Cagers Hit the Road for Weekend Series

The good news for Harvard men's basketball coach Pete Roby is that his wife Sandra gave birth to a baby girl, Kayla Alexandra Roby, Wednesday night.

"This is the biggest championship I'll ever win," said a jubilant papa Roby last night of the 7-Ib., four-and-a-half ounce new arrival.

The bad news is that the Harvard men's baseball team tonight opens the first half of the lost weekend, otherwise known as the Penn-Princeton road trip.

"It's amazing how few people do well on this trip," Roby said. "One of the things that makes it tough is that you are not only facing two of the traditionally toughest teams, but there is such a radical difference between the two teams in style."

Princeton plays tortoise to Penn's hare, and opponents find it difficult to keep up with either's pace.

The Tigers have done the NCAA rules committee proud, integrating the NCAA's last major changes into its offense. Princeton runs the 45-second shot clock down to single digits before firing up a three-pointer.

And not only do the Tigers take a lot of three-point shots--39 percent of their attempts come from trifecta land--but they also make a lot of the them. Princeton is currently ranked third in the country in three-point shooting, connecting on 48 percent (135-of-279) of its triples.

Guard Dave Orlandini (15.8 points a game) leads the barrage, connecting on 44-of-75 three-pointers (58 percent). If Orlandini is off, and he rarely is, there's forward Bob Scrabis (15.6 p.p.g), who has hit 40-of-85 three-pointers, and guard Tim Neff (9.1 p.p.g), who has hit half of his three's, 37-of-74, to pick up the slack.

John Thompson Jr., son of Georgetown Coach John Thompson, doesn't score much (5.4), but he runs the team from his "point" forward position, dishing off 63 assists.

Freshman center Kit Mueller (11.1 p.p.g, 6.2 r.p.g.) rounds out the starting lineup.

All five Tiger starters average between 30 to 38 minutes an outing, and the Crimson, which has slowed its tempo a tad from last year, may look to rev it up.

Tonight, the Crimson opens against youthful Penn. The Quakers start three freshman, and spent the early part of this year seasoning the youngsters against top-level competition such as Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, and Indiana.

Penn depends on Tyrone Pitts to lead the team. The only returning starter from last year, the 6-ft., 5-in. senior has bitten into opponents and spit out the pits, averaging 16.9 p.p.g., 7.1 r.p.g.

Walt Frazier Jr., son of the former NBA star, leads the backcourt, dishing off 64 assists while scoring nine points a game. A pair of 6-ft., 7-in. freshmen, Ben Spiva (10.2 p.p.g, 5.7 r.p.g.) and Hassan Duncombe.