A heavily favored Harvard varsity squash team opens its quest for its 11th national championship in 12 years as the Crimson clashes with traditional weakling MIT at 7 p.m. tonight at MIT.

Coaches of both squads predict a Crimson slaughter, figuring Harvard's experience and depth of talent will age... be too much for the inept Engineers.

"It's usually a 9-0 affair--unless somebody gets sloppy and loses," said Harvard coach Jack Barnaby. Even though we'll be on strange courts, they should pose no real threat because our players are so much more experienced than they are."

MIT coach Ed Crocker said that although his team has improved from last year's 2-12 squad, its chances to win even one of the nine individual matches are minimal, let alone the team match.

"I think we'll just be up against too much talent," he said. "If our sixth man plays well, he might win, and that would certainly be in the nature of an upset. And there's a chance that one of our lower might win too but I really doubt it."

The Engineers, coming off a 6-3 opener defeat to Dartmouth last Friday at Hanover, are led by senior co-captains Lance Hellinger and Phil Nanavati.

Rounding out MIT's top nine are Buff Blair, Bruce Rhodes, Syed Ahmed, William Young, Matt Kaufman, Dave Lee, and Kevin Strhul.

Harvard enters the tilt with national intercollegiate champ Peter Briggs anchoring the number one position, followed by Andy Wiegand, Glen Whitman, Neil Vosters, Rob Sedwick, Archie Gwathmy, Pete Blasier, Fred Ficher, and Benjy Pierce.

The Crimson's tenth spot is "still in flux," Barnaby said, with Steve Meed Dick Cashin, and The Morgan presently battling for the bottom rang on the ladder.

Although Crocker feels about season prospects for his team, he admits that MIT should still be patsies for the stronger Crimson.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we had a winning year, but Harvard has too much depth, and no strategy in squash can beat that," he said.