Theoretically, Dartmouth's swimming team should be about twenty points better than Harvard when the two squads clash Saturday at 4 p.m. in the I.A.B. Dartmouth downed Cornell 52-42 last weekend, and Cornell lost by only three points to mighty Yale last December.

But realistically the Crimson are about as worried as Mickey Mantle at the plate facing Arnold Portecarrere on the mound. Yale was only kidding around with Cornell, and the varsity will only have to do the same to ring up its fourth win of the season.

In fact, as against Brown last week, the real fireworks will go off in the freshman meet, which starts at 2 p.m. sharp. Having just recently completed a million-dollar pool, Dartmouth has gone looking for swimmers, and their freshman team is the best ever.

One of its stars, Brad Lindeblad, was the country's number two schoolboy freestyler last year behind Yale's Don Schollander. With Lindebland against Harvard's Bill Shrout, there should be some great races.

The best varsity contest might be in the high dive where Harvard's Danny Mahoney faces Dartmouth's Bill Hobson. Mahoney is trying out a new list of high-point-value dives, and Hobson, who beat Cornell's champion Dave Hawk last week, could give him trouble.

Other Dartmouth standouts have been Captain Tom Hoober in the butterfly, John Van Orden in the distance free-styles, and Tony Dalrymple in the sprints. Van Orden and teammate Dave Hough, both sophomores, could show up well in the distances since Harvard's Dave Abramson will probably be out with back trouble.

Beyond this, however, the Indians will have to do some real scouting around for points. Neville Hayes, Tony Fingleton, Bob Corris, Jim Seubold, and the Crimson wrecking crew are looking toward the Princeton meet in February, and won't be stopped by Dartmouth. Unless Coach Bill Brooks does a lot of experimenting, the score will be pleasingly plump.