The big news coming out of the first full Ivy League weekend for Harvard isn’t that they advanced to 4-0 in league play. That’s certainly good, as Harvard heads on the road next weekend for a crucial trip with a perfect mark. But the big news for the Crimson is that Kyle Casey looks like himself after having his ups and downs in non-league play coming off a broken foot suffered before practice began.
Harvard has plenty of talent, more than enough to win the games they have thus far with Casey, who returned to action just before Thanksgiving, not looking like the player most thought he would be this season. They’ve had to go into their frontcourt depth at times as a result, but with good efforts there and the continuing development of the perimeter players, they have knocked off the likes of Colorado and Boston College. They’ve had stellar point guard play from Brandyn Curry, excellent wing shooting and scoring from Christian Webster and Laurent Rivard, and Keith Wright has finally been healthy all season and is having a terrific season inside. On top of that, they have the ultimate glue guy in Oliver McNally, their emotional leader who is tough, has a tremendous feel for the game and always seems to be in the middle of the team’s winning ways.
“I don’t think this team would be close to as good without Oliver,” said Casey. “He’s our leader on the floor, off the floor, he brings us energy, he’s a fighter. He may not be the most athletic guy, but without Oliver this team is definitely a different team.”
But even though they have plenty of talent and have won when he hasn’t played well, the Crimson need Casey. He’s their most talented and versatile player, the one many figure will win an Ivy League Player of the Year award before his career is over. He’s the player on this team that can be a difference-maker, and he’s a rarity in the Ivy League as an athletic combo forward.
“I think conditioning is the biggest part to the way I play, being active and athletic throughout the whole game,” said Casey. “I’ve been working hard to get back, and conditioning is definition the biggest part.”
When Casey first returned to action in late November, it wasn’t hard to tell he was coming back from an injury. That last for a while, as in his first six games back he scored in double figures just once, averaging just five points and less than four rebounds per game, never playing more than 21 minutes. He fouled out twice in those games. Later, he fouled out in 25 ineffective minutes at Boston College, but they won anyway.
After the Boston College game, the Crimson had a stretch of over three weeks with only one game on each weekend. That meant more consistent practice time, and with that Casey started to get his conditioning back. He could feel it with each practice, and it showed in the games, as he had 13 points and nine rebounds in 27 minutes at Dartmouth and his first double-double of the season with 10 and 15 at George Washington in 39 minutes. He struggled against Dartmouth, but now has put a solid weekend of consecutive games together.
Friday night against Columbia, he had his second double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds in 32 minutes. With that, he looked more and more like he was close to what many figured he would be this season.
“He was very active and aggressive and did a heck of a job for us on the glass like he was able to at George Washington,” said head coach Tommy Amaker. “I thought his turnaround was just outstanding.”
On Saturday, Casey didn’t quite pick up where he left off the night before in what would be a real test of how much his conditioning is back. He had just one rebound in the first half, and Amaker said they challenged him at halftime to be better in the second half. Casey grabbed eight rebounds in the second frame to go along with 14 points, finishing with a near double-double of 16 points and nine rebounds on the night.
Besides that, he was the kind of active player he usually is, and was very aggressive at the offensive end as he tried to finish assertively. He combined with Wright to take over the game and break it open, as they combined for 25 of Harvard’s 37 second-half points. (The total was one less than the 26 Cornell scored in the latter frame.)
Harvard heads into a critical road trip at Princeton and Penn at 4-0 in the Ivy League. More importantly, their most talented player looks like he is who they thought he would be, even if he took a little time to get there. It’s come at a good time.
