Just in case anybody's wondering, the answer is yes: Dan Clemente is still the best player on the Harvard men's basketball team.

When he had surgery on December 10th to repair a detached retina, Clemente once again faced the prospect of losing a season to injury. But just as in 1998-99, when he played most of the season with an ankle injury, Clemente returned to the court this weekend and went out and showed the fans at Lavietes Pavilion why he's "money."

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The season was apparently lost with Clemente gone. Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan admitted after the injury that "it really now became a rebuilding year."

On Tuesday, Clemente went to his eye specialist in Boston for a regular checkup. After performing the tests, the good doc told Clemente there was no reason why he shouldn't play. A season- ending injury turned into just eleven games.

"As far as I'm concerned, [my doctor] is a miracle worker," Clemente said. "I thought he was joking."

During his injury, Clemente had kept in shape. Though there could have been a great temptation to simply wait until next season, Clemente worked out with the team as much as he could. So when the doctor cleared him to play, there was hardly any doubt about his physical condition.

"I worked out the next afternoon at full practice," Clemente said. "I told coach that I was here when he needed me."

And Sullivan would need him. With the Crimson facing an Ivy weekend against Cornell and Columbia on a three-game losing skid, Clemente's amazing recovery could not have come at a better time.