[17], Duke entered the 1986 NCAA Tournament ranked number one with a team that was built around the defensive efforts of its guards, Dawkins and Amaker. [22] He set the career steals record, which stood until Shane Battier broke it in 2001. [74][75], The 1997–98 Seton Hall team earned the sixth seed in the 1998 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament, but were ousted in the first round by eleventh-seeded Boston College in overtime in the first round. Amaker was known as the consummate point guard, and was often referred to as a coach on the floor. [168] He won the NABC Coach of the Year for District 13 and was again a finalist for both the Ben Jobe Award and the Hugh Durham Award. Harvard men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker and his team gather every month for breakfast in a private room at Henrietta’s Table, a cozy restaurant in Cambridge’s Harvard Square. [175] Both players withdrew in hopes of preserving their final year of athletic eligibility following the investigation. [191], The 2014–15 team was the first Ivy League team to make a fifth consecutive postseason appearance since the 2001–02 Princeton Tigers men's basketball team completed a seven-year run for Princeton. [131] Amaker became the only African American among the head coaches of Harvard's 32 athletic teams. [75][123][124] The team finished with a 22–13 record yet only 8–8 in conference play. [171] Amaker's 2012–13 Harvard team entered the season affected by the 2012 Harvard cheating scandal. Amaker resided in Falls Church, but he attended W.T. [7] When Amaker joined the 1983–84 Blue Devils, unranked Duke, led by Dawkins and Amaker, won its first seven games, the longest winning streak of fourth-year head coach Krzyzewski's career. [116], Michigan's 2006–07 team earned an eight seed in the 2007 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, when it defeated the ninth-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers before succumbing to top-seeded Ohio State. Two nights later, Harvard lost to Arizona 74–51. [44] Amaker was selected to the 1987 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American third team by the NABC. [194][195] Amaker led the 2017–18 Harvard Crimson to a share of the 2017–18 Ivy League men's basketball season regular season title. [44] By 1992, Duke had been to five consecutive final fours. Recruiting Notebook: Tommy Amaker luring elite prospects to Harvard. [76] They ended up in the 1998 National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to Georgia Tech to fall to a final record of 15–15. Back on the Jazz Miye Oni returned to the Utah Jazz official 17-man roster for the Jazz’s NBA season reopening win over the New Orleans Pelicans in Orlando on TNT Thursday evening, the NBA’s first action since March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [2] Amaker's grandmother is Annie Deskins. [185] In August, Amaker was inducted into his fourth Hall of Fame (Washington Metro Basketball Hall of Fame). [29] Amaker won a gold medal while serving on the US national team in the FIBA World Championship, which served as the basketball tournament for the 1986 Goodwill Games. In the summer of 2010, the NCAA ruled that Amaker had committed a recruiting violation, resulting in NCAA-mandated recruiting restrictions, the university's first NCAA penalty of the men's basketball program. Hurley also broke Amaker's records in career assists per game (5.1, 1987–93) and career assists (708, 1987–92). [34] The key players on the team that year were Amaker and sophomore Danny Ferry. [170], On October 6, 2012, Amaker was inducted into his high school's inaugural hall of fame class. During his time on the board he served as a member of the Men's Collegiate and Men's Senior National Committees, where he helped select members of the United States 1996 Olympic gold medal team. [199], At Michigan, his daily routine included breakfast at a local hotel where he read USA Today. [3], Amaker was a star point guard at Duke after becoming a freshman starter for head coach Krzyzewski. [66] That summer, Duke promoted Amaker from assistant basketball coach to associate head coach. Before then the Crimson never really sniffed any national success, only making the NCAA Tournament once before Amaker got the job. Select the second team from the drop down menu. Mock Drafts. [16], The 1985–86 Blue Devils finished as national runner-up in the 1986 NCAA Tournament to Louisville. For Harvard coach Tommy Amaker, class is always in session CAMBRIDGE, Mass. [70][71] When the Northwestern job opened up again in 1997, he was not under consideration because athletic director Rick Taylor sought a candidate with Division I head coaching postseason experience. In his tenure as Harvard men's basketball coach, he was the first coach to lead the Crimson to victory over a ranked opponent with the 2008–09 team. He held the record for single-season assists in the years between 1986 and 1990, which was broken by Bobby Hurley. He eventually relinquished control of the team for the season to interim coach Pete Gaudet. [149] The team's victory over Colorado was the Crimson's first against a Big 12 Conference opponent since that conference commenced play in 1996. [159] He was named Ivy League coach of the year by Collegeinsider.com. [129], On April 11, 2007, Amaker was named head men's basketball coach at Harvard University. [137] Harvard and the NCAA negotiated a settlement in which the university would "declare" what the NCAA consented to classify as secondary violations. The possibility that he might become the first Asian-American draft pick in NBA history? [196] The team reached the championship game of the 2018 Ivy League Men's Basketball Tournament, but lost to Penn earning an automatic bid to the 2018 National Invitation Tournament. [2], The 2004–05 team only achieved a nine seed in the 2005 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament when it lost in the first round to eighth-seeded Northwestern. Select the fourth team from the drop down menu. [82][83] The class consisted of Eddie Griffin (ranked by some as the top high school player in the nation),[84] Andre Barrett, and Marcus Toney-El. — When George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis policeman, Harvard basketball coach Tommy Amaker knew it was time to get to work. They defeated eighth-seeded Notre Dame in the first round, but lost by one point to top-seeded Connecticut, who went on to win the national championship. Confirm that your trade proposal is valid according to the NBA collective bargaining agreement.