Rullman Nabs Rookie Honors

When Harvard men's basketball Coach Peter Roby inserted freshman Tyler Rullman into the starting lineup in the season's second game against New Hampshire, he said that he was expecting a lot out of the youngster from Springfield, Mo.

Rullman responded last week, shooting 82 percent from the field in the Crimson's 2-1 performance against Brandeis, Holy Cross and Central Connecticut. The Ivy League was quick to recognize the 6-ft, 6-in. forward, honoring Rullman as the first Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the 1989-'90 season.

Rullman must have known that he couldn't stay a starter for long in front of the team's leading scorer, Ralph James, and sure enough, he found himself coming off the bench in the Holy Cross and CCSU games. But Rullman has played well enough to be considered a major threat when the Crimson enters Ivy play.

Double Vision: Harvard fans were seeing double for the first time in a year, when guards and twin brothers Dana and Ian Smith took the floor together Saturday against CCSU for a two-minute stretch during the second half.

One one play, Dana hit Ian for a 15-footer and then for a layup off the fast break on another play. The announcer at Kaiser Hall called it, "Smith from Smith. That's Ian from Dana."

When his brother wasn't out on the floor, Dana still had some strange moments. Trying to make a save, he went crashing into the CCSU Pep Band, which was inexplicably seated behind the baseline. Later, the normally sure-handed point guard had a breakaway but somehow lost control of the ball off his dribble.

It's All in the Wrist: One thing is for sure--if things continue like they have, it's a good bet that the Crimson will lose at least one or two Ivy games this year because of poor foul shooting.

The Crimson, which has hit only 63.8 of its freebies, can't seem to find its rhythm from the line. And in its 19-point loss to Holy Cross last Wednesday, Harvard gave future opponents a possibly effective defensive strategy--just foul, foul, foul.

The team hit only 10 of its 24 chances at the foul line, including five front ends of one-and-ones. That's 10 points out of a possible 29 from the line--a 19-point difference. The Crusaders defeated the Crimson, 86-67--a 19-point difference.

"It's a matter of confidence," Harvard Coach Peter Roby said after the Crusaders game. "We just have to sit in the gym and shoot foul shot after foul shot."

The biggest culprits recently have been James and Mitchell, whose extremely painful back injury has affected his shooting. The two combined for only four out of 12 free throws against the Cross. Against CCSU, however, James made a strong comeback, banging home all six of his attempts.

Home, Sweet, Home: The CCSU game was a homecoming for Roby, who grew up in the New Britain area and used to attend CCSU games regularly.

"There were a lot of Robys and assorted other relatives here," the Harvard coach said. "I believe we're a good team, and I'm glad they came out and showed it to people who care about me."

Anyone Have Oxygen?: The CCSU game was the fifth game in eight days for Harvard. When asked why the team stopped pressing in the second half, Co-Captain Scott Gilly said, "I think we started to get a little tired. To be honest, with this stretch of games, it was just a matter of us running out of gas."

Excuse Me, That's Mine: Harvard outrebounded CCSU, 58-34, and grabbed more offensive boards (24) than CCSU had defensive rebounds (22). Harvard forced 25 CCSU turnovers, including 18 steals. All this added up to the Crimson shooting 22 more shots from the field (83 to 61).

Did You Say $20,000?: United Parcel Service gave out one semester's tuition to a lucky CCSU student at the end of the game. That kind of promotion is just what is needed to pack the fans into Briggs Cage--only UPS should agree to shelling just one month's tuition at Harvard.