The Unexpected Boon of Youth

For any fan of Harvard basketball, it only took stepping one foot inside the John J. Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Connecticut for the memories to come flooding back. Harvard’s twin last possession losses at this Church of basketball last winter cost them their first trip to the NCAA tournament in over 60 years. Tonight, Harvard’s freshmen would help their team achieve a catharsis for the hurt they had not personally felt. On this Friday night, the Crimson would face the best team their archrivals Yale has put on the court in a decade, playing for the early lead in the Ivy League race in front of a sold out crowd. The atmosphere was frenzied, as it can tend to be when the students are literally a foot from the court. The memories of last season were inescapable in the buildup to the game. After all, of the ten starters from last year’s matchup, nine would be on the court tonight. As it turned out, however, the game was decided by players who had likely never been to Yale. The game...