The 2011–12 Harvard Crimson men's basketball team represented Harvard University in the Ivy League athletic conference during the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team played its home games in Boston, Massachusetts at the Lavietes Pavilion, located across the Charles River from the university's main campus in Cambridge with a capacity of 2,195. The team was led by fifth-year head coach Tommy Amaker and senior co-captains Keith Wright and Oliver McNally. Harvard began the season 8–0, the best start by an Ivy League team since won its first ten games to begin the 1969-70 season. On December 5, 2011, Harvard made its first-ever appearances in the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll, ranking 25th and 24th, respectively. The season included two wins against teams in the powerhouse Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Harvard set a school record with 26 wins during the season and tied a school record for conference wins with 12. Its 14 non-conference wins also tied an Ivy League record previously held by the 2009-10 Cornell Big Red. The season culminated in an invitation to the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, where Harvard lost in the second round. It was Harvard's first NCAA tournament appearance since 1946 and third consecutive appearance in a postseason tournament. Junior Kyle Casey was a first-team All-Ivy selection, while junior Brandyn Curry and senior Keith Wright earned second-team recognition. Preseason Harvard came into the 2011-12 season off of its first Ivy League championship and two school record-setting years in terms of total wins. The 2010–11 team that won the league championship during the 2010–11 Ivy League men's basketball season had no seniors. Ivy League Men's Basketball Player of the Year Keith Wright returned to the team as a senior, as did All-Ivy League juniors Kyle Casey, Brandyn Curry and Christian Webster. Harvard entered the season with a 17-game home winning streak, the 10th-longest in the country. Senior co-captain Oliver McNally entered the season with a 32-shot free throw streak, having finished second in the nation in free throw percentage the previous year. The upperclassmen on the team came from the first top-25 recruiting class in Ivy League history. Harvard and Wright won numerous preseason honors. Wright was a preseason John R. Wooden Award Top 50 Watchlist honoree as well as a Lou Henson Preseason All-America team selection. Harvard was selected as the conference preseason favorite for the first time