2011–12 Ivy League men's basketball season

Entering the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season head coach Mitch Henderson began his tenure at Princeton.[1] Greg Mangano was one of 22 USA Basketball invitees to the USA Basketball Men's World University Games Team training camp to select the team for the 2011 Summer Universiade held at Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.[2] He competed in basketball at the 2011 Summer Universiade, becoming the first Men's Ivy League Basketball World University Games participant since Bill Bradley.[3] Jeremiah Kreisberg was named to the Israeli team for the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Division B held in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[4] He played in 6 of the team's 8 games, leading the team in scoring and finishing second in rebounds.[3] Preseason publications predicted Harvard would finish in first place. For the first time in school history, the Ivy League media panel selected Harvard as its first place choice. Princeton and Yale finished tied for second.[5]

By returning all of their key players from the 2010–11 Ivy League co-champion 2010–11 Crimson and competing successfully, Harvard received votes in the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings polls every week until the final week of the season and was ranked for many weeks.[6] Harvard represented the Ivy League by sweeping its three contests and emerging victorious in the 2011 Battle 4 Atlantis.[7] Among the highlights of the season were victories by both Harvard and Princeton over eventual 2012 ACC men's basketball tournament champion Florida State.[8][9] Zack Rosen finished the season as the Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year.

Following the annual 14-game round robin home & home schedule, Harvard emerged as champion and earned the conference's automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Harvard entered the tournament as a number 12 seed, making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1946.[10] Princeton and Penn were invited to the 2012 College Basketball Invitational.[11] Yale was invited to the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Tournament.[12] The season marked the first time that four Ivy League teams (Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale) participated in the postseason.[13][14] The season marked the second time that the Ivy League had three 20-win teams (Harvard, Penn and Princeton).[15]

Five players (Eitan Chemerinski - Jr., Cornell; Austin Morgan - Jr., Yale; Matthew Sullivan - Jr., Brown; Reggie Willhite - Sr., Yale; Chris Wroblewski - Sr. Cornell) were named Academic All-District, meaning that they were among the 40 finalists to be named to the 15-man Academic All-America Team.[16] Sullivan and Wroblewski were both named third team Academic All-Americans.[17][18] It was Wrobleski's second consecutive Academic All-American recognition.[19]

Keith Wright was a preseason candidate for the John R. Wooden Award and the Lou Henson Award. Penn's Zack Rosen, Columbia's Brian Barbour, Cornell's Wroblewski and Harvard's Brandyn Curry were among 65 preseason Cousy Award preseason watchlist candidates. Rosen made the list of 20 finalists. Rosen and Wrobleski were among 30 preseason Lowe's Senior CLASS Award candidates. Rosen was among the ten finalists.[20]

On December 5, 2011, Harvard made its first ever appearance in either the AP (25) or Coaches Poll (24).[27] It leaves Brown as the only remaining Ivy League school to have never been ranked in the AP Poll and leaves only seven schools that have played Division I basketball since the AP Poll began that have never been ranked in it.[28] Harvard is the first Ivy League team ranked in the Coaches Poll since the 2009–10 Cornell Big Red and the first Ivy League team ranked in the AP Poll since the 1997–98 Princeton Tigers, who finished 8th in the poll.[29] By January 2, the team achieved rankings of 22 in the AP Poll and 21 in the Coaches Poll.[30] The team was also ranked 21st in the Coaches Poll On February 6.[31] Below are Harvard's rankings for the season:

• Ivy League website