"We're taking it one step at a time. We're in sixth right now, and if we win both games this weekend we could move into fifth. What we are aiming for is third, and I think we've got a shot at it."

With his sights set on a third-place finish in the Ivy League standings, head coach Bob Harrison takes his basketball team into tonight's 8 p.m. game against Cornell in the IAB, confident and relaxed.

And with good reason. The Big Red, riddled by dissension earlier in the season, is the weakest team in the Ivies, and the Crimson, with the pressure (both from academics and the press) off, played confidently last weekend against Yale and Brown.

Harvard should waltz to its third League triumph tonight, and if it can win the remainder of its games--while Dartmouth, whose coach George Blaney suspended All-Ivy Paul Frizzd for missing the Yale bus last Saturday, loses at least once to Brown--the Crimson could finish behind Penn and Princeton in the standings.

Cornell poses little problem for Harvard with Rick Amato, the Big Red's 6-4 center, the top returnee, and Gary Newby, a junior college All-American transfer, the team's leading scorer. Newby has played sporadically, and along with the rest of the team has never had the chance to develop his potential.

The Crimson, likewise, has been having troubles of its own, but recent personnel shifts seem to have given the squad new life. Tonight's starting line-up includes a new face, Marshall Sanders, who has played outstanding ball in the last three contests.

Tony Jenkins, who has performed consistently throughout the winter, will join Sanders at the other forward, and Tom Mustoe is the likely starter at center.

Jim Fitzsimmons, who is currently 15th in the country in scoring with a 24.8 average, and Jean Wilkinson will team at the guards. This weekend will probably be Wilkinson's last for the season because of academic problems he had last semester.

James Brown and Floyd Lewis will be sitting on the bench at the start of the game, but both will see plenty of action. If Brown's performance against Brown last Saturday is any indication of what he can do coming off the bench (21 points and 10 rebounds), he could have another good night.

"I don't know for sure why Floyd hasn't been performing as well as last year," Harrison said yesterday. "But I think he's just in a temporary down period, and all he'll need is one good game to get out of it. We'll give him every chance we can."