Harvard to End Season at Brown, Yale

Two more games, and this season will be history.

However, the Harvard men's basketball team isn't quite ready to hand things over to the media-guide historians.

The team is not playing for an NCAA tournament berth--or any berth at all, for that matter--but this weekend's games at Brown (11-13 Overall, 5-7 Ivy) and Yale (8-16, 5-7) offer Harvard (9-15, 5-7) a chance at third place in the Ancient Eight.

Third place? Well, for a program that hasn't won the League title in the twentieth century, it's no small matter.

"We've been working hard all year, and hopefully this weekend we'll reap the fruits of that," said outgoing captain Tarik Campbell.

Bearish Feelings on Brown

The Crimson will step onto the court on Friday against a talented Brown team that was routed last weekend by Penn and Princeton.

Will the Bears' mini-losing streak continue? Junior Jared Leake thinks so.

"We showed that we could guard them in the first game, and I think we'll approach it the same way this time," he said. "We contained their guards [Alan Cole and Eric Blackiston, the Bears' two best players] pretty well. We'll just put out the effort again on defense."

Campbell echoed the need for defense, adding that the Crimson will have to dictate the tempo to repeat its win of three weeks ago.

"Brown is one of those teams that, if they get on the run, they can be tough to stop," he said. "We just have to go out and play our game and execute."

Saving the Ugliest for Last

Harvard will play at Yale next, on Saturday, and the game plan is more of the same--defense, effort, and execution.

Yale also dropped its games against Penn and Princeton last weekend, and like Brown and Dartmouth, is jostling with Harvard for position in the middle of the League standings.

The Elis are led by the senior backcourt of Damon Franklin and Josh Jennings and have received significant contributions in recent weeks from freshman Dan Okwonko.

Harvard's players felt almost cheated after the teams' first encounter, which Yale won on a last-minute three-pointer by Franklin, and they will be looking for revenge.

Will they get it? Tune in next time for an update from (we've said it before, and we'll say it again) New England's ugliest city.

Around the Ivies

The week's biggest story comes from Philadelphia, where Penn, (22-2, 12-0 defeated Princeton (16-8, 9-3) on Wednesday to solidify its number 25 national ranking and clinch its second straight Ivy League title.

The Quakers rode Matt Maloney's 24 points to an easy 55-43 win, its 26th straight in Ancient Eight play. They will move on to the NCAA tournament next month, while Princeton hopes for an NIT berth.

And how about Dartmouth? You can bet Coach Frank Sullivan and the Crimson are happy to have escaped with their early-season sweep of the Big Green.

Dave Faucher's team (9-15, 5-7) has roared back from a 1-12 start, and the Big Green swept Columbia and Cornell last week behind freshman Sea Lonergan's third Rookie of the Week performance.

Lonergan, a Dallas native who scored 28 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and handed out 13 assists for the weekend, looks to be Harvard frosh Kyle Snowden's main competition for the Ivy League Rookie of the Year award.

Odds and Ends

Campbell on the impending end of his career: "It's kind of weird [to realize that my career will end this weekend]. A lot of times I used to wonder if I would ever get to the end. Now it's finally coming to that, and I want to go out on a positive note."...Anikar Chabra, Harvard's other senior, will also finish his career this weekend. He played in last Saturday's home game against Cornell, drawing some of the biggest cheers of the game...The Crimson will enjoy a reception hosted by the Friends of Harvard Basketball after Saturday's game in New Haven.