The Crimson basketball team probably won't win an Ivy League crown this season, but Norm Shepard's improving quintet has already given the H.A.A. a mild case of migraine because of its drawing power. Several games to date have packed the Blockhouse with the faithful and later major games may see some of the fans turned away because of the 3,000-man fire law limit. Come next season, Messrs. Bolles and Getchell doubtless will have to contend with a horde of irate and seatless fans. They'll have no answer to give.

Bill Bingham ran into this same problem back in 1946 when Harvard played in the N.C.A.A. tourney. Bingham played the only gamble possible and moved the 1947-48 contests into the Boston Arena. The move nearly killed off Harvard basketball. By 1949-50 about the only Crimson fans watching Arena games were the managers and local scribes. The caliber of the post-1946 teams had admittedly fallen off, but yet the occasional I.A.B. games would draw 1,000 rooters. The ride in town just didn't seem to interest undergraduates, so last season the Crimson five returned to the L.A.B. at the request of Shepard, who figured one way to help Harvard basketball was to get some fans. He did. Last year the crowds averaged over 800 despite a mediocre ball club and basketball again became a major part of the local sporting scene instead of an appendage of Holy Cross tilts at the St. Botolph Street palace. Students, the team and Shepard seem to like the Blockhouse, and it's improbable that Bolles will repeat the safari to the Arena even if the fans start lining up for seats in front of Wigglesworth.

* * * * * *

A prominent University official commented last year that Princeton's recruiting machine was a "beautiful thing to watch." This thing of beauty was exhibited over the Christmas holidays in the innocuous form of the fourth annual Lawrenceville School Invitation Tournament. This tourney, sponsored by near-by Lawrenceville, brings about 16 private school New England hockey teams to Princeton's Baker Rink for a round-robin affair. Princeton gets into the act not only by providing the rink, but by putting up the schoolboy skaters at the Prospect Street eating clubs. Every effort is made by the Princeton sports hierarchy to insure that when the athletes to the North. Old Nassau will not be forgotten--say in June, when the lad picks his college. It is not coincidental that several Exeter stars bound for Harvard last year changed their choice after the Lawrenceville (sic) tournament. It may not be pour le sport, but it's all legal.

Success breeds success and Princeton's recruiting minions are now drumming up talent in areas which for years never knew Princeton had a football team. Several North Shore (Mass.) schoolboy gridders are in Princeton's class of 1956 and doubtless they won't be the last.

* * * * *

Crimson rooters have been quite vocal in showing their approval of Block-house entertainment, but basketball games might be more enjoyable if these fans were less vociferous. The Dartmouth Daily recently boasted about the "unexcelled spirit" shown at Big Green basketball contests. This particular brand of Dartmouth "spirit" largely consists in cursing the officials and rocking the field house during every opponent's foul shot. Harvard fans have little to gloat about. They run a close second in this department. Their actual cheering, as at Hanover, is commendable, but this is unfortunately overshadowed by a continuous din of catcalls directed at the officials and rival players. This petulant display of sportsmanship reached a high point in last season's Columbia game. The referee had to warn the locals that unless the Bronx cheers stopped Columbia would win by forfeit. It's a good thing the Dartmouth boys only show up for football games.