Tom Sanders is without doubt one of the coolest coaches around when the pressure is on. Whether his team is down by 15 or routing an opponent, the lanky Sanders maintains his poise, never screaming at a bad call or berating his players. That cool, and Sanders's philosophy of hardnosed defense and patterned offense, will be tested over the long vacation when the Crimson competes in one tournament and plays three other games.

"We're starting to roll," Tony Jenkins, captain of the team, said Wednesday, and the Harvard squad goes into the vacation break with a two game winning streak of upsets over Brown and Holy Cross.

The cagers will place that streak and their 3-4 record on the line December 26 when they meet Temple in an opening round game of the Quaker City Tournament. The tourney, a three-day affair in Philadelphia, features some strong teams: Penn, Cincinnati, St. Bonaventure, California, Fordham and Penn State.

New Year

Then Harvard opens the new year with a January 7 home game at 8 p.m. in the IAB against Northeastern. Following that meeting the squad travels south to play powerful Princeton and defending Ivy League champion Penn on January 11th and 12th in back-to-back night games.

"I'm not a Knute Rockne," Sanders said yesterday of his coaching style. "I won't lift them up. You have to deal with the type of guy you're coaching."

Sanders is dealing with players who consider themselves students first. "Basketball is not the biggest thing in their lives," he said. Such an attitude and the team's maturity makes stirring locker-room orations unnecessary. Sanders said humorously that if he started "leaping up and down and turning cartwheels" his players would think he was crazy.

The low-key approach seems to be working. The always cautious Sanders said yesterday, "We ought to be considered a good team and we'll be in the games we play."

Super-D

Jim Calhoun is coach of the Northeastern squad that Harvard is to face just after the Quaker City Tournament. "Satch has done a heck of a job over there," Calhoun said yesterday. Calhoun has seen the Crimson play several times and was most impressed by the "super-D" and the patience on offense that the Crimson exhibited.

Northeastern is now 2-2 for the season and will play in the Canadian National Tournament before the Harvard clash.

The Huskies' last game was a 104-59 romp over Lowell Tech and four of their five starters are in double figures.

John Clark, a 6 ft. 2 in. guard, leads Northeastern with a 21.0 ppg average. Paul Walsh, the other guard, and Jimmy Connors, a 6 ft. 7 in. junior center, both hit for an average 10 points a game while senior captain John Barros contributes an 11.3 point average.

Barros leads the Huskies in rebounding, grabbing an average of 14 per game.

Two Losses

Princeton, which will host the Crimson on January 11, presents more of a problem. Last year the Crimson lost twice, dropping a 71-70 decision to the Tigers in Cambridge.

Pete Carril has two hot-shooting sophomore guards to complement big Andy Rimol. Rimol, a 6 ft. 9 in. senior center, is averaging 12.3 points per game and collecting 9.7 rebounds, while the sophomores--Mike Steurer and Armond Hill--both score in double figures. Steurer leads Princeton in assists, totaling 21 in that category.

The Tigers (5-3) also send two big forwards out on the Jadwin Gymnasium court, Joe Vavricka and Barnes Hauptfuhrer. The match-ups could be bad for Harvard as Arnie Needleman may have to cover Vavricka who is 6 ft. 5 in. and weighs 205 pounds. Needleman gives up three inches and 12 pounds in that pairing.

Mighty Penn

If that is not enough, Harvard leaves Princeton and plays Penn in Philadelphia the next night.

Penn boasts a 3-1 record and will meet Temple and Dartmouth after the Quaker City Tournament before Harvard bops into town on the 12th. They play their version of basketball in a snakepit called the Palestra.

The Quakers field Ron Haigler, sophomore sensation John Engles, John Jablonski, and Bruce Frank. Not all those gentlemen play regularly but they all have something in common: size. Each is 6 ft. 8 in. tall and for Harvard that spells trouble. Penn was Ivy League champion last year and seeks the top spot again, as well as a NCAA-Tournament invitation.