The Crimson basketball team opens its Ivy League season this weekend with a pair of crucial home games--against Cornell, which may be just a little too big, and Columbia, whose defense may be just a little too sticky.

Neither the Big Red nor the Lions is an Ivy title contender, but the contests are psychologically all-important for the Crimson five. Harvard is evenly matched with both teams, and a bad start in the Ivy race could portend a long, long season for the Crimson.

Cornell invades the IAB Friday, and the Red might give the Crimson quintet the first real trouble under the back-boards it's had all season.

The boys from Ithaca are big. Their starting six consists of center Steve Cram (6-7), Bob McCready (6-5), Marv Van Leeuwen(6-5), Bob Berube (6-3), Garry Munson (6-5), and Ray Ratkowaki (6-0), Cornell has no super-star; its high scorer is McCready with a mere 13.2 average, but all of their players can provide some scoring punch.

The Cornell five comes to Cambridge with an unspectacular 5-4 record, but their losses have come against such formidable opposition as N.Y.U., Minnesota, and last year's N.I.T. champion, Providence. Cornell is currently leading the Ivy League (but not for long) on the basis of a 76-64 victory over Columbia before Christmas.

Harvard Rebound

Actually, the Crimson probably doesn't have to worry too much about being drastically outrebounded; the aggressiveness of 6-5 center Merle McClung, coupled with the jumping ability of Barry Williams and the all around excellence of Bob Inman, should compensate for Cornell's height advantage.

Columbia comes to town Saturday night, and the complexion of the game should be much different from the battle with Cornell. The Lions have only two tall men: 6-5 Art Klink and 6-4 Mike Griffin.

Despite their size, their unimpressive 5-4 record, and their 12-point loss to Cornell, the Lions could cause a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth in Floyd Wilson's corner. Junior forward Neil Farber (6-1) is averaging 21.3 points per game and looks like a good bet for All-Ivy recognition. Stan Felsinger, a 17-year-old sophomore from Brooklyn, is the team's second lending scorer; although erratic, he averages 13.2 points per game.

Despite this array of talent, the big bugaboo for the Crimson team may be Columbia's defense. They employ ball control and use a tight, aggressive man-to-man defense--the very formula which enabled Trinity to upset Harvard before vacation.

Edge to Crimson?

On the basis of comparative scores, Harvard had a narrow edge: the Crimson beat Williams by nine points, and the Lions topped the Ephs, 56 to 52.

Into this weekend's games Harvard carries a 6-2 record, its second best pre-Ivy mark in 17 years. However, it's impossible to predict how the team will fare against the Lions and the Red. The Crimson will need good shooting and, more important, good ball handling to win both games. But if they do, Harvard's basketball team will be headed for its first finish in the upper half of the Ivy League since 1942.