Smart choice

This story appears in the Oct. 31 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

GEORGIA ISN'T EXACTLY PRIME recruiting ground for Ivy League teams. Why would it be? The top preps in the state have SEC and ACC powerhouses knocking at their doors and rarely give a second look to a conference that hasn't boasted a Final Four team -- much less a first-round draft pick -- in more than three decades. But Brannen Greene, a native of Juliette, about an hour south of Atlanta, might just turn that paradigm on its head.

"I can see myself at Harvard," says the 6'7" guard, who is ranked as the top junior in the Peach State by ESPNU. "It's about the basketball connections I can make and still get the academic benefits of an Ivy."

Making hoops connections at the top academic school in the country might sound like a contradiction. It's not. In fact, it's part of coach Tommy Amaker's recruiting pitch, one that's opening doors previously locked to the conference.

To read more about how Harvard coach Tommy Amaker is recruiting the country's best players, you must be an ESPN Insider.

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