Game of the Week
Harvard (7-3) at #14 Boston College (7-2) – Thursday, December 22, 7:00 pm
This is Harvard’s one shot at non-league glory in 2005. The two teams last met three years ago, with very similar records. A senior-laden Harvard team rallied to trail by just two points with under three minutes remaining, but couldn’t complete the comeback, falling 84-77, In the meeting before that back in the 1998-99 season opener, the Crimson actually pulled off the upset at Conte, 62-61. Harvard will be without injured center Brian Cusworth, while BC is unsure whether it will have its would-be starter in the middle, Sean Williams. Williams was suspended from the team and left school after an arrest this past spring, but was recently cleared to return to school and might make his season debut on Thursday. Frank Sullivan will need a big effort from his frontcourt reserves with Cusworth out against an indimidating Boston College front line. An upset is probably too tall order for an unproven Harvard team playing without its big man in the middle, but a competitive game like what Penn gave Duke and Villanova would give the Crimson a shot of confidence entering Ivy play.

Line of the Week

12.14.2005 vs. Long Island   TOT-FG 3-PT   REBOUNDS                 FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT TP A TO BLK S MIN Stehle, Matt………………….. F 9-16 1-5 8-8 5 6 11 27 0 3 3 1 32
Impressing – Penn’s defense. Even elite offensive clubs like Duke and Villanova had problems offensively against the Quakers’ tenacious defense. Penn ranks 21st in Division I in defensive efficiency despite playing sixth-toughest schedule in the nation. – Yale gets a boost. Dominick Martin made his 2005-06 debut on Saturday with 14 points in 18 minutes against Hampton. The 6-10 senior gives Yale the production out of the center position it has been sorely lacking so far this season. – Harvard wins at Albany. The Great Danes may not be a “name” team and might be off to a rough start, but this was a huge win. To beat a quality team by double digits on the roads without two of its top three scorers was quite a feat for the Crimson. – Kyle Koncz. After battling injuries his freshman year, Koncz has emerged as a scoring threat on a team that desperately needs one right now. He averaged 13.3 points in his last three games and shot 11 of 25 (44.0 percent) from the arc. – Drew Housman. Though Adam Gore has received more attention, it’s Housman who is the best freshman in the league right now. The 5-11 point guard had a great week, averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in two wins.		Distressing – Princeton’s 21 points in 40 minutes. The Tigers’ offensive ineptitude against Monmouth generated the worst kind of PR for them and for the league. And it’s not just one game: Princeton has cracked the 50-point barrier on just two occasions this year. – Cornell losing by 44. Not to be outdone, the Big Red went to Lewisburg and suffered one of the uglier losses by an Ivy team in recent memory. Cornell fans who paid $7.50 for the Bucknell Internet video broadcast came to regret that purchase. – Dartmouth starting slow again. Losing to Hofstra isn’t anything to be ashamed of, but the Big Green should have won the previous two road games. Now after losing a winnable game at Quinnipiac, the schedule only gets tougher. – Noah Savage in a funk. After a sensational start to the season, Savage has scored just nine points total in his last three games and is shooting 3 of 25 in that span. An early three-pointer at Wake Forest on Saturday is his only field goal in his last 22 attempts. – Penn’s outside shooting. The Quakers couldn’t buy a three-pointer in the Villanova loss, going 1 for 20 from the arc, which cost them the upset. The putrid performance dropped the team’s three-point shooting to just 25.5 percent on the season.