Jeremy Lin, pre-game intros, family.

NOTE: This is Part 4 of a four-part series of blogposts. Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 were published in the three days prior. I re-titled this post because I felt it was the most interesting of the four.

From deity to defeated

After Friday night’s win over Columbia, there were hundreds of fans lined up to meet Jeremy Lin, to get autographs and take pictures. He was very accommodating. He was a hero. I could only shake my head and smile in astonishment.

Even the Santa Clara post-game hadn’t been that frenzied, at least from my vantage point, although I did overhear his teammate mentioning autograph-seekers outside the team bus. I think the fans were not found in droves on the Leavey Center floor after the Santa Clara game primarily because of the long post-game press conference. The scene at Leavey ended up being picture-taking sessions mostly with family and extended family, and reconnecting with long-lost former teammates and even former opponents, such as Anthony Goods of Stanford fame, who played against Jeremy in the first home-coming three years prior.

Even as his friend, after the Columbia game it was nearly impossible to navigate the waters just to say hello. At one point, after autographing a sign and some t-shirts, Jeremy was rescued by Coach Tommy Amaker, who called him over from about ten yards away to take pictures with Jeremy’s relatives. Even his flat-mate Cheng Ho (running back for Harvard football team) told Jeremy rather abruptly, “Eh, you’re too popular. I’ll just see you later.”
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Jeremy Lin is not afraid to attack the rim (via Pablo Torre via SI, click for Pablo's blog).

NOTE: This is Part 3 of 4. Part 1 and Part 2 were posted in the past two days. Part 4 will post tomorrow.

Back to that vaunted Cornell team

Unfortunately as it relates to competing against a team like Cornell, Harvard doesn’t and didn’t have anyone else with the smallish-stocky or longish-quick blueprint — see the last few paragraphs of the previous post — against Cornell. Nor did they have anyone posing a threat down low (usually this would be Keith Wright or Kyle Casey), or nailing shots outside (Oliver McNally, Christian Webster, Dee Giger, or Andrew Van Nest).

The Cornell defense was just too intense and smothering. They can be that way and scramble-and-gamble on the defensive perimeter because Jeff Foote can protect the rim. It’s like in high school when your varsity squad scrimmaged the JV kids. The varsity guys would risk — and most likely win — every overplay on the perimeter, knowing that they had a physically superior team.
read more from "There and back again: Coast-to-coast to see Jeremy Lin (3/4)"

Harvard-Cornell tipoff. Can we have a do-over?

NOTE: This is Part 2 of 4. Part 1 posted yesterday. Part 3 will post tomorrow.

The game action

At Columbia, on the court Jeremy Lin did what he had to do to put away the underdogs. The right-handed shoulder-leading drive that knifed into the gut of the defense could only be contained so much by Columbia’s zone. And Jeremy showed off a double-spin move, which he capped with a dump-off pass to a wide-open Keith Wright for an uncontested layup.

Before the half ended, Jeremy had the ball with the clock winding down. Usually he takes the last shot, but this time, he drew a couple of defenders and dished off to Brandyn Curry, who nailed a three-pointer as time expired.
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