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Harvard loses point guard Siyani Chambers to a torn ACL

Harvard loses point guard Siyani Chambers to a torn ACL

The tight grip Harvard has maintained on first place in the Ivy League the past few seasons may be starting to loosen.

The Crimson announced Wednesday they won't have their most indispensable player this season.

Starting point guard Siyani Chambers tore his ACL during workouts and will miss the entire 2015-16 season. Chambers, who has averaged at least 34 minutes per game the past three seasons, will take a voluntary year-long absence from school to avoid Harvard's no-redshirt policy and will return for his senior season the following year.

The absence of Chambers leaves Harvard without its three leading scorers from last year's 22-win team that won the Ivy League and lost by two against North Carolina in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Ivy League player of the year Wesley Saunders and starting big man Steve Moundou-Missi both graduated this past spring.

Without those three, Harvard's leading returning scorer is guard Corbin Miller, a 6-2 sharpshooter who averaged 8.2 points per game last season. Freshman Tommy McCarthy could be forced into starting as a freshman at point guard the same way Chambers was, while returners Zena Edosomwan and Evan Cummins are likely to anchor the frontcourt.

That young, inexperienced core has not proven enough to enter the season as the Ivy League favorite.

Columbia will likely inherit that role thanks to the return of standout guard Maodo Lo and all-league forward Alex Rosenberg, who missed all of last season with a foot injury. Yale and Princeton also both have enough returning talent to contend.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!