Hoopsters Journey to Philly Today, Face Do-or-Die Clash with Quakers

The Crimson's aspirations to finish in the upper echelons of the Ivy Basketball League will be made or broken this weekend.

Tonight Harvard collides with Penn at the Palestra in Philadelphia, and the combination of an enervating 300-mile road trip and Penn's brilliant backcourt will probably add up to "broken."

When the Quakers played here last Saturday, they survived a torrid Crimson rally in the final minutes of play to win, 75 to 67. In that contest Harvard was suffering from an inevitable letdown after an upset over Princeton the night before, but they still had the homecourt advantage, which means a lot in the Ivy League.

The Quakers are probably the best quintet in the Ivy League, and there are two reasons for their supremacy: Jeff Neuman and Ramon Carazo. This hustling backcourt combination put on a show last Saturday that almost made the 1000 fans in the IAB forget about Bill Bradley. Carazo punched holes in the Crimson's usually effective zone defense with high, arching 25-foot jumpers, while Neuman left the fans exophthalmic with his ball-handling wizardry.

Add to this pair one of the top scorers in the League (6-2 forward Stan Pawlak) and the biggest center amongst the Ivies (6-8 John Hellings) and it spells trouble for the Crimson.

Against the Quakers last weekend only one Harvard player--Merle McClung, with 29 points--showed his usual form. If the Crimson could get a hot-shooting performance from guard Keith Sedlacek and forwards Barry Williams and Bob Inman, they could turn the tables on Penn. It can be done, as Harvard proved last week with its 88-82 shocker over Princeton, a game in which every Crimson starter was functioning as he should.

Harvard meets Princeton again tomorrow night, and the Tigers will be out for blood.

Needless to say, the big problem confronting the Crimson will again be the Bengals' All-Everything Bill Bradley. Last weekend Bradley was held to a scant (for him) 30 points as Harvard's defensive strategy worked to perfection. Leo Scully guarded the 6-5 junior during the first half and held him to 13; Bradley added 17 in the second half against the Crimson zone.

Bradley, however, took only 23 shots from the floor in that contest; frequently he passed up good shots for himself in order to feed off to his lacklustre teammates. He may take charge a little more tonight, since a second loss to the Crimson would virtually eliminate the Tigers chances for the Ivy League title.