M. Hoops Takes on the "Killer P's"

The rubber hits the road this weekend as the Harvard men's basketball team (8-11, 3-3 Ivy) travels to play Ivy League-leading Penn (11-7, 4-0) and second place Princeton (11-8, 3-1).

Tonight's match-up pits the Crimson against the Quakers and senior point guard Michael Jordan. Averaging 15.2 points and 4.6 assists per game, Jordan is a threat because of his explosive quickness and shot-making ability.

Trying to bolster its program's competitiveness by competing against top-ranked teams, Penn lost to Kentucky, Auburn and Kansas this season. Despite the results, the Quakers gained valuable experience playing against those high caliber teams.

That experience has paid off thus far for Penn in Ivy League play. The Quakers have beaten league opponents by an average of 22 points per game.

The Quakers present lots of match-up problems for opposing teams. First and foremost, Jordan is probably the best point guard in the Ivies. He can create his own shot, shooting nearly 49% from the field this season, drive to the basket or hit the floater in the lane.

Additionally, when Harvard junior center Tim Coleman rotates to help out on Jordan's forays into the lane, the Crimson will have to be able to find 6' 5 senior shooting guard Matt Langel. He loves to set up outside the three-point arc and has shot 40% from three-point range this season.

The third option for Penn offensively is 6' 11 center Geoff Owens who nets eight points and a team- leading seven rebounds per game.

For Harvard to contain the Quaker attack it will have to look to force Penn into taking tough shots. The Quaker starters average 44.8% shooting from the field.

If Harvard doesn't bring those numbers down, it will be tough to keep pace with Penn's offense.

Saturday's contest is against the Princeton Tigers, the other half of the Ivy's "killer P's".

Princeton hasn't posted as impressive a record as Penn has thus far in the Ivy. Princeton's average margin of victory has been 12 points and they lost to the Yale Bulldogs (6-13, 4-2) last Saturday.

Princeton, under head coach Bill Carmody runs a motion offense based around the back-door play, the same offense that Princeton used to make a run in the NCAA tournament two years ago. The Tigers knocked off Georgetown and North Carolina State in the NIT last year.

Specifically, Coleman and the rest of the Harvard frontcourt have to be able to contain sophomore center Chris Young.

Young leads the Tigers with 13.6 points per game and also chips in 5.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per contest.

The Crimson backcourt may also be particularly strained on Saturday night because of the continual motion of the Princeton offense.

After defending the stellar Penn backcourt the night before, Harvard's guards will have to keep pace with Princeton's high energy pace in the half-court set.

Crimson freshman point guard Eliot Prasse-Freeman will have to contend with another freshman guard in the Tiger's Spencer Gloger.

Gloger, who signed with UCLA, decided to go to Princeton instead and has averaged 12.5 points per game this season.

A win in either of these two games would be an upset of huge proportions. Harvard will have to hope for some lucky breaks and outstanding play from junior forward Dan Clemente and the rest of the squad in order to get a win this weekend.