On Feb. 22 against Brown, Harvard's elite defense gave up about as wide open of a half-court layup attempt as it had all season.
With seven seconds remaining, Bears center Gianna Aiello snuck behind the Crimson back line, received a long pass just before Harvard forward Elena Rodriguez could catch up, spun and missed the shot. It would have flipped a 58-57 Crimson lead Brown's way and wiped out Harvard's backup plan to making the NCAA Tournament.
"It was like life was going in slow motion, because that at-large bid was going right through that net," Harvard coach Carrie Moore said. "But luckily, it rolled out and and went the other way."
That's reality for the Crimson entering March. They started 20-3 for the second time in program history before last night's loss to Princeton and are 9-3 in the Ivy League. They took down Indiana, ranked at the time, on the road Nov. 7. The Crimson boast the No. 1 scoring defense in the country, holding opponents to just 52.0 points per game. They're 36th in the latest NET rankings, the second-highest mid-major, and in ESPN's latest bracketology, they receive one of the last four at-large bids to March Madness.
If Harvard wants to dance for the first time since 2007, it could do so by capturing the Ivy League championship. The Crimson would have to get past Columbia and Princeton, who have been their foils in recent years. Or they could leave their fate to the tournament selection committee and hope it bestows at-large bids upon at least one, if not two, other Ivy League teams.
For a mid-major, every win is a case-builder and any loss could be debilitating. Moore resonated with a press conference response from Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico, who she was an assistant under before taking the Harvard job in 2022.
"She said our job is so hard as head coaches, and you don't really get to enjoy a whole lot of this. You're relieved after you win, and when you lose, you're in agony," Moore said. "Every loss is so felt in so many ways, but even just the fact that when you win there's just this relief, as opposed to this joy, especially when the expectation is to win. I think when she said that this year, I was like, that makes a lot of sense and I totally feel that."
Moore says she follows the at-large conversation but doesn't talk about it with her team. Star senior guard Harmoni Turner says her dad, Rocky, will send her updates, though she tries to avoid the chatter. But the Crimson know what's at stake every time they take the floor. They deal with the pressure by winning and embracing the growing spotlight.
Turner's brilliant senior season has her currently ranked 13th in the country with 21.0 points per game, plus 5.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.0 steals. Her on-court flair has always existed, but this year, she's reached new levels of shameless swagger.
"I'm desperate this year, at all costs," Turner said. "Desperation to win, to go far, not only just win the Ivy League, but mess up a few brackets."
She's developed a penchant for postgame soundbites. When did she know she was in the zone to drop a program-record 41 points against Boston College Nov. 14?
"When I woke up this morning. Period," Turner responded.
Where does her relentless energy come from?
"Inner dawg, baby," Turner says with a wink after scoring 26 points on Dec. 7 against Rhode Island.
Jan. 18, after tallying 33 against Brown: how does she deal with the pressure of winning?
"We have a lot of pressure on us, but like I say, pressure builds diamonds, baby." She stares right through the camera each time.
Turner's performances and her quotes have gone mini-viral, but her reply to one Instagram post Nov. 25 received unique national attention. A commenter said that if a high-major program like UConn, USC or LSU came to recruit Turner, she'd transfer without question. Turner (who has 59,600 Instagram followers) replied and then doubled down by posting her response on Twitter/X.
hey, so like i’m not transferring… ever… not even thinking about it or wanting to! i love my school but more importantly, my team ❤️ #gocrim pic.twitter.com/k0twLcNC6B
— Harmoni Turner (@harmoniiturner) November 25, 2024
When asked later, Turner didn't want to go into detail about the schools who pursued her and the exact money they offered, but said they've tried time and again after every season.
"There were a few schools that were on me heavy," Turner said. "And the money was — I will say there were some numbers thrown at me that I was like, wow, OK, dang. They really want me."
But Turner's rebuttal remains the same as three months ago. She's bought into the long-term benefits of Harvard and its wealth of resources and connections. She wanted to stay loyal to her teammates and the legacy she's created as the Crimson's third-ranked all-time scorer.
"I love the hell out of my teammates. I would not leave them over a bag," Turner said. "And plus, again, I love being that underdog. I love going out and messing up other people's brackets. Why be a part of history when you can make it?"
Turner's public advocacy meant a lot to Moore, who did not recruit her when she got to Harvard. They both say their first year together was bumpy, but they've become a tight-knit coach-star duo. When either gets placed on a midseason awards watch list, you can often find one hyping up the other on social media.
"I thought it was really profound," Moore said. "We screenshotted (the post) and sent it to our staff group chat and said hey, this is stuff we need to send to recruits, because I thought what she said was really honest and really made a lot of sense."
Another noteworthy Turner social media moment: her simple "yeah" reply to someone asking if she would enter the 2025 WNBA Draft. Turner has a real shot at making one of the most selective professional leagues in the country. Some mock drafts have her as an early second-round pick; Tankathon ranks her 29th on their Big Board.
As soon as she returned home to Mansfield, Texas, last summer, she put herself "through hell" with workouts three or four times a day to prepare — and that was before going off and winning a FIBA gold medal with the U.S. 3-on-3 team. Most importantly: Turner says she's heard interest herself from WNBA teams.
"I also treat every game like I'm auditioning for the W," she said. "Again, that's another chip on the shoulder, another fuel added to the fire, another motivational tactic to use for every game."
Turner even has her own agent, Michaela Simon. Turner, Simon and her "team" are in regular communication about her brand, which includes multiple NIL deals and a collaboration with the Hoop Nerd clothing line. She talks about her increased social media activity as brand management and is thoughtful about building her public identity. But Turner also sees the videos, positive and critical, about her game. She'll openly champion the benefits of intensive therapy, which she attends multiple times a week.
"Being able to not feel judged when you express yourself — it really goes a long way," Turner said. "And then again, revealing a lot of triggers that probably would get me into those slumps that I didn't know that I had, or was unsure why (I) had a dark cloud — working through those things and talking through it was something that I didn't do before."
The success and subsequent expectations extend well beyond Harvard's star. The Crimson only have one other double-digit per-game scorer (Elena Rodriguez at 11.9 points) but are grounded by their heavy dose of pressure defense.
It's a vision Moore has seen since she first took the job, but the leap from solid to nationwide leader required a practice overhaul. Moore explained that Harvard opens every practice with reps of "D runs," which are repetitive down-and-back court sprints to build stamina for the press. Then come "D stations," short bursts of defensive-based activity drills to lock the team in mentally.
"I think it's been a big change from last year. Our first month of preseason, we barely touched a basketball, honestly, which in the moment was really hard," said Abigail Wright, a sophomore forward from Newton, Mass. "But over time, it's become really fun. ... It allows us to play faster than we have in the past. Getting stops is arguably more fun than scoring at this point."
In three of Harvard's four losses (against Quinnipiac, Princeton twice, and Columbia), they've let the defense slip. They gave up 76 points to Quinnipiac on Nov. 10, three days after the milestone win over Indiana. The 80-71 Columbia loss on Jan. 31 was even tougher to stomach. The following Monday, Moore led a rare, intense 6:45 a.m. practice to challenge her team's resolve.
"We knew that we needed to be tougher. We knew that we needed to be more together," Wright said. "We barely touched the basketball; we went back to the basics, which you have to do sometimes. (It was) kind of a wake-up call."
Harvard bounced back. The team built a five-game win streak, holding each opponent to 60 points or less, and struck back at Columbia with a massive 60-54 win on the road Feb. 16. It was Columbia's first loss in Ivy League play and it snapped a 20-game Lions home win streak.
Then came Friday's loss to Princeton, a 68-54 defeat in front of a packed home crowd. Harvard started flat and never built real momentum until late in the fourth quarter. Their highly-touted defense got "absolutely shredded" on ball screens, Moore said postgame, and their help rotations often came too late. Turner scored 15 points on 19 shots (1-for-8 on 3s) and struggled against Princeton's switches.
ESPN has also labeled Princeton as a "last four" team to make March Madness; the result is huge for the Tigers' at-large chances and dangerous for Harvard's own. The two rivals will likely meet as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in the Ivy League tournament. Now the team's challenge is forgetting about that, forgetting that Princeton has won six straight head-to-head matchups, and ignoring the bigger picture.
"I just felt today we were very outcome-based," Moore said after the loss. "Just from start to finish, we were just, 'We want to win, we want to win, we want to win.' But it's like, you guys aren't doing what it takes, what's required to win the game, possession by possession by possession. We didn't stack possessions until eight minutes to go in the game, and when talent meets talent, that's not good enough."
Columbia remains in the Ivy League driver's seat as the postseason's top seed. They're also 42nd in the NET rankings, just ahead of Princeton at 50th. Last year was the first time in eight seasons that the Ivy League sent two teams to the NCAA Tournament. Now, the elite trio is hoping three can somehow make it — and if you trust ESPN's bracketology, it's possible, but a true toss-up.
It's the most important part of Moore, Turner and Harvard's public self-advocacy, and a big reason Moore herself admits she's been much more active this season promoting her team on Twitter/X.
"Pay more attention, to not just Harvard women's basketball, but Ivy league women's basketball and what is going on within our league," she said. "It's just so much conversation about just P4s (Power 4 conferences) and P4 players and coaches. I mean, there's 350-plus Division 1 women's basketball teams in the country. If that's our sole focus of conversation, we're missing so much of the narratives that are out there."
Turner gets even more fired up. This is her last chance to make the NCAA Tournament after coming so close in previous seasons. In her eyes, Harvard has ticked off just about every box a mid-major team could check.
"It just goes to show that we have to do 10 times more, just to get a little bit of recognition," she said. "I appreciate Coach Moore's advocacy. I appreciate mine too. I feel like we have that responsibility, and I'm gonna take that on that chin. I don't care what people say. I don't care about the backlash that I get. That is something that I really, truly stand behind and I believe in, because we've proven that we can hang and beat these teams."
