Penn, Princeton Ivy Favorites.... ...But Crimson Can Challenge If Spirit Is Willing

Moments after B.C.'s freshman guard Ernie Cobb had turned a perfect evening for Harvard basketball loyalists (all 23 of them) into the team's fourth consecutive defeat, Coach Tom Sanders was asked how he planned to offset the letdown which would probably ensue after his squad's emotional performance that evening.

"How can you have a letdown," Sanders inquired, "when you didn't win anything?"

A point well taken, if victories only count in the won-lost column. But when a team (a) comes within a double-dribbling violation of defeating an opponent which is far superior in natural ability and which is supposedly one of the 20 best in the country, and (b) does so not as a result, for the most part, of the opponent's over-confidence or errors, but because of its own determination and a display of talent which heretofore had not surfaced, the night cannot be considered a total loss.

The fact that there is no poetic justice in the world of traveling violations and three-point plays shouldn't serve to distract from Harvard's efforts last Saturday. The fact that they outplayed their highly rated cross-town rivals but emerged with nothing concrete to show for it should not be soon forgotten, for the cagers proved that they have the talent to keep pace with, and defeat the majority of, their future opponents.

Perhaps, then, Saturday's performance was a mistake. What will happen if the cagers have trouble against Ivy powerhouses like Yale and Cornell? They won't be able to claim talent deficiencies as their defense for any uninspired performances, because, as they clearly proved last weekend, there is enough talent on the team to challenge for the Ivy title.

And by challenging for the title, this does not mean to accept four automatic looses to Princeton and Penn before even taking the floor against these Ivy hoop goliaths. Nor does it mean quitting eight minutes after the opening tap if you happen to fall behind early, as has been the habit of past squads.

Clearly, the Crimson has lost an alibi. Any team that can make B.C. sweat for 40 minutes should have little difficulty with most of the Ivy squads, some of whom were so bad a year ago that they would have finished in the second division of the Bristol County League.

This year, despite the usual preseason optimism, more of the same can be expected. Cornell, Dartmouth, and Columbia are all supposedly improving, which means records of 9-17. As for Yale, four wins would be an improvement, and Brown has lost everyone who helped to turn its basketball program around. This year it should turn back again.

Goliaths?

That leaves Princeton and Penn, teams which shouldn't really be in the Ivies (basketball-wise that is) to begin with. The Tigers are not only defending NIT champs, but the nucleus of that team is back, a group which includes 6'7" Barnes Hauptfuhrer, whose father was a star at Harvard and was the first player every selected in the NBA draft.

As for Penn, which has won six Ivy titles in a row, word out of Philadelphia and other basketball havens has it that the Quakers may be in for a little trouble this time around it, but this has yet to be proven. With John Engles, towering Henry Johnson, Mark Lenetto, and sophomore Kevin McDonald, an off year may have to be put off a year.

But where does Harvard fit into this two-tiered scheme? Another 9-5 record and third-place finish always sounds reasonable, but it doesn't have to be. If letdowns against the weaklings can be avoided, and if an occasional repeat of Saturday can be thrown in there somewhere (preferably the weekend of January 9-10, when Princeton and Penn dribble into Cambridge), Harvard really does have chance, if not at first, but at least to scare a few people.

Then again, 'Saturday's night performance may have been a put-on, a once-in-a-season display designed to raise a few hopes. If this proves to be the case, then a lot of good talent will be wasted.

This fact was not apparent until Saturday, but now that the cagers have let their secret out of their traveling bag, one will have to look further than the team's roster should any future imponderables ensue.