Drive, they said
The Harvard men’s basketball team was 2.8 seconds away from its first NCAA tournament berth in 65 years. Up 62-61 in a playoff with Princeton, the Crimson needed only to defend the Tigers’ last possession. Princeton guard Douglas Davis took the inbounds pass, dribbled to his right, and paused. Harvard’s Oliver McNally ’12 jumped to block Davis’ shot, but was too early and flew past his opponent. Davis coolly leaned forward for a 12-footer. The ball fell through the net as time expired, and Princeton won, 63-62. Crimson coach Tommy Amaker acknowledges that his team and its rejuvenated fan base were heartbroken by last March’s loss, as they were in 2010, when Harvard’s bid for an Ivy League title came down to the last games of the season. Yet Amaker is excited both by his team’s recent successes and by its prospects for the 2011-12 season, which begins Nov. 11 against...