Hoopsters Tune Up for Slate, Set Sights on League Crown

The more you think about it, the more unlikely it seems.

Harvard has never won an Ivy League basketball title, never even come close. The Crimson have never before been seriously considered as even a pre-season favorite in the 25 years of the league.

But now, people are talking. Street and Smith's Basketball Yearbook pegged the Crimson as the early favorite, Playboy predicted a second-place Harvard finish, and Eastern Basketball gave the Crimson the nod to cop the title.

Frankly, it never pays to trust these supposedly authoritative sources. The writers have never seen most of the teams play, and a few telephone calls to the coaches just don't do the trick--no matter how engaging a conversationalist Princeton mentor Pete Carril really is.

But this time the rumors floating around the Ivies--the loose talk heard around the IAB, Jadwin Gym and Penn's Palestra--just might be grounded in fact. Harvard has a shot--a real shot--of making this last year in the IAB its best season ever.

The Crimson opens the 1981-82 slate this Friday against Brandeis at the IAB, and by all accounts it'll be a better show than the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Nabobs of Negativism

It's not that Brandeis is any good; on the contrary, the Judges may be the weakest team--besides St. Anselm's and MIT--the Crimson will face all year. Still, this year's Harvard squad is probably the strongest ever to climb four flights of IAB stairs.

"I think we have the best talent since I've been here, the most depth. I think we're still young though," Crimson coach Frank McLaughlin says. "A lot of people are saying we have a very good team, but we're still a young team."

Last year, though, McLaughlin guided a much younger squad to the best record (16-10, 9-5 Ivy) any Harvard team has enjoyed in over a decade. The five freshman on that team--Monroe Trout, Joe Carrabino, Ken Plutnicki, Chris Mitchell, and Terry Murnin--are now sophomores, and at least the first three will see regular action this year.

The Crimson lost just two players--co-captains Tom Mannix and Mark Harris--to graduation, and a third--reserve guard Robert Taylor--opted to run track instead of playing basketball this winter.

Gains in experience and on-court maturity--and a couple of flashy freshmen--should help the Crimson fill in any gaps left by graduated starters Harris and Mannix, with as many as nine or ten players liable to get substantial playing time. "We're trying to play down the idea of a starting five," McLaughlin said. "There are going to be nine or 10 guys playing a lot. Hopefully we're going to wear down other teams."

And that means Harvard will not play a slow-down offense. This team has shooters, and lots of them.

McLaughlin hopes to use the squad's offensive depth to pick apart opposing defenses. With five constant offensive threats in the lineup, opposing teams will not be able--according to the scenario--to key on one player. "We're a very good shooting team, and teams will have a very difficult time playing us man-to-man," McLaughlin says. "If somebody wants to shut down Carrabino, go ahead, shut him down. That makes a Trout, a Fleming or a Ferry all the more valuable."

Offense is clearly the strength of this team. With a 19.1 average last year, Fleming leads all returning Ivy League scorers, and Carrabino earned Ivy Rookie of the Year honors mostly on the strength of his 15-ft. jumper. This year, with the addition of highly touted freshman shooting guard Bob Ferry and classmate Kyle Standley, the Crimson should have more scoring punch than ever.

In a recent full-tilt scrimmage, Ferry went 13-for-18 from the floor, and, as McLaughlin says, "he's a very smart player. He's a good open shooter but he also takes the ball to the basket."

The one potential offensive trouble spot is an over-dependence on the services of point guard extraordinaire Calvin Dixon. The junior speedster is the only true point guard on the team, and an injury to him could be devastating.

"If Calvin gets hurt, I don't know what we'd to; we'd have to try a number of alternatives." With Fleming already playing guard much of the time, one of the most probable options, continues McLaughlin, would be to move the 6-ft., 4-in. Ferry to the point guard slot.

Major-college height is another Crimson advantage. Barring injury, a probable front line could include Trout and Carrabino at the forwards, and either Bob McCabe or Lamar Flatt--back from a year away from the court--in the middle. That's 6-ft., 9 in. or taller across the front line.

"We're a great shooting team and we're tall," Flatt says. We'll be very strong inside. People should be scared to play us. They should be physically scared to play us as well as afraid of our talent."

"It'll be fun," Flatt continues. "I think people will definitely have a good time watching us. We'll put on a show. Win, lose, or draw we'll put on a show."