Harvard's Kyle Casey played last season on a broken foot

Harvard has a chance to be scary-good next season.

This isn't a secret, mind you. Everyone that follows college hoops should be well aware of the fact that the Crimson, who were able to keep Tommy Amaker from succumbing to the overtures of Miami earlier this spring, bring back everyone -- literally everyone -- from a team that finished tied for first in the Ivy League, coming within a buzzer-beating jumper from Douglas Davis of the NCAA Tournament.

Harvard played their way into the at-large conversation last season, something that is unheard of for a team from the Ivy League, which is why is should concern you that the Crimson were able to do that despite having the guy that was supposed to be their best player coming into the season battling a broken foot all year long. Jeff Goodman explains:

Casey broke his right foot in a workout last October -- just about a week before the official start of practice.

Six weeks on the mend -- and when he came back, he struggled, both emotionally and physically.

Nine games into his return, he looked like a shell of himself in Harvard's win at Boston College, finishing with just five points in 25 minutes. However, he had his moments, such as a 17-point, 13-rebound effort against Columbia at home on Jan. 28.

Then it happened again against Cornell in late January.

In an identical manner, as he began to explode off his foot, Casey felt it.

"I didn't say anything right away," Casey admitted. "I finished the game and got X-rays a few days later. They said I broke it again."

Exact same break, exact same bone.

Imagine trying to play on a foot that you broke twice in the span of five months? Imagine playing on that foot if the surgery you went under to repair didn't prevent you from re-breaking the bone? That's tough.

Casey had another surgery on the foot immediately after the season ended and has recently been cleared to get back out on the court. With Harvard's leading scorer Keith Wright, a burly, 6'8" post presence, joining Casey -- an athletic, 6'7" forward -- along the in the front court, the Crimson have a couple of forwards that should be able to matchup with just about any front court in the country. Throw in the talented perimeter quartet of Oliver McNally, Christan Webster, Brandyn Curry, and Laurent Rivard, and the Crimson are a safe bet as the favorite to win the Ivy this year.

Harvard will get a crack at UConn in the Bahamas over Thanksgiving at the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament.

That will be a much better game than you expect when the defending champs take on a team from the Ivy League.
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POSTERIZED: Don't tell Kyle Casey Ivy Leaguers can't dunk

The Ivy League doesn't provide athletic scholarships.

The Ivy League doesn't have a conference tournament.

The Ivy League doesn't have anybody who can dunk who can guard Kyle Casey.

Casey logged a season-high 24 points in Harvard's win over Princeton on Saturday night, but he could have scored 7 points and nobody would have cared because he threw down this massive dunk.



Not only is Casey a better dunker than you, it's more than likely that he's a lot smarter than you too.

But was it as good as one of these?:

POSTERIZED - Anali Okoloji, Seton Hall
POSTERIZED - Brad Tinsley, Vanderbilt
POSTERIZED - CJ Fair, Syracuse
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jennings, Louisville
POSTERIZED - Deniz Kilicli, West Virginia
POSTERIZED - Dwayne Lathan, Indiana State
POSTERIZED - Kenny Gabriel, Auburn
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Louisville
POSTERIZED - Matt Dickey, UNC-Asheville
POSTERIZED - Jeff Robinson, Xavier
POSTERIZED - Nyika Williams
POSTERIZED - Jawanza Poland, South Florida
POSTERIZED - Brady Jardine, Utah State
POSTERIZED - Tony Mitchell, Alabama
POSTERIZED - John Williams, UNC-Asheville
POSTERIZED - Peyton Siva, Louisville
POSTERIZED - E'Twaun Moore, Purdue
POSTERIZED - DJ Newbill, Southern Mississippi
POSTERIZED - Scotty Hopson, Tennessee
POSTERIZED - Justin Brownlee, St. John's
POSTERIZED - Tyrone Johnson
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Terrence Ross, Washington
POSTERIZED - Justin Tubbs, East Tennessee State
POSTERIZED - Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
POSTERIZED - Andre Roberson, Colorado
POSTERIZED - Durrell Summers, Michigan State
POSTERIZED - Phillip McDonald, New Mexico
POSTERIZED - Kyle Kuric, Louisville
POSTERIZED - Anthony Nelson, Niagara
POSTERIZED - Cory Joseph, Texas
POSTERIZED - Will Sheehey, Indiana
POSTERIZED - Tom Pritchard, Indiana
POSTERIZED - Shay Shine, High Point
POSTERIZED - John Holland, Boston
POSTERIZED - Keith Gabriel, VMI
POSTERIZED - Travis McKie, Wake Forest
POSTERIZED - Jefferson Mason, Minnesota State (D-II)
POSTERIZED - Tyler Johnson, Fresno State
POSTERIZED - John Williams, UNC-Asheville
POSTERIZED - Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Hollis Thompson, Georgetown
POSTERIZED - Darnell Wilks, Cincinnati
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Darius Johnson-Odom, Marquette
POSTERIZED - Darrius Garrett, Richmond
POSTERIZED - Travis Cohn, Jacksonville
POSTERIZED - Ramon Galloway, South Carolina
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Justin Tubbs, East Tennessee State
POSTERIZED - John Williams, UNC-Asheville
POSTERIZED - Kevin Smith, Richmond
POSTERIZED - Mitchell Watt, Buffalo
POSTERIZED - Chandler Parsons, Florida
POSTERIZED - Kenny Gabriel, Auburn
POSTERIZED - Paris Horne, St. John's
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Laurence Bowers, Missouri
POSTERIZED - Drew Gordon, New Mexico
POSTERIZED - Tony Mitchell, Alabama
POSTERIZED - Jeffery Taylor, Vanderbilt
POSTERIZED - LaMarcus Reed, UT-Arlington
POSTERIZED - Marcus Morris, Kansas
POSTERIZED - Jared Cunningham, Oregon State
POSTERIZED - Langston Morris-Walker
POSTERIZED - Chris Wright and Juwan Staten, Dayton
POSTERIZED - D.J Stephens, Memphis
POSTERIZED - Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Reeves Nelson, UCLA
POSTERIZED - Kendall Marshall and John Henson, UNC
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Joe Jackson, Memphis
POSTERIZED - Shay Shine, High Point
POSTERIZED - Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
POSTERIZED - Kent Bazemore, Old Dominion
POSTERIZED - CJ Fair, Syracuse
POSTERIZED - LeBryan Nash
POSTERIZED - Rodney Williams, Minnesota
POSTERIZED - Travis Leslie, Georgia
POSTERIZED - Terrence Jones, Kentucky
POSTERIZED - Marcus Jordan, Central Florida
POSTERIZED - Lorenzo Brown, NC State
POSTERIZED - Tai Wesley, Utah State
POSTERIZED - Trent Lockett, Arizona State, and Derrick Williams, Arizona
POSTERIZED - Brandon Paul, Illinois
POSTERIZED - Jordan Hamilton, Texas

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