NEVER BACK DOWN

It is said that who you are is where you're from. For junior Tarik Campbell, that's Harlem and "streetball"--where everything goes except playing scared.

"Playing ball where I'm from was tough," Campbell says. "People would go after you. You'd have to be tough and show competitiveness."

Now, Campbell starts at point guard for the Harvard men's basketball team. He leads in the Ivy League in assists with 5.4 per game (two years ago, he was third in the nation at 8.5 apg). He is playing--and starring--in hallowed arenas such as The Palestra in Philadelphia and Boston College's Conte Forum and matching up against players like Duke's Bobby Hurley (in his first collegiate game).

"That type of streetball taught [me] what [I] had to do to succeed in college basketball," Campbell adds.

And although Campbell has enjoyed the past seven years of organized hoops--Campbell attended St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H., before coming to Harvard--he maintains that the most rewarding moments of his basketball life were the days and nights he spent fighting those tough, hard-nosed playground battles with his twin brother, Gary, in Harlem.

It was on those courts that Campbell mastered the skills and tools of his craft: the art of the pass, the subtleties of protecting the ball and the frequent lack of subtlety necessary on defense.

It was also where he learned never to back down from a challenge, to play with determination and how to play to win.

"Playing ball in Harlem was tough. You had to be tough in order to accomplish anything, or else you'd get eaten up," Campbell says.

It is almost logical that when he decided to take last year off for personal reasons, he--like Anteus, the Greek wrestler who drew strength from Mother Earth--would head straight back to his old neighboorhood.

He worked at the Columbia School of Public Health's preventive medicine program, which is geared towards lowering the mortality rate in his hometown. He got to give back some of what he had taken, but he also took some more:

"I went out on my own and started gaining a lot more independence and responsibility," Campbell says. "It's good to get out and get a taste of reality."

The year at home matured him both as a basketball player and a person. But talking to Campbell, it is impossible to escape the effect of his roots.

Just ask him about, oh, his personality, for instance.

"You have to fight to get out of Harlem. You end up taking that attitude wherever you go. I think that guys on the team know that I'll never quit," Campbell says.

Spending a year at home seems to be paying off for Campbell on the basketball court. Asked to take on a large part of the scoring role, Campbell is averaging 11.5 points per game to go with his league-leading assist tally. He is also, according to his teammates, providing his team with much-needed leadership.

"Tarik has been a very good addition to the team," sophomore James White says. "He's come in and taken a vocal role as a leader on the team. He comes in and works hard."

Head Coach Frank Sullivan also believes that Campbell's year off has been beneficial.

"Tarik is a very determined person," Sullivan says. "He's come back after a year of being out of Harvard and is determinedto do well academically and on the basketball court."

And, of course, he never backs down from a challenge. Stop Vermont's Eddie Benton, who averages 20 points per game and shoots over 50 percent from long range? No sweat--mentally, at least.

"I take facing a top player at my position personally. I adjust and take the challenge and never back down," Campbell says.

Harvard lost that game, 73-65, but Campbell held Benton to 15 points and harassed him into committing five turnovers while scoring 12 points of his own.

Scoring might have been the weakest point of Campbell's game (besides posting up, that is--the Leverett junior is just 5' 10", 155 pounds), but that was just another challenge for him. With defenses keying on team captain and league-leading scorer Tyler Rullman, Campbell poured in 18 points while dishing out six assists (another 12 points, really) against Rhode Island at the Cable Car Classic in Santa Clara, Ca., over winter break.

"I think I played really well out in California, especially against Rhode Island because they were a top team," Campbell says.

Not so far down the coast from Santa Clara is the Great Western Forum, where Magic Johnson used to dominate the NBA with unbelievable passing and irreplacable leadership which only a point guard can truly appreciate.

Like almost every other point guard who has grown up in the last 10 years, Magic became Campbell's hero when he led Michigan State to the national title in 1979.

"Magic came into the league and improved every year," Campbell says. "He continued to work on his game and became a leader. Being a point guard and seeing another point guard with that type of passing is inspirational," Campbell says.

Improvement every year on his passing, scoring...even rebounding. That's what Campbell wants. Always, the challenge is to be better.

Except. There's one memory that he doesn't want to improve. You see, his twin brother Gary plays for Dartmouth.

"My favorite college memory was the time I played against my brother my freshman year," Campbell said. "We had always played on the same team at home, so playing against each other was hard."

Difficult, yes, but not as hard as surviving the Harlem courts.