Clemente Provided Needed Boost for M. Hoops

Just in case anybody's wondering, the answer is yes: Dan Clemente is still the best player on the Harvard men's basketball team.

When he had surgery on December 10th to repair a detached retina, Clemente once again faced the prospect of losing a season to injury. But just as in 1998-99, when he played most of the season with an ankle injury, Clemente returned to the court this weekend and went out and showed the fans at Lavietes Pavilion why he's "money."

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The season was apparently lost with Clemente gone. Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan admitted after the injury that "it really now became a rebuilding year."

On Tuesday, Clemente went to his eye specialist in Boston for a regular checkup. After performing the tests, the good doc told Clemente there was no reason why he shouldn't play. A season- ending injury turned into just eleven games.

"As far as I'm concerned, [my doctor] is a miracle worker," Clemente said. "I thought he was joking."

During his injury, Clemente had kept in shape. Though there could have been a great temptation to simply wait until next season, Clemente worked out with the team as much as he could. So when the doctor cleared him to play, there was hardly any doubt about his physical condition.

"I worked out the next afternoon at full practice," Clemente said. "I told coach that I was here when he needed me."

And Sullivan would need him. With the Crimson facing an Ivy weekend against Cornell and Columbia on a three-game losing skid, Clemente's amazing recovery could not have come at a better time.

"I thought he was joking, too," Sullivan said. "He's just such an amazing athlete."

On Friday night, when Harvard stepped on the court at tip-off against Cornell, Clemente wasn't in the starting lineup. However, it took just three minutes for Sullivan to call his name off the bench.

"Oh, I felt pretty good," Clemente said. "No, I felt great."

He was just the shot in the arm Harvard needed. While captain Damian Long and three freshmen had produced solid but unspectacular results on offense, Clemente brought much-needed size and scoring. He assumed his role as the "go-to guy."

He didn't waste any time. After grabbing a rebound and an assist, Clemente went to his bread-and-butter-- the three-point shot. The ball hit nothing but net, giving the Crimson an early ten-point lead.

The final line looked like Clemente hadn't missed a game. He led all scorers with 24 points in a 67-57 victory, hit four three-pointers and played good defense. The only blemish on the stat sheet was his five turnovers.

One statistic sticks out more than the others, though: he didn't start and took only a short rest early in the first half. Other than that, he played 35 minutes.

"As the game went on, he was fine," Sullivan said. "There was no need to pull him."

The next night, against Columbia, Clemente started and played 38 minutes--and played well. Despite starting out slowly with several badly missed jumpers, Clemente quickly went "en fuego." With the game close at the end of the first half, Clemente knocked down two three-pointers and two layups, scoring 10 points in a row and giving Harvard the halftime lead.

After Harvard lost the lead in the second half, and with the game slipping away, the Crimson turned to Clemente, the same way it had back in December. Dan didn't disappoint. His three-point shooting quickly turned a 10-point deficit into a two-point lead.

He was the go-to guy once again. He popped back and hit the three, moved in and nailed the jumper. He moved into second place in career three-pointers on the all-time Harvard list. He was the Clemente the Crimson team sorely needed.

"I feel pretty good about my play, especially the rebounding," Clemente said. "The three-point record? Well, did it change the final score? I don't think so."

Alas, the final score. With Harvard down two and under a minute to play, the Crimson once again went to Clemente. Everybody in Lavietes Pavilion knew what was coming--he had already made six three-pointers. This time, it clanged off the rim and Harvard's shot of winning was gone.

Next week, Harvard will travel to Penn and Princeton for its biggest games to date. Nobody would have given the Crimson much of a chance three days ago. With "D.C." back in the lineup, the possibility of an upset in Philadelphia becomes less and less remote.