Harvard Opens Ivy Basketball Campaign

With the Bluenose Classic title safely tucked away, the Harvard basketball team gets into the Ivy League rat race tonight and tomorrow night against Pennsylvania and Princeton at the IAB.

Last Saturday, the Quakers and the Tigers struggled before a regional television audience in the League opener. Operating at a tremendous height disadvantage, Penn held down the score for a while with a slowdown weave, but eventually Princeton's sharp shooting won the day.

Both Penn and Princeton are missing a top player, just as Harvard is missing Barth Royer. The Quakers 6-5 Jeff Osowski limped through four games in the Quaker City Festival before x-rays disclosed a broken foot. Without him, Penn has practically no rebounding strength and little front court shooting.

It was from the backcourt that Penn gave Princeton some trouble. At 6-3, Charlie Snell is listed as a forward, but he hurt the Tigers with an effective outside jumper. Harvard's man-to-man defense may match him with Bobby Johnson--a terrific leaper himself. These are two eye-catching ball-players.

Guard Duo

Harvard's guard duo, Bob Beller and Mickey Norlander, will have fits staying with Quaker captain Tom Northrup and lightening-fast 5-8 Steve Pearsall. But Beller, who made the Bluenose All-Star team, and Norlander, an aggressive sophomore, have begun to work better together.

Princeton, as usual, ranks with the nation's best. But with 6-7 sophomore John Hummer sidelined for at least a month with a leg injury, the Tigers will have to work hard for another Ivy crown.

Chris Thomforde (6-9) returns at center. He is mobile, a good shooter, and a rough-tough guy under both backboards. Two other starters are back--captain Joe Heiser leads the team in scoring, and 6-7 cornerman John Haarlow plays a competent defense and rebounds well.

Heiser's runningmate at guard has been sophomore Geof Petrie. Against Penn, he put on moves that Oscar Robertson would be proud to own and, if he stays at guard (he may take Hummer's place at forward). Harvard's Johnson may have to play guard to defend against him.

Harvard Win

I'll pick Harvard to pull a mild upset over Penn tonight. Chris Gallagher showed some of last year's top form in the Classic, and he got adequate scoring support from the others--Norlander had 25 in one game, Beller 22 in the other, and Johnson 17.

Vastly underrated forward Bob Kanuth invariably draws a bigger man, the other team's top rebounding forward, but, although only 6-4, he usually stomps his opponent and gets 12 or 13 points a game.

Princeton may be a different story, but as one observer said early this week, "We always save our biggest surprise for Princeton." A win would be great for Harvard, but at this stage of the season, it's probably not in the tea leaves.