Harvard Pushing the Envelope?

Interesting and good story in the New York Times on Harvard and its attempts to improve its basketball program, which includes recruiting two Washington-area players: Gonzaga forward Max Kenyi and O'Connell center Frank Ben-Eze. Among the revelations in the story is that Harvard assistant Kenny Blakeney played pickup ball with Kenyi and another recruit in the time before he was hired by Harvard -- a practice that is becoming more and more common.

While Ben-Eze might be considered a bigger recruit, it says here that Kenyi will help Harvard more in the short and long run. Having talked to a few folks familiar with the story, the players and the Ivy League, they seem to think the story is more about how Harvard used to be the toughest Ivy school to get recruits into; now it's one of the easier ones. Of course, it's standard operating procedure for a new coach to get leeway his predecessor did not have.