Basketball Five Faces Brown in IAB Tonight

Two of the best Harvard basketball players in history will play the last home games of their career this weekend.

The seniors are Keith Sedlacek and Barry Williams, who did their best over the last three years to rescue Harvard basketball from a twenty-year curse of mediocrity. They didn't succeed, but their failure was an illustrious one. Williams shattered Harvard's all-time rebounding record, and Sedlacek set almost every Crimson scoring record in the book.

Harvard plays Brown tonight and Yale tomrorow in the IAB. The games in themselves mean nothing, for the Crimson is already mired in the depths of the Ivy League. But seeing Sedlacek and Williams for the last time will have a lot of nostalgic value, bringing back memories of the days when Harvard basketball seemed on the brink of the Millenium.

Marked for Greatness

Sedlacek's career has been especially remarkable. The skinny six-footer from Valley Forge, Pa. doesn't look like much of an athlete, and he's always looked a little ungainly in a basketball uniform. But ever since one night in December, 1963 -- when he came off the bench in a game against Williams and thrilled the crowd for the first time with that beautiful jump shot --Sedlacek has seemed marked for greatness.

On February 5 he scored the 1,075th point of his career, breaking the twelve-year-old record set by William Dennis '54. Two weeks ago he scored 40 points against Columbia, setting a single-game mark. Sedlacek will have an extra incentive for a good performance tonight: he has an excellent shot at the Ivy League scoring title, trailing Columbia's Dave Newmark by only four points.

Brown Lacks Depth

This weekend's games against Brown and Yale seem pretty predictable. Harvard beat the Bruins, 74 to 65, in Providence last weekend and should do it again tonight. Brown made a sizzling late comeback in that game, but they lack the depth and the consistent scoring punch to beat Harvard.

Yale is a different story. Despite their unimposing 4-7 Ivy mark, the Elis have a good, well-balanced team. They defeated Harvard at New Haven, 76 to 67, with seven players scoring between 8 and 12 points. In that game Yale contained Sedlacek very well, holding him to 15 points; if they do that again, the Elis should win with ease. But if Sedlacek has one of his red-hot nights from the floor--well, you know.