It's Aloha time for the Harvard basketball team. The Crimson leaves Thursday for the Rainbow Classic basketball tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Harvard's first round opponent will be Portland (Ore.). Other colleges in the eight-squad field are mighty Notre Dame, California (Berkeley) and Montana. There service teams complete the lineup.

Because the Faculty Committee on Athletics insists that all such vacation trips pay for themselves, only ten players will go to Honolulu.

Coach Floyd Wilson had to choose the fortunate ten a couple of weeks ago. His first nine picks were easy, for only nine pleyers-Captain Gene Dressler, Barth Royer, Bob Kanuth, Chris Gallagher, Jeff Grate, Bob Johnson, Bob Beller, Dan Martell and Paul Waickowski, have seen any regular action.

Number ten was more difficult; Wilson rarely has occasion to go that far down the bench. Confident that his backcourt was secure with Dressler, Grate, Johnson and Beller, Wilson finally settled on 6-5 forward Jim Griswold to complete the trip roster.

Dressler Hurt

Then Dressler chipped a bone in his right hand near the end of the loss to Boston College ten days ago. Wilson has "no hesitancy about being able to use" Dressler in the tournament, but admits that he doesn't know for sure whether the injury has healed.

In addition to observing a player limit, the Crimson must play two non-tournament teams -- sophomore-dominated Arizona and national powerhouse Dayton -- to help defray expenses. Dayton was picked, despite an awesome reputation, because it has a large and usually-packed gym.

The Dayton fans will come out of curiosity, if nothing else. Three Harvard starters, Royer, Kanuth and Grate were Ohio high school stars.

Harvard, even with Dressler, will likely be overwhelmed by big time powers like Dayton and Notre Dame. There is one bright spot, however--it was 80 degrees in Honolulu yesterday.