A Learning Experience

We had a pretty good boys' basketball team back in high school, all things considered Hunter, a small public school on Manhattan's Upper East Side, hadn't been coed for very long, hadn't been in a building with a gym for close to a decade, couldn't afford a scoreboard or away uniforms, and had a coach who doubled as a music teacher. Sophomore year was the first time they could get a varsity assembled, and the oldest players were juniors because that was the oldest class that had guys.

We eventually got a scoreboard, and played in the Private School Athletic League even though we were public, Senior year, Hunter won the league and went on to the first round of the "Super 16" state championships. There, of course, we lost, but believe me, the Hawks were hot.

There was one team, however, that Hunter couldn't touch. Ever, Year after year, the guys got really psyched, went in, held their own for a while, and then lost to the "B" varsity form Power Memorial High School. The joke always went around that the "A" varsity was playing at Madison Square Garden and couldn't play us, but the fact was, the Power folks were too nice to be realistic and send in their j.v.

Remember, this is the school that sent Lew Alcindor to UCLA before he became Kareem Abdul Jabbar. It's usually one of the top five or ten teams in a city full of good high school basketball teams-not astoundingly great, but up there.

Hunter always went in-valiantly, resolutely, worthlessly, because Power wasn't in the league-and lost. There's talk now of closing Power when its building gets demolished later this year. That would be too bad, because few teams are so gracious about walking all over their opponents. It's what the Hunter coach, Mr. Austin, might have called a learning experience. Because really, Hunter always thought they could win, and the games were always terrific.

Well, Harvard Coach Frank McLaughlin thinks his troops can win tonight, and like Hunter vs. Power, the Crimson may learn a lot. The men's basketball team faces Duke at 7:30 p.m. at Briggs Athletic Center, and there are tickets left. Harvard (3-3 Ivy, 7-8 overall) is tied for third in the Ivy League Duke (17-4) is 25th in the country, according to USA Today. If nothing else, it will be an exciting game.

"We would have to play probably our best game and Duke would have to play average [for Harvard] to win." McLaughlin says. "We're going to know what it takes to win."

It may take a minor miracle. Sophomore Johnny Dawkins leads the Blue Knights-riding high after a weekend win over Virginia-into the fray. Classmate Mark Alarie was second on the squad in scoring last year, topped only by Dawkins. Both were freshman All Americans. It's a young team, with only two seniors, one of which is also the only player under six feet tall. These guys can dunk. Harvard can't. Last season, Alarie alone had 21 blocked shots. All of the Cantabs together have managed three blocked shots all season. It could be a long night.

Harvard, however, is coming off a very big weekend, one that included its first win on the road in 17 contests, over Columbia, and a hair-raising 62-60 loss to Cornell. The Crimson is the best foul shooting team in the country, with junior guard Bob Ferry (46-for-49) at number one in the land and Joe Carrabino ninth. And the Duke game is the first of seven in the next 10 days-the momentum has to start somewhere, sometime. It might as well be tonight.

McLaughlin believes fan support makes a difference in a situation like this, where the cagers will be understandably a bit nervous. "They have far superior talent," says the Crimson coach. "We're playing one of the best teams in the country."

With Harvard's notorious home-court advantage, though, and perhaps a little divine intervention, the Blue Knights may get to play one of the best teams in-well, the Ivy League at least, and maybe Massachusetts, too.