Wait 'Til Next Year

The Harvard men's basketball team finished off the 1985-'86 season with a 6-20 overall record, 2-12 in the Ivy League.

For reference: the .231 winning percentage is the Crimson's worst since 1951-'52 (when Harvard finished 5-17, .227); the six victories are the fewest since 1962-'63 (6-15); the 20 losses the most since 1978-'79 (8-21).

And not since 1969-'70 (1-13) has Harvard fared so poorly in the Ivies.

Interestingly enough, the cagers bounced back in 1970-'71 for their best-ever Ivy finish, posting an 11-3 league slate while finishing second behind an undefeated Penn squad.

One promising note for the future of the Crimson:

Although last year's squad finished 15-9 overall, 7-7 Ivy, it lost its top three scorers.

Seniors Joe Carrabino (514 points) and Bob Ferry (373) graduated, while junior Arne Duncan (280) took a year's leave of absence. Between the three of them, the trio accounted for 74 percent of Harvard's scoring.

This year, the top three cagers constituted only 48 percent of Harvard's scoring attack. In fact, the Crimson's top five scorers netted only 68 percent of the team's points.

Even better, those top scorers--Keith Webster, Neil Phillips, Fred Schernecker, Kyle Dodson, and Mike Gielen--all will be returning next year.

Captain Pat Smith wrapped up his Crimson career with a pair of eight-point efforts last weekend against Brown and Yale.

The point guard recorded 269 points and 273 assists in his four years with Harvard, and led the team in hand-outs for the past three years.

"I think the kids have learned to play together," Smith said. "We're going to have experience next year.

"But over the summer, I hope they [the returning players] just keep playing the way they're going to play next year, not the way everybody plays in pick-up games," he added. "The only way the Harvard team will ever be set is if they continue to work hard. So many teams just sit back and expect experience to work for them."

While Harvard languished in the Ivy cellar, Brown (16-10 overall, 10-4 Ivy) reached the top of the Ancient Eight for the first time ever. Although the Bruins only joined the league in the 1953-'54 season, they had never finished at the top of the pack before.

The Brown championship leaves the Crimson as the only Ivy squad never to have won a league crown. Incidentally, the last three Ivy champs have finished with 10-4 league marks. Final Regular Season Statistics

Name  Pts.  Avg.  Reb.  Avg.Assists  Steals Webster  301  11.6  97  3.7  4766 Phillips  298  11.5  142  5.5  5233 Schernecker  158  6.1  80  3.1  11< Tab>17 Dodson  158  6.1  61  2.3  8  9 Gielen  151  5.8  60  2.3  64  4 2 Mohler  144  5.5  139  5.3  4  6 Evers  118  4.5  34  1.3  23  6 Smith  94  3.6  54  2.1  74  20 Lang  88  3.4  66  2.5  6  2 DeGreeff  16  1.8  12  1.3  0  1 Litfin  7  1.8  4  1.0  0  0 Whelan  8  1.6  2  0.4  0  0 Wolkoff  22  1.4  27  1.7  5  3 Simmons  7  1.2  5  0.8  0  2 Scarpa  2  0.2  2  0.2  7  6