The Harvard Crimson finished the 2004-05 season with a record of 12-15 straight up and 9-9 against the spread. Harvard stumbled out of the gate against the board that year with just one payoff in their first six lined games before getting the cash in eight of their next ten before dropping their final two games of the season against the line.
Out of sight and out of mind
As far as the college basketball gambling boards went, Harvard would open the 2005-06 season out of sight and out of mind with eleven consecutive unlined games to open the season.
By beginning the season with games off the board Harvard would hope to be able to stay fresh for the Ivy League schedule as well as develop some confidence for conference play.
The Crimson began 2005-06 with a 65-57 home win over Vermont. That was followed by a 70-55 win at Holy Cross. Next was a 75-72 win at Sacred Heart and then a 69-56 win at home over UC Davis for a 4-0 start. The Crimson extended their string to five consecutive wins with a 71-50 home triumph over New Hampshire.
But just when it looked like the Crimson might be on to something big, they stumbled with three consecutive losses beginning with a 79-87 defeat at home at the hands of Central Connecticut State. That was followed by a 63-72 loss at Boston University and then a 56-67 loss at Lehigh.
Harvard was able to put themselves back together, however, starting with a 91-79 home win over LIU Brooklyn and then backed that up with a 61-48 win at Albany. Harvard made it three straight wins with a 68-59 triumph over Colgate to finish the unlined portion of their schedule 8-3 as they prepared to finally take to the board.
Rude awakening
Harvard was on the board for the first time all season on December 22 at Boston College as a whopping 17.5-point dog and was blasted off the court 55-89. In their next game at Southern Methodist, the Crimson was blown out yet again 55-76 as 8-point dogs for a rude awakening and 0-2 start against the board.
Bargain values
Starting off the lined portion of their schedule with back-to-back blowout losses served to transform Harvard quickly into bargain values, starting with a 78-65 home win over Dartmouth in the Ivy League opener as 9-point chalks. That was followed by a 65-53 win over that same Dartmouth team in the second game of a home and home series as 4.5-point chalks.
Next at Yale, however, the Crimson failed 74-82 as a 2.5-point dog. But Harvard got back on track right away with a 75-58 win at Brown as 2.5-point chalks followed by a 69-59 win at Columbia as 3-point chalks as Harvard earned payoffs in four of their first five league contests.
Poison Ivy
The profitable start in Ivy League play blew Harvard’s cover somewhat as they suffered a value depletion beginning with a 77-79 loss at Cornell as 2-point chalks. That was followed by a 59-60 home loss to Princeton as 8-point chalks.
Problems continued with a 68-81 loss to Pennsylvania as 5.5-point dogs. That was followed by a 66-79 home loss to Brown as 11-point chalks and then a 66-77 home loss to Yale as 6.5-point chalks as the Crimson were definitely dealing with poison ivy in a stretch in which they went 0-5 both straight up and against the spread.
The bleeding was halted temporarily with a 71-74 overtime loss at Pennsylvania as 15-point dogs but the red ink gushed right away afterwards beginning with a 48-75 loss at Princeton as 2-point dogs. The season ended with a 44-71 loss to Cornell as 6-point chalks and then a 69-64 win over Columbia as 7.5-point overlays as Harvard dropped eight of their final nine games against the board.