The Rookies

Remember the name.

The situation more closely resembled a high school game than a Division 1 revenue sport contest. The video you will probably see on SportsCenter is grainy and taken from the videoboard feed in the arena, not from any TV feed. But the shot was real, probably the best buzzer-beater you will see all year, and the player who made it, Jeremy Lin,certainly belongs on any college basketball court in the land.

The situation: the third overtime in a game between Harvard and William and Mary, the two oldest colleges in the country. The maybe 1,000 people in attendance have been riveted by a compelling game on a Sunday afternoon, but make no mistake: this game should’ve been over well before the third overtime. Harvard was the more talented team, with the excellent recruiting class brought in by head coach Tommy Amaker and the best player on the floor in Lin, had allowed the Pride to tie the game up late not just in regulation, but in the first OT and second OT.

With 12 seconds left, and Harvard up 85-84 , W&M guard Sean McCurdy rebounds a missed free throw and takes the ball the length of the floor, scoring the go ahead layup with 3.6 seconds left. Lin, defending McCurdy, inexplicably didn’t stop the ball, allowing McCurdy a free lane to the bucket for the winning score. Harvard, no time outs remaining, throws the ball in to Lin, who gets bumped at midcourt, then bumped again 30 feet from the basket by McCurdy. Falling backwards, Lin heaves the ball up with .5 seconds remaining.

Swish.

The crowd went crazy. Even the “down in front” Harvard alums were screaming and jumping up and down. It was sweet instant revenge for Lin, who was previously best known for torching Boston College in a massive upset last year. Harvard is now 2-0 on the young season, and looks like Cornell’s main challenger for the Ivy League title. Cornell returns five starters from their NCAA Tournament squad last year and are the prohibitive favorites, but with Jeremy Lin on your team, anything is possible.

Clicks will allow you to download the video here and the radio call of the game-winner by Chris Villiani here. If you, you know, want to.

Update: Hey, embeddable video!

(HT: SBNation.)