The Recruit, An Original Screenplay

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Cast
Coaches Martin, Allen and Amaker
Carson Fitzgerald, Coveted Prep Basketball Player
Mrs. Dorothy Fitzgerald, Carson’s Mother, an Administrative Assistant,
Mr. Leo Fitzgerald, Carson’s Father, an Insurance Salesman,
Door, Himself

Act I
Scene I

Carson Fitzgerald is a four star basketball recruit from Boca Raton, Florida. He’s a 6’5” swingman with crafty moves on the court as well as in the classroom. His perfect SAT scores, high GPA and numerous other academic awards make him an ideal candidate for an Ivy League school. A bit of a math/science oddball, Carson is oblivious to the seemingly endless parade of college coaches that appear at his door. Instead, he prefers to play with his iPad while his parents speak for him. On this night, sometime in the summer of 2013, we find the family lounging in their living room when the doorbell rings.

Door: Ding Dong

Coach Martin: Good evening, I’m Coach Mike Martin of Brown University.

Mrs. Fitzgerald: Oh, please come in and make yourself at home.

Coach Martin, wearing a rumpled blue suit he picked up at the Men’s Warehouse in a mall outside Warwick, Rhode Island, is sweating profusely in the intense Florida heat.

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NCAA Round of 32: Arizona Stops Harvard, 74-51

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Harvard was overmatched against Arizona, falling 74-51 in the Round of 32.

Harvard was overmatched against Arizona, falling 74-51 in the Round of 32.

Harvard was overmatched from the tip against Arizona, as the athletic Wildcats sprinted out to a 17-2 lead and never let the Crimson back in. Mark Lyons was unstoppable, scoring 27 points on 12-17 shooting. Harvard struggled to find open looks all day, shooting an icy 27.6% from the field. Wes Saunders, who has carried the load for the Ivy champs all season, could not find the bottom of the net on this day, going 1-11.

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Harvard and Its One Shining Moment

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The human heart beats 2.5 billion times in a lifetime. It beats 1 billion times during the month of March.

The human heart beats 2.5 billion times in a lifetime. It beats 1 billion times during the month of March.

College basketball is a game of a hundred ticking clocks. Forty minutes of regulation. Five months a season. Four years in school. It’s not a game of passing, shooting, rebounding, defending—no one would care if basketball were as simple as putting a sphere through a circle. It doesn’t pit college against college, fan base against fan base—for all intents and purposes, the opposing side is a total stranger.

The game, at its core, is a contest between you and time. You try to be your best, and you hope, in those desperate, private reaches, that when time’s up, when you look at the scoreboard and the crowd, you find that deep down inside you were good enough.

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NCAA: Harvard Shocks New Mexico 68-62

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Wesley Saunders could not be contained on Thursday night as the Ivy Champs knocked out New Mexico in the tournament's biggest upset of the opening day.

Wesley Saunders could not be contained on Thursday night as the Ivy Champs knocked out New Mexico in the tournament’s biggest upset of the opening day. (Photo credit: AP/Rick Bowmer)

The Crimson rolled right past the Lobos on Thursday night, clogging the paint and contesting every shot, en route to holding New Mexico to just 37.5% shooting. Coach Tommy Amaker’s game plan was executed to perfection, as Siyani Chambers’ quickness inside forced New Mexico to collapse, opening up space for Laurent Rivard (5-9) and

Christian Webster (3-5 from 3PT) to blast off from deep.

Rivard hit a 3 with 6:21 to play to put Harvard ahead and the Crimson never relinquished the lead. Saunders followed with a jumper from above the elbow, and Kenyatta Smith made a great move on the block to push the lead to 59-53 with 4:42 left. From there, the Crimson went

7-10 from the free throw line to seal the deal.

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Season Wrap-Up: Cornell Big Red

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The Big Red will go limping into a critical offseason this summer as the young squad tries to continue to improve after a season derailed by injuries.

The Big Red will go limping into a critical offseason this summer as a young squad tries to improve after a season derailed by injuries.

It was a disappointing season for the Big Red.

Let’s clarify that: a disappointing season with an asterisk next to it. It’s hard to boil the 2013 campaign down to one word. At its peak, Cornell was a legitimate contender, a 5-3 team that was one Errick Peck three pointer away from starting 6-2 and turning the Ivy race upside down. Even with the failed comeback against Harvard, Cornell at one point established itself as an upper echelon team poised for its third straight year of improvement under Bill Courtney. At rock bottom, Cornell was arguably the weakest team in the Ancient Eight. Losing its final six contests, a 1-6 conference record at Newman Arena, and a shared sixth place finish isn’t going to turn any heads or garner any optimism for the future, but, remember, the asterisk. It would be unfair to completely judge Cornell on its poor finish. Yes, a golden opportunity was squandered, but the Big Red ended its season with one hand tied behind its back.

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Crimson To Face Lobos

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So Harvard gets New Mexico. Gulp.

Not that any of the No. 3 seeds are favorable match ups for the Crimson, but in the Lobos, Harvard will face a balanced team that many see as a sleeper to advance from the West region. Fresh off of winning the Mountain West Conference tournament (in addition to the regular season), No. 15 New Mexico

is led by the league’s Player of the Year, junior guard Kendall Williams, who averages 13.5 points, 5.0 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game. Williams is flanked on the wing by another all-conference performer in junior guard Tony Snell, who blew up in the MWC tournament to the tune of 17.7 points per game en route to winning most valuable player.

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