A faint gleam of hope shines on the varsity basketball team's horizon for the first time in three weeks--it could win a game. When the Crimson travels to Providence tonight, it will find a worthy opponent in the Brown Bears--a team which plays almost as erratically and neptly as the Crimson.

A victory over Brown, which is currently a mere half-game ahead of Harvard in the Ivy League, would vault the Crimson past the Bears into fifth place. Of course, it would stay there only over-night since when it loses to Yale Saturday night, the varsity will once more be back in its familiar sixth place berth.

Brown managed to eke out a one-point victory earlier in the season, but the varsity should be able to take the Bears tonight. The only real threat Brown owns is their captain, Gene Barth, who is averaging 17.6 points a game and ranks third in the Ivy League. Barth hit 27 points in the last Harvard game, scoring again and again with his deadly set shot. If Harvard's coach Floyd Wilson took his team out of a zone defense as he did against Princeton, the Crimson would probably have an easier time defeating the Bears.

Harvard is still the only team in the Ivy League without a representative on the list of top ten scorers, but has finally regained the services of Bob Inman who has been out with a bad ankle. The Stork poured in 16 points against Penn and 19 more against Princeton last week-end.

Inman will probably again replace Len Strauss in the starting line up. Vern Strand will go at center, Leo Scully and captain Gene Augustine at guards, and Dennis Lynch as the other forward.

Yale, which will probably end up in a three way tie for first place in the Ivy League, will face the Crimson in New Haven on Saturday, but against the title minded Bulldogs, Harvard will return to its losing form.