BOSTON—Jeremy Lin hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer in triple overtime, giving Harvard a wild 87-85 win over William & Mary in a matchup of the nation’s two oldest colleges on Saturday. Up until Lin’s game-winning basket, it was William & Mary that had scored the final points in every frame in the contest. It looked like that would be the case again in the third overtime.

BLACKSBURG—A banner hangs from the ceiling of Cassell Coliseum, commemorating Virginia Tech’s last trip to the men’s basketball NCAA tournament, in 2007. Today, the Hokies will play under that banner again, as they begin their season at 4 p.m. against Brown, a season whose success will hinge almost entirely on whether they can return the NCAAs.

DAYTON, Ohio—Chris Johnson had a double-double, and Chris Wright led a second-half surge that carried No. 21 Dayton to a 90-80 victory yesterday over Creighton in an opening matchup of teams that won 27 games apiece last season. Dayton, ranked in the preseason poll for the first time since 1967, overcame a 10-point deficit in the first half and regrouped, pulling away in the closing minutes. The Flyers won their 21st in a row on their home floor, tying the school record.

ATLANTA—Iman Shumpert scored 18 points, and No. 22 Georgia Tech (1-0) posted a 100-59 win over Florida A&M last night. Derrick Favors had 10 points for Georgia Tech, Brian Oliver contributed 12 and Gani Lawal added 16 points and 12 rebounds. CORAL GABLES, Fla.—Adrian Thomas scored 16 points to lead Miami past North Carolina Central.

PHILADELPHIA—Darrion Pellum scored 21 points to lead Hampton, but Rodney Green (23 points, five assists) and La Salle edged the Pirates 83-80 last night in the season opener for both teams. The Explorers took a 25-12 lead, capped by Green’s 3-pointer with 10:11 left in the first half. The Pirates then went on a 17-1 run to take a 29-26 lead with 6:40 remaining, but La Salle used a 9-2 spurt to close out the half 35-31.

DURHAM, N.C. - Kyle Singler scored 14 of his 20 points in the first half, and No. 9 Duke shrugged off the absence of two starters in a 96-62 rout of North Carolina-Greensboro last night. Singler, the ACC’s preseason player of the year, was 9 for 15 from the field, and Jon Scheyer added 18 points for the Blue Devils (1-0). Duke shot 59.7 percent and used two huge first-half runs to extend its NCAA-record home nonconference winning streak to 69. The ACC’s preseason co-favorites with defending national champion North Carolina improved to 28-2 in openers under Mike Krzyzewski.

The suggestion box for Shaka Smart contains similar, short submissions from his mentors. “The biggest advice they’ve given me by far is just to be yourself and not try to be someone else, not try to be them,“ Smart said.

Twenty days. Eight games. That’s the stretch the University of Richmond begins tonight with its season-opener vs. Lehigh. For an inexperienced team, that pace could be an issue. Five Spiders’ starters return—if you count junior center Dan Geriot, who missed last season with a knee injury—as well as several experienced reserves. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s good, but I don’t think it should hurt us. Let’s put it that way,“ Chris Mooney, entering his fifth season as Richmond’s coach, said of the opening three weeks. “When you’re experienced, that should be one of the things that can help you get through a stretch like that.“

Where: Robins Center (cap. 9,171).
  Radio: WXGI (950), WLFV (93.1), 6:30.
  Tickets : $20, $10; $7 in SunTrust Mortgage Fanzone.
  Projected starting lineups (last season’s stats):
* 2007-08 stats
  Notable: The Spiders open the season against a program known for rugged defense (held opponents to 39 percent shooting last season). The Mountain Hawks, who will start 6-9 freshman Gabe Knutson at center, also are tipping off their season. Lehigh guard Marquis Hall and forward Zahir Carrington were picked preseason all-Patriot League, with Hall the preseason player of the year. Lehigh, under third-year coach Brett Reed, was picked to finish second in the Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks went 15-14 last season, 5-9 in the Patriot League. Both teams have extensive experience. UR women face Western Carolina at 4 p.m.

2008-09: 12-6 CAA, 25-10
  Players to watch: C/F Gerald Lee, Sr.; F/G Ben Finney, Jr.; F Frank Hassell, Jr.; G Marsharee Neely, Sr.; G Darius James, Jr.
  Why they will win: Five starters return from a 25-10 team, led by preseason co-player of the year Gerald Lee (15.5 ppg, 5.7 rebounds). Monarchs are tall and physical around the basket, and they were the top team in the conference last season in scoring defense (60.3 points). Keyon Carter (6-8, 7.9 ppg) and G/F Kent Bazemore lead a deep bench.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The season has just started and already a new rule designed to clarify some of the foul calls has some coaches concerned. The rule, approved by the NCAA in June, requires secondary defenders to establish position outside of the area directly below the rim to draw a charging call. Essentially, if a player is standing in an imaginary circle beneath the rim and makes contact with a shooter, it’s an automatic blocking foul - no matter if the player has position or not.

The University of Richmond “failed to monitor its athletics program,“ the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions stated yesterday in its report on recruiting violations committed from August 2007 to January 2008. The committee also concluded the head men’s and women’s basketball coaches “did not promote an atmosphere of compliance.“

Four seasons ago, true freshman walk-on guard Duncan McLean averaged 13 minutes and led the University of Richmond in 3-point field goal percentage. McLean arrived at UR intending to play soccer, which should tell you something about the state of Spiders’ hoops in 2005-06. Things are now considerably different from that season in which McLean was a key figure and Richmond had only seven scholarship players for January and February because of injuries and attrition. Junior center Dan Geriot recently noted “almost a little bit of a swagger” in the Spiders’ program, and fifth-year coach Chris Mooney is trying to settle on a rotation among a dozen scholarship players, 10 with Division I experience.

Virginia Tech basketball player Allan Chaney had surgery yesterday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Chaney, a 6-9, 235-pound forward, already is sitting out this year after transferring from Florida during the offseason. He will be eligible to play as a redshirt sophomore next season. Chaney, who is from Baltimore, is scheduled to rehabilitate in time for individual workouts in the spring, Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said in a press release announcing the surgery. Chaney suffered the injury during practice.