The Long Road to The Ivy Title...

It's a yearly ritual, almost as reliable as geese flying south for the winter and north in spring.

It's the hotly contested Ivy League basketball race, which, after two months of Friday-Saturday night showdowns, always seems to come down to the final weekend of action in early March. Last year, three teams were in the running for the title entering the final weekend until Princeton clinched the win at Harvard's Briggs Cage on the final day of the season.

"It is going to be a very, very close year and anybody can win it," says Princeton's Pete Carril, who witnessed his team drop a one-point decision to Georgetown in the first round of last year's NCAA Tournament. "We didn't win it last year until the very last game and that's been going on in this league for 20 years."

"Our goal is to put ourselves in a position to win and hopefully get some breaks down the stretch so that we'll be the fortunate team to represent the Ivy League in the NCAA Tournament," Dartmouth Coach Paul Cormier says.

It's a tough stretch run, with each team playing 10 of its 14 league games in a 29-day stretch. But anyone who's claimed the title will tell you it's worth it. Waiting at the end of the arduous road is the rosy land known as the NCAA National Championship Tournament, a motivation no other sport in the Ivy League can boast for its champion.

And for two favorites who tip off the season with a 2 p.m. showdown at Briggs Cage tomorrow, it's a goal that has proved all too elusive. Dartmouth has not claimed the flag since 1959 and Harvard has never won an Ivy title.

The Crimson enters the race healthier than expected. With Ralph James separating a shoulder in practice December 11, Ron Mitchell suffering from chronic back spasms and Co-Captain Fred Schernecker missing the last two games with a knee injury, Harvard could have been playing the Big Green without any of its starting frontline.

The injury problems have contributed a great deal to the squad's disappointing 4-7 start, but things are looking up for Coach Peter Roby.

James returned to the lineup ahead of schedule, scoring 48 points in a 87-79 loss to Hartford and an 80-77 overtime victory over Fairfield. James' three-point jumper tied the Fairfield game and his five consecutive points in the middle of the overtime propelled the Crimson to its third road win of the year.

Mitchell pumped in 17 points against Fairfield and will start against the Big Green, while Schernecker appears ready to return to the lineup tomorrow after doctors decided he does not need surgery.

Keeping his team healthy is the top priority for Roby, for as go James (17 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game) and Mitchell (12.9 p.p.g., 7.0 r.p.g.), so go the Crimson. But developing behind those two is an intimidating lineup.

With increased playing time because of the rash of injuries, senior centerMal Hollensteiner has improved tremendously andforms, along with freshmen Tyler Rullman and PeterCondakes, an extremely strong frontline reservecorps.

The key to Harvard's season is in thebackcourt, which features Co-Captain Scott Gilly,freshmen Tarik Campbell and Tchad Robinson andjunior Dana Smith. How this four some holds upagainst the best of the Ivies, includingDartmouth's John Mackay-James Blackwell tandem andYale's Ed Petersen and Dean Campbell, should playa big role in determining the team's finalstanding. Mistakes at crucial times paralyzedHarvard's attempt to claim the title last year.

"It was a valuable experience to finish in theupper half last year and know what it's like tocompete on that level," Roby says. "We'vecontinued to use our close calls last year as amotivating factor trying to get the guys tounderstand that one possession in a game or onelapse defensively, little things, can make a bigdifference."

A second key for Harvard will be getting off toa strong start, with five of its first six gamesat home.

"I think it's an advantage and a disadvantage,"Roby says. "Any wins you get on the road are abonus in this league. The pressure's on the teamto win at home."

After claiming the Lobster Shootout in Decemberwith wins over Maine and Texas A&M, the Big Greenhas struggled, losing its last four in a row,including a 79-61 spanking at the hands of HolyCross Wednesday.

"But that's to be expected out of Dartmouthafter they lost Jim Barton to graduation," Robysays. "You'd expect a lot of inconsistency."

To offset the loss of his All-Ivy sharpshooter,Cormier has looked for a more equal distributionof the offensive load this year, stressing theinside play of 7-ft., 1-in. center Walter Palmer.Palmer, currently hampered by a stress fracture toa vertebrate, leads the team with 16.7 p.p.g.

"We're having more of an equal opportunityoffense where we have to get more peopleinvolved," Cormier says. "We think we have somevery good outside shooters. Along with thedevelopment of Walter Palmer, we'll have a morebalanced inside-outside attack as opposed to thepast, when we relied on Jim maybe too much."

Playing impressively up front is junior BrendanO'Sullivan, who leads the team in rebounding (7.0r.p.g.). But like the Crimson, Dartmouth will haveto rely on strong play from its backcourt to makea run at the title. Neither Mackay or Blackwellhave responded well this year, each hoveringaround only 40 percent from the field. But Cormierremains confident.

"You can bang your head against a wall andstart worrying about what's happened in the past,but we look forward to the future," Cormier says.

In this age of Ivy League obscurity in theworld of collegiate men's basketball,Princeton is the one team making wavesamong the sport's elite. The Tigers seem to haverelished their newfound respect after the loss toGeorgetown, for they have already beaten Lehigh,St. Joseph's, Canisius, Iona, Arkansas-Little Rockand Rutgers.

And most of this has been done without thebenefit of sophomore guard Sean Jackson, whomissed the team's first six games with a brokenthumb. A transfer from Ohio University who workedhis way into the starting lineup in camp, Jacksonis second on the team with 11.4 points per game.

The Tigers' best player is All-Ivy juniorcenter Kit Mueller, who is the leading candidatefor the league's Player of the Year. Muellercurrently leads Princeton in scoring (16.2p.p.g.), rebounding (4.6 r.p.g.), shooting (58percent) and assists (4.6 a.p.g.). But Carril isquick to point out that he doesn't want Muellerpressured into feeling he has to fill the sneakersof graduated Bob Scrabis, last season's Ivy Playerof the Year.

Helping Mueller out are junior forward MattHenshon and sophomores George Leftwich and MattEastwick. Captain Matt Lapin anchors the bench.

As usual, Princeton's strength is thedefensive, patient, cerebral game plan of Carril,who has guided his teams to four Ivy titles in the'80s.

"You have to play with the cards you have,"Carril says. "We play the way we do because that'sthe only way we can play."

Also having won four titles in the '80s,Penn appears headed in the oppositedirection from the Tigers. Two tough graduationshave weakened the Quaker program tremendously,although some still consider them among theleague's best. The Quakers have played Temple andLaSalle tough early in the season, but their 2-6record illustrates the same inconsistencies thatare plaguing Harvard and Dartmouth.

If Penn does make a run for the title, it willbe because of its powerful frontline of three6-ft., 7-in. horses, Hassan Duncombe, Vince Curranand Ray Marshall. Duncombe leads the team inscoring (17.6 p.p.g.), including a 44-point effortin Penn's 90-81 overtime win over Navy, and isgrabbing eight rebounds per game. Curran averaged11.7 boards in his three games of action beforegoing down with an injury. Marshall adds fiverebounds per game and another bruising body upfront.

In the backcourt, Tyrone Gilliams, Paul McMahonand Jerry Simon are the long-distance threats.Simon is second on the team in scoring with 14.1points per game.

"Jerry Simon's going to have to do a lot ofthings for us to be an effective team," Coach FranDunphy said. "He's going to have to rebound well,he's going to have to score, he's going to have toplay real good defense. He many find himself inany one of three positions."

One of the sleeper teams in the league thisyear is Yale, which finished last year witha 6-8 league record, but only graduated oneplayer, Mike Ryan. And the label doesn't botherCoach Dick Kuchen one bit.

"I think it's kind of interesting in thisleague, the unique thing about this league, isthat anybody, outside of the favorite, can becalled a sleeper," Kuchen says. "You only have tolook at the scores from last year to see howcompetitive the league is."

But there are many good reasons for people togive the Elis such a label and two of the bestreside in Kuchen's backcourt, guards Ed Petersenand Dean Campbell. Petersen, last year's IvyRookie of the Year, leads the team in scoring(14.9 p.p.g.) and assists (3.9 a.p.g.). Campbell'sathleticism gives Yale the flexibility of a quickguard with scoring ability (11.9 p.p.g.) and thepower of a strong forward with rebounding ability(6.0 r.p.g.).

If the Elis struggle this season, it will bebecause of untried forwards. Junior TravisMcCready and sophomores Stu Davies and CaseyCamann have come through so far, combining for 29points and 21 rebounds per game. And freshmanguard David Brown has been a big surprise forKuchen, averaging 7.6 points per game whileconnecting on 12 three-point jumpers in the team'sfirst eight games.

"I'm enthusiastic and they are a fun group ofguys to work with," Kuchen says.

The favorite letters in Ithaca, N.Y., thesedays are B.J., and they don't refer to rock starBilly Joel. Center Bernard Jackson lost 30 poundsduring the course of the non-Ivy schedule lastyear and led a resurgent Cornell team tosix wins in its final eight games, including atwo-game sweep of Penn.

But the Big Red remains far from a strongcontender for the Ivy title. Jackson, senior MonteBoykin, junior Steve Johnson, and sophomores ShawnMaharaj and Rich Medina are a capable group ofplayers with the ability to get hot and beatalmost any team, but without the consistency towin the 10 or so games necessary for the title.

"We have to be concerned that we don't justbecome a Bernard Jackson team," says Coach MikeDement, referring to his team's leading scorer atnearly 16 points per game. "We have to make surethat other people around him are looking to scoreas well."

So far, Maharaj (11.5 p.p.g.) and Johnson (10.3p.p.g.) have helped, but the Big Red is strugglingwith a 3-7 record with wins over unimpressivesquads. Also facing Cornell is the imposingchallenge of playing five of its first six gameson the road.

"We got off to a bad start last year and a lotof it had to do with our schedule," Dement says."We were a young team and we started our firstfive games on the road. It concerns me that fiveof our first six Ivy games are on the road thistime. It's very difficult to get off to a goodstart like that."

Columbia Coach Wally Halas has theunenviable job of trying to turn the Lions programaround. He's been unsuccessful in his first threeyears at the helm, racking up a 16-45 careerrecord.

This year's squad has only managed two wins,but the Lions do have the athletic talent to poseproblems for the top contenders.

Leading scorer Dane Holmes (13.6 p.p.g.) hasreturned from a preseason stress fracture in hisfoot to take charge of the Lions offense, and he'sgotten lots of help from fellow sophomorefrontcourt mates Eric Speaker and Russell Steward.

"Our sophomores came back this year in terrificshape and have all improved their level of play towhere we think they can move to the more elitesection of the league," Halas says.

The J-J backcourt of freshmen Mike Jelinsky andBuck Jenkins have combined for 18 points per game,but behind the front five, a tremendous lack ofdepth should limit the Lions.

With its only three wins this year comingagainst non-powerhouses Bryant, Drexel andTrinity, Brown is not disappointing thosewho've picked the Bruins for the bottom of the Ivystandings.

Sophomore guard Rick Lloyd has done his best,leading the team in scoring with 42 points in hislast two games, but Coach Mike Cingiser's crewcontinues to struggle.

Lloyd leads the team in scoring (12.0 p.p.g.),followed by senior forward Arthur Jackson (10.6p.p.g.) and sophomore center Kirk Lowry (7.3p.p.g.). Sophomore guard Chuck Savage gives theBruins two solid guards, at least according toCingiser, who says, "We are thrilled with what wehave in the backcourt."CrimsonMichael KoehlerDANA SMITH (40) must come through with asolid season if the Harvard men's basketball teamhopes to capture its first-ever Ivy Leaguetitle.