"The greatness on this campus is enormous," Amaker said. "We’re hopeful that maybe we can put a product out on the floor as a basketball program, on and off the court, that could be associated with some of the other great elements and entities on the campus. We just asked the question, 'Why not?'”

“It’s pretty exciting,” co-captain Oliver McNally added. “That’s really the whole thing—do something that’s never been done at Harvard before.”

But the Crimson’s time in the Top 25 could be brief. On Thursday night, Harvard faces its first test as a ranked team when it travels to Storrs, Conn., to face the defending national champion, No. 9 Connecticut.

The Huskies, led by sophomore guards Jeremy Lamb and Shabazz Napier, are the best team the Crimson will face during the regular season.

UConn blew the Crimson out, 81-52, last year, and another bad loss—or a defeat at BU Saturday—would likely knock Harvard out of the Top 25 as quickly as it got in.

“I was pleased to see our guys so happy to win a championship at the early part of the season, and now to have some of these other things occurring,” Amaker said. “Having said that, the grand prize is now we’ve got to go down and play at Storrs—so I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”