Vague rumors that Tabor Academy usually fields good basketball teams is the only information freshman basketball coach Lloyd Harper had yesterday concerning the opposition his players meet today at 4:30 p.m. in the Indoor Athletic Building.

The same men who operated so successfully in the 58-33 defeat of Tufts last Thursday night, Jim Downey and Jerry Murphy at the guards, Bill Borah and Bill Hickey at the forwards, and John Stevenson at center will start this afternoon.

"I think these boys will pretty definitely be our top men for the rest of the season," Harper said. Alden Davis, a starter at the beginning of the season, is still out of action with a knee injury and doctors fear he will be unable to play until after exams.

Small Team

Size and shallow reserves are the freshmen's main handicaps this year, Harper noted. "They're a good bunch of kids," Harper went on. "They can out-manuever and outfinesse any team their size but they just can't overpower a bigger one like Holy Cross. But they have lots of hustle and that's what I like to see most in a team."

Coach Harper still likes the scrappy, alert game of play maker and team captain Bill Hickey. "Murphy is probably the best all around player, a good shot and good defensive man, but you have to remember he's had the most experience and the other boys may still catch up with him," Harper said. Murphy played with a state high school championship team in Iowa.

To utilize the little height he has in Downey and Murphy, Harper has them play guard on defense and switches them to forward on offense. This rotation system has given his men a little trouble when the opposition makes a fast break, Harper says, but they're learning to make the change easily.