Teach Me How To Doug Davis

2011's College Basketball's Conference Tourney Week's best moment came not in a tournament but in the Ivy League Playoff Game when good defeated evil. The world has been righted as order was restored and Harvard was kept away from the tournament as it should be. (Dear Jeremy Schaap, Please remove your lips from Cambridge. Schools other than Harvard produce as many great figures. Princeton has more than Brooke Shields and James Madison; see Woodrow Wilson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and current SC justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Alito). Down 1 point, Douglas Davis hit the game winner after his previous drive to the hole was blocked, which set up the out of bounds play with 2.8 left. A great fake and miracle shot sent the Tigers dancing and everyone in orange and black was dancing (Even press row got into celebrating). This was the best game/moment/court storming of the previous two weeks and the whole year. Let's review why this game was the best of the year:
1. These teams earned their way to get to an important game by not getting hot in 3 or 4 games but by sustaining excellence over a 14 game conference schedule. This bid was truly earned and all Ivy teams had an equal chance of obtaining it.
2. It was a game played at an incredibly intense level. While Harvard led from about the last 8 minutes of the 1st half to the last five minutes, the last five was a true heavyweight fight. Rewatch those last five games on ESPN3. Even though these teams could both get beat by a team with a big frontcourt, they both played with the mindset that they should win.
3. The Fans brought the NOISE (despite no Mr. Miyagi). Yale stadium officials had to resort to a South American and Eastern European soccer crowd control technique. The notorious Crimson and Tiger student sections had to be separated by an empty bleachers due to their intense hatred of each other (at least they could both agree at the beginning of the game with a joint "Yale Sucks" chant). The crowd was intense the whole game and the students stood the entire game. A neutral court storming that was instantaneous might have revived the tradition - this was pure emotion showing you how much Princeton wanted to win after suffering the Joe Scott Era. Plus, it didn't need Gus Johnson screaming to send it to the top of SportCenter's Top 10 Plays.
4. Sydney Johnson - The man can do no wrong even in his press conference. He is pure Princeton ("I Love Princeton Basketball"). When asked about Harvard's chances, he responded: “I know that we deserve one. I so appreciate what Harvard accomplished, and you almost pull for them. It would have ended a long drought for them. But I hope we can celebrate what this group has done at Princeton.” The man-god is all about the orange and black. He hit big shots in his time as point guard and was the Tigers' leading scoring in the upset of UCLA in 1996. Now he led the Tigers in their biggest win since then. Princeton fans are hoping he doesn't jump ship after taking the worst team in Princeton history three years ago to top of the Ivies.
5. Good over Evil - Harvard was the hip team of Boston. Bob Ryan decided to take in a game even though he is too much of a bigshot to make any other appearance. Bill Simmons watched his first Harvard game despite growing up in Boston. This was the bandwagon team of Boston. (Editor's Note: Dick Vitale jumped on the Princeton bandwagon during the epic NCAA First Round 1989 Princeton-Georgetown showdown.) Harvard wanted sympathy but choked it away. Unless the committee decides that their expansion to 68 teams means extra mid-major spots and not major conferences, Harvard will not be going to the NCAAs for their first time since 1946. Yes they have wins over BU, Colorado, and the mighty MIT (unfortunately Cal Tech didn't want to hurt their RPI), but also lost to Yale and any other good team (UConn, GMU, Michigan, Princeton). They only have a chance if the committee really wants a team that has not really played a tough schedule. For all the stuff New Jersey gets, it helped America by keeping Red Sox Nation from infiltrating other sports.
It might be said that everything wrong with college athletics began with the Ivy League, but everything right was displayed yesterday in the Yale Gym.