7 overall record and a 10–4 Ivy League conference record, the team was invited to play in the 16-team single-elimination 2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament

2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament

The 2010 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament was a postseason single-elimination tournament of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I teams....

.

Over the course of the season, the team was highly publicized, with Lin being featured in Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

and ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

, while the team's early match against defending conference champion Cornell

2009–10 Cornell Big Red men's basketball team

The 2009–10 Cornell Big Red men's basketball team represented Cornell University in the 2009–10 college basketball season. This was coach Steve Donahue's tenth season at Cornell. The Big Red compete in the Ivy League and played their home games at Newman Arena...

  was written up in Time

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

.

Preseason

The Ivy League held its pre-season media day on October 28, 2009 in Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton, New Jersey

Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...

. The league's media unanimously voted Cornell

Cornell Big Red men's basketball

The Cornell Big Red men's basketball team represents Cornell University , located in Ithaca, New York, in NCAA Division I men's competition. The Big Red's appearance in the 2008 NCAA Tournament was their first trip to "The Big Dance" since 1988...

 the preseason #1 for the second straight season. Harvard was ranked fourth.

Honors

Over the course of the season, the Ivy League office recognized several members of the team regularly for excellent play:

Week	Player of the week	Rookie of the week
November 16	Jeremy Lin Jeremy Lin Jeremy Shu-How Lin is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association... , G, Harvard Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...	Dee Giger, G, Harvard
December 7	Jeremy Lin, G, Harvard
December 14	Jeremy Lin, G, Harvard
January 4		Kyle Casey, F, Harvard
January 25		Kyle Casey, F, Harvard
February 8		Kyle Casey, F, Harvard
February 15	Kyle Casey, F, Harvard	Kyle Casey, F, Harvard
March 1	Jeremy Lin, G, Harvard	Brandyn Curry, G, Harvard
March 8		Brandyn Curry, G, Harvard

During the season, Lin was recognized as one of eleven finalists for the Bob Cousy Award

Bob Cousy Award

The Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford is an annual basketball award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate point guard. It is named after six-time National Basketball Association champion Bob Cousy, who played point guard for the Boston Celtics...

. He was one of 31 midseason watchlist candidates for the Wooden Award. At the conclusion of the 2009–10 Ivy League men's basketball season

2009–10 Ivy League men's basketball season

The 2009–10 Ivy League men's basketball season marks the 107th season of Ivy League basketball.-Preseason:The Ivy League held its pre-season media day on October 28, 2009 in Princeton, New Jersey. The league's media unanimously voted Cornell the preseason #1 for the second straight season...

, Lin was selected as a repeat first team All-Ivy selection after becoming the first player in Ivy League history to record 1,450 points

Point (basketball)

Points in basketball are used to keep track of the score in a game. Points can be accumulated by making field goals or free throws ....

 (1,471), 450 rebounds

Rebound (basketball)

A rebound in basketball is the act of successfully gaining possession of the basketball after a missed field goal or free throw. Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game, as all possessions change after a shot is successfully made...

 (487), 400 assists

Assist (basketball)

In basketball, an assist is attributed to a player who passes the ball to a teammate in a way that leads to a score by field goal, meaning that he or she was "assisting" in the basket. There is some judgment involved in deciding whether a passer should be credited with an assist...

 (401) and 200 steals

Steal (basketball)

In basketball, a steal occurs when a defensive player legally causes a turnover by his positive, aggressive action. This can be done by deflecting and controlling, catching, or batting to a teammate a pass or dribble of an offensive player...

 (224). He was also selected to the United States Basketball Writers Association

United States Basketball Writers Association

The United States Basketball Writers Association was founded in 1956 by Walter Byers and serves the interests of journalists who cover college basketball.-Scholarships:...

All-District team.