The Best and the Worst

One has to be impressed with the Harvard basketball team for being able to come off two losses to Penn and Princeton College in the opening game of the Beanpot Tournament Monday night. The Crimson again proved over the weekend and Monday that it has the potential to play with almost anyone in the country and also to lose to just about anyone in the country.

Harvard should never have lost to Princeton Friday night. The Tigers have only one ballplayer who could start for us and on paper don't took like a major threat. Yet under the leadership of one of the finest coachers in the league, Pete Carrill, the Tigers play the type of disciplined basketball necessary to play with teams which have far better material. Princeton stayed with their basic offcase which consisted of a weave and pivot split-all night and never cracked. Their forwards and center were content to pass off most of the time they got the ball, hoping to set up star guard Ted Manakas. The only time their frontline shot was when one of them had an open shot. They also played tight defense and were able to s hut off the Harvard fastbreak.

Harvard, on the other hand, did play better defense than they had in earlier games this season. Even with Jim, Fitzsimmons and Gene Wilkinson having some problems covering sophomore guard Tim van Blomensteyn, the general team defense was far better than it has been. The offense was also more disciplined than it has been. However the Crimson never got its fastbreak on track and could never pull away from the pesky Tigers. Also most of the team's shots came from the outside.

Some people criticized coach Bob Harrison for going into a stall with 4:58 seconds left on the clock and Harvard leading by one point. It was certainly a questionable decision. However, if the Crimson was well coached it would have been up by 15 or 20 points at that juncture in the contest. The problem is not so much individual decisions that Harrison may or may not make, but is his failure to discipline the team in order to play consistently The team improving but should have been playing at the level they are at now against Indiana. The Crimson will stay with the opposition if it is hitting from the outside. A prime example of this came Saturday night against Penn when Harvard hit at a 50 per cent clip in the first half in opening up a 7 point lead. In the second half, they only hit 24 per cent of their shots. Harrison's offense seems to set corner shots from 20 feet rather than swing off the post to utilize the height advantage with pick and rolls.

The Crimson is also subject to mental lapses which seriously cripple its game. It has had some trouble reacting to adjustments the opposition makes. Well drilled and well coached squads can react almost instinctively when a squad switches from a man-to-man to a 3-2 zone as Penn did at the start of the second half Saturday night or throws on a 1-2-1-1 half court or full court trap as Boston College did Monday night. On Saturday the Quakers pulled even at 39 all with their zone after two minutes of play in the second half and Monday night BC put on the full court trap with only a couple of minutes left in the first half and cut a 12 point lead to 5 points. Similarly the Eagles were able to trim a 9 point Crimson lead down to one using a half court trap in the closing minutes. Even after Harrison called a time out, Harvard had trouble with the half court press Monday evening.

A number of eagers turned in fine individual performances over the weekend. Forward Tony Jenkins continued shooting at a blistering pace, throwing in long range jumpers against all three opponents. The 6'8" junior has overcome the awkwardness he displayed so phomoreyear and has developed into one of the finest forwards in the East. Jenkins intimidated B.C.'s center Mark Raterink and held him to 12 points. Saturday night Raterink had scored 31 points against villanova. If Jenkins would go to the basket more on the fast break instead of pulling up for his favorte jump shot, he would be even more of a threat than he is now.

Kenny Wolfe had excellent ballgames against Princeton and B.C. He turned in fine defensive efforts in both contests, picking off a number of passes and making a number of key steals. Wolfe also threw in a season high of 16 points Monday night, mostly on lay-ups and short jumpers. The junior guard also had 8 rebounds against the Eagles.

The Crimson did display flashes of brilliance Monday night, bringing coach Bob Harrison off the bench cheering wildly.

They proved that at times they are as good as anyone. Going into the game, the Eagles were rated second in the East behind Providence and they had beaten St. John's at home. However the question still unanswered is can the Crimson continue to improve and not get rattied under pressure? Hopefully, the team can, and it will go into the final games of the season against Penn and Princeton without another loss. Bobby Harrison is hoping so.