Five Battles Williams In Toughest Game Yet

The basketball team travels to Williams College today to do battle with what Coach Floyd Wilson calls "the strongest team we've faced all year."

With an opportunity to even its record at 2-2, the cagers face a perennially powerful group that features no one outstanding player. Williams relys on team balance to topple its opponents. In what promises to be a match between two conservative offenses, the Crimson will have to overcome its past ball-handling mistakes and erratic scoring tendencies.

Wilson will start the same five who finished the game against Navy: Captain Bob Beller and Bob Johnson in the back-court, and Barth Royer and Bob Kanuth at the forward spots. Giant (6-9) Paul Waickowski will begin the game at center in place of last year's most valuable player and leading scorer per game, Chris Gallagher.

No changes in the basic style of play are slated for today's contest. Wilson will probably make frequent substitutions in an attempt to put together the winning combination needed to bring Harvard its fifth winning season in the last 20 years. Searching for the consistent performers who played in pre-season drills, but have failed to produce up to now, he will use promising sophomores Jerry O'Neil and Mickey Norlander extensively to beef up the offense. Hopefully, Norlander and junior Royer can continue the momentum which sparked the rally in the Navy game.

Crediting the Crimson's lack of success to the fact that "last year's starters haven't played as well this season," Wilson views the rest of the schedule's games as "all tough." He regards his non-league opponents equal in quality to Ivy League teams. Princeton, currently the tenth-ranked team in the nation in the Associated Press poll, Cornell, and Columbia are Wilson's picks for the top Ivy Crown contenders.

Harvard last played Williams in 1965, bowing 68-64, and is looking for its first win over the Ephman since 1963.