Diaper Dan-dy: Clemente is Hot

Donnie Dean only played one basketball game against Dan Clemente, but he remembers him.

Playing at the prep school level for Saint Thomas More against Dean's Harvard JV last year, Clemente sunk "five or six threes" in the first half, Dean recalls.

"He stood out," says Dean, now a sophomore. "He was a really good shooter."

Still is, in fact. Only now, Clemente is Dean's teammate on the Crimson varsity. And the freshman is turning throughout the Ivy League with some standout play not seen by a Harvard rookie in some time.

The league has swiftly recognized this newcomer who breezed onto the scene with 18 points against New Hampshire on Nov. 19. That week, Clemente captured the first of four consecutive Ivy League Rookie of the Week Awards.

"It felt pretty good," Clemente says about the attention. "I hope I can get a few more."

He has forced his way into the Crimson's starting power forward position, and the points just keep on coming. On Jan. 9 against Columbia, his 7-for-14 shooting and a team-high 19 points set the tone for a 66-61 Harvard win.

Clemente has also displayed resilience in the face of pressure. Against Lehigh on Nov. 29, he made the game-winning shot in a 65-64 Crimson win with 15 seconds left.

"I just had the ball and shot," Clemente says. "It was great, but we should have been beating them anyway."

"It was a huge shot," Dean says. "Down the stretch, he always comes up big. He responds to pressures really well--it doesn't bother him."

He can be streaky from the floor; he's averaging 12.1 points per game, but in addition to the Columbia performance he chipped in 18 against New Hampshire, 18 more against Boston University and a career-high 20 in the pulsating one-point loss to SMU.

"Shooting is probably my biggest strength," Clemente says. "I see myself as someone who hustles and likes to shoot threes. I also love to pass."

Clemente has played basketball since he was about six or seven. His father, Brian, taught him to shoot, and Dan's first basketball memory is of shoveling snow off his driveway so that he could play.

At the Christian Brothers' Academy, where he played his high school ball before prepping at St. Thomas More, he was a two-year basketball captain and a Street & Smith's Honorable Mention All-American as a senior. Clemente poured in 45 points against Amsterdam to set a school record, accumulating more than 1,000 points in a glittering career.

Prep school added a new dimension to Clemente's game. The New England Prep Basketball League "was very physical, and the talent level was very high," Clemente says.

St. Thomas More, like many other prep schools, also schedules JV college teams, and Clemente's encounters with now-teammates Dean and Damian Long introduced him to a team with a youthful future, one that Clemente found attractive as well.

"I looked at the team, and they had lost so many seniors," Clemente says. "That was a big part of my decision to come here."

As a result, Clemente knew he would be in a position to get lots of shot opportunities, even as a freshman. He has taken those chances--but adjusting to the demands of playing at the other end of the floor, however, has proven more difficult.

"Defense is really hard," Clemente says. "They concentrate so much on it here. I'm not used to playing defense in the post. But I think I'm adjusting pretty well, although it's a lot of work."

"He's a little undersized," says Dean, defending his teammate. "He's more of a small forward type. But he's quick enough to go around bigger guys who may be guarding him."

Clemente's exploitation of his speed reflects his determination to succeed. This strong work ethic has helped fill the void left by last year's strong senior class--a void which once loomed as wide as the Grand Canyon, but now, thanks to the efforts of a redoubtable rookie, now seems thinner than the Nuggets' playoff hopes.

"In the preseason we didn't know a lot about Clemente, but he impressed the coaches right away," Dean says. "He's a good player, and he'll probably turn into a great player."