But instead, a highly promising start and an easy non-conference run to open the season, quickly turned disastrous. One night after the Crimson defeated Penn--the defending Ivy champs--at Lavietes Pavilion, 77-62, a last-second desperation shot by Princeton's Kyle Wente gave the Tigers a one-point win.

The Crimson then dropped two on the road at Yale and Brown, then two more at Penn and Princeton. While the rest of the league was experiencing parity, the Crimson lost five Ivy contests in a row, something they hadn't done in six years. They were out of the race and the best chance had passed them by.

"I don't know if we underachieved," Clemente says. "We could have done better, and we all know that. So in a way, I suppose, yes we underachieved. Ever since that shot against Princeton--it stung, and we went on a downhill slide. We never really recovered from that."

Clemente himself had a successful season overall, finishing with 18.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, both team highs.

His ultimate low, though, may have come against Yale at home when the Elis pulled off a 85-83 overtime victory. Scoring and rebounding well below his average, Clemente fouled out of the game having made little impact.

"There were times when I would come into the locker room and go, 'Damn, we could use Tim tonight'," Clemente says, referring to 6'10 center Tim Coleman, who missed the 2000-01 season due to academic reasons. "I shouldn't have thought that way but I definitely thought about it."

A month later, he reached a zenith of sorts.