Harvard's basketball team is like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center: there are flashes of brilliance, but mostly green.

Green in the scrimmage stage, however, does not mean evergreen. With eight sophomores in the top 12 candidates, the quintet figures to get a good deal better than they were last night in the IAB against a coterie of Harvard graduate students with impressive court backgrounds.

Gene Dressler is the only senior on the squad, and Dressler has quickly assumed the role of leader. He pats his teammates on the back as they pass him, and shouts encouragement and directions. Dressler's shooting wasn't particularly sharp last night, but no one seemed too concerned about it.

Sophomores Shine

Two of the sophomores were especially good--big Dan Martell and Bob Johnson. Martell, playing with a hockey goalie's mask because he had been clawed in the face during a practice, was hitting the floor and grabbing more than his share of rebounds. Johnson made some fancy plays on offense and defense, indicating he can make the team without having played freshman ball. Johnson was out of action last year with a bone cyst in his right ankle, but he worked out faithfully at Hemenway with his PT-seeking classmates.

Although scores of scrimmages are not announced, it can be said that the grad students were the better team through the first two 20-minute scrimmages. The younger, more practiced varsity easily dominated the final round.

The winning grads call themselves the Inceptors--which is a popular term in Cambridge (England) for men seeking their master's or doctor's degree.