Up and Down Cagers Seek Equilibrium

A win is a win, and whether you win by one point or 50 points, it all counts the same.

By edging New Hampshire, 74-71, Saturday, the Harvard men's basketball team evened its record at 2-2. And it doesn't matter that the Crimson has been outscored by its opponents by an average of 19.5 points in its four games--Harvard is still a .500 team.

Tonight, the Crimson will try to get a winning record as it takes on the University of Vemont at 7:30 p.m. in Briggs Cage. The Catamounts are 1-3, but their record may be deceiving.

Last season, Vermont pounded the Crimson, 110-92, in Burlington, and Harvard does not want a repeat of that thrashing. But even on the road, Vermont should be a tough opponent for the cagers.

"I think Vermont is more talented than UNH," Harvard Coach Pete Roby said. "I think we're going to have our hands full with Vermont."

The Catamounts are led by center Joe Calavita, one of the better big men that the Crimson will face this season. The 6-ft., 11-in., 245-lb. co-captain averaged 20 points and 9.5 rebounds per game a year ago, and he has improved with age. So far this year, he's averaging 29 p.p.g.

"They have a dominant big man inside in Calavita, and they have a lot of guys to surround him who can shoot the ball," Roby said. "They give you an inside-outside game."

Calavita's success is due in part to Vermont Coach Tom Brennan. Brennan, who coached at Yale, has a lot of experience working with big centers.

"Coach Brennan knows how to coach with a big guy," Roby said. "He knows what things he has to do with a big man to maximize his talents."

Fortunately for Harvard, Roby knows what he has to do to minimize Calavita's effect on the game. The Crimson will run and press in hope of keeping the Catamounts from setting up in a half-court offense where they can get the ball to the big man.

"We're going to run and try to take [Calavita] out of the game a little bit," Roby said. "If Calavita's going to beat us, he's going to have to work for it."

The problem for the Crimson's running game and pressure defense has been inconsistency. Watching the team so far this year is like watching a giant crimson yo-yo. It goes up and down, up and down.

The squad's pressure defense has worked exceptionally well at times this year--like in the squad's 87-83 win over Tennessee Tech, and in comeback runs against B.C. and UNH. But the Crimson has also suffered from lackluster play, notably at the end of the UNH game and at the start of the B.C. game.

"We haven't been consistent from game to game, or from half to half, or even from possession to possession," Roby said.

But Roby knows that it will be just a matter of time before the team gets itself together. Against the Catamounts, Harvard must play with confidence and aggressiveness.

"We have a lot of things that we have to learn," Roby said. "We have to learn how to play with a lead, we have to learn how to play aggressively without fouling, but we're coming."

And the Crimson doesn't have to win by much.

Sweet Charity: Harvard has hit 89 of its 127 free throw attempts this year for a 70 percent success rate. That's a little off from last season, when the Crimson shot at a 71.1 percent clip.

Despite the slight decline, Harvard had a distinct edge against the Wildcats on Saturday. Coming into that game, UNH was shooting 58.3 percent from the line. The 'Cats didn't disappoint either, shooting an atrocious 12-for-26 from the line--a 46.2 percent rate.

Those missed shots--especially the one Dave Murray missed with a chance to tie the game with seven seconds on the clock--may have given the Crimson the game. That's why they call the foul line the charity stripe.

Oh Molloy: One of UNH's key scorers, Keith Carpenter, was surprisingly quiet on the court Saturday. The guard was just 1-for-6 from the field, and missed all three of his free throws.

The explanation for Carpenter's lack of offensive production may have had something to do with the man defending him--Ralph James. You see, the two were teammates at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, N.Y. two years ago. And James remembered some of Carpenter's moves.

"I basically know his game," James chuckled. "It hasn't changed much."

Stats the Ticket: Although earlyseason statistics are usually pretty meaningless, they sometimes provide good indications of which players to look for the rest of the year.

Although Mike Gielen and James lead the Crimson in scoring with 15.3 and 13.0 point per game averages, it seems that forwards Tedd Evers and Kyle Dodson are the keys to the Harvard attack.

In the Crimson's two wins, Dodson has shot 7-for-12 from the field (58.3 percent) and Evers has shot 8-for-14 (57 percent). But in the Crimson's two defeats, Dodson is only 3-for-15 (20 percent), while Evers has sunk just four of his 16 attempts (25 percent).

Mal Discontent: Sometimes it pays not to play. Sophomore center Mal Hollensteiner played a mere three seconds against the Wildcats. But in that time, Hollensteiner grabbed a rebound, stepped out of bounds to turn the ball over, and left the court.

For his three-second stint, Hollensteiner saw his scoring average plummet from 9.0 p.p.g. to 6.8, and his rebounding average fall from 4.7 rebounds per game to 3.2.

What the Hack?: Tri-Captain Bill Mohler has fouled out of three of the Crimson's four games this season.