Class Conflicts

I don't thinks it's that big a thing.

Harvard men's basketball Coach Frank McLaughlin on his players fight with Princeton Saturday night

Worng coach. It is that big a thing.

Long-suffering Harvard baseball fans, who turned out in record numbers this weekend had just suffered though the most frustrating pair of games in Crimson hoop history.

But it was not the twin losses to perennial powerhouses Penn and Princeton that most injured the Harvard basketball program.

It was the lack of class.

When a bench-clearing brawl broke out with 21 seconds left in Harvard 52-45 loss to Princeton, it spelled the dismal end to any realistic championship hopes. Harvard will not win the Ivy crown for the 83rd straight year.

But more disturbing , it was a sad sign of the state of Harvard basketball.

Co-Captain Joe Carrabino, who had spent most of the weekend playing as if he were underwater, finally emerged only to vent his frustration with a series of flutterkicks.

Granted, Carrabino was pushed around all weekend, and was justifiable upset with his subpar performance. But Carrabino flagrantly abused his captaincy by leading the cagers to arms.

Follwing Carrabino's lead, the team's two highly-touted freshmen Kyle Dodson and Bill Mohler jumped off the bench to continue the juvenile pro wrestling performance. When they did, the Crimson basketball team lost a good deal of the respect it had worked so hard to earn this season.

Dodson and Mohler had no business on the court. No matter; they grabbed and choked and pushed Princeton players long after the referees had broken up the initial scuffle. From Saturday's melee, it would appear as though Mother has a better left book than sky book . And we might a well refer to Dodson--an effective choker--as the Boston Strangler.

The two freshman, who have been called the future of the Harvard basketball team, have some on-court maturing to do if they are to lead the Crimson to any future success.

So, too, do the many other members of the Harvard squad who left their seats to continue an already ugly scene.

It is worth nothing that Bob Ferry and Pat Smith-who, along with Arne Duncan, were the only notable players not involved in the fisticuffs--are products of DeMatha High School, where players who fight are automatically booted from the team.

Nonetheless, McLaughlin pooh-poohed the entire incident. "We were emotionally drained," he said. "And Princeton was frustrated.

Harvard has had a long and one-sided rivalry with the Tigers, but since McLaughlin has been at the helm of the Crimson. Harvard had always lost with honor Until Saturday.

Ironically, when the cagers finally beat Princeton at Jadwin Gym a year ago to end a 25-year drought there, the Tigers showed their classless stripes and refused to shake hands with the Crimson after the game. Now Harvard has sunk to that level.

The worst part of this mess is that McLaughlin decided to take no disciplinary measures whatsoever against the Crimson pugilists, thus intensifying the dishonorable odor of the incident.

That's just plain wrong. Those who attended Friday night's 53-51 loss to Penn remember that superstar Perry Bromwell-who eventually sunk a game-winning 18-ft, jumper with four seconds remaining-did not start the ballgame.

That's because Quaker Coach Craig Littlepage sat Bromwell down at the outset of his squad's most important game of the season. And Bromwell hadn't tried to strangle an opponent or dropkick a referee; he was merely late for practice last Thursday.

McLaughlin should learn from Littlepage's example. Penn has always been a class act. I used to think the same of McLaughlin and his team.