One of the few bright spots in an otherwise lackluster basketball season has been the play of the sophomores. Playing together on Coach Bob Hart's J.V. squad, the sophomores have played a disciplined offense and an aggressive defense which won them all but one of their games.

Mike Griffin quarterbacks the J.V.s and is probably the finest ballhandler in the entire program. Griffin takes charge when the sophomores face a press and has had little trouble dribbling by two and sometimes even three men.

Complementing Griffin in the backcourt is Arnie Needleman. Needleman is not the ballhandler Griffin is, but he can shoot with anyone on the team. Against MIT last Monday. Needleman hit for 41 points.

Up Front

Up front, the Crimson J.V.s have four impressive ballplayers. In the middle, Jeff Wheat has improved by leaps and bounds since the start of the season. Wheat moves to the basket well off the low post, and under the guidance of Hart, has begun to play excellent defense.

Lenny Adams plays up front alongside Wheat and he too has developed since the beginning of pre-season practice. Adams is exceptionally quick and often leads the fastbreak. His rebounding has also improved along with his ballhandling since November.

Lewis Brown and Lou Silver have shared the other forward spot on the J.V.s. Silver was originally slated to see only varsity action, but since he was only playing a few minutes in each game, he decided to play with Hart's unit. Silver is accurate from 10-15 feet and, like Adams, is exceptionally mobile for a man his size.

Brown was the leading scorer on the J.V.s until he broke his pelvis in January. Since then, Brown has returned to the line-up but his jumping and shooting ability has been impaired. In addition, Brown has been troubled by bad knees which have cut down on his mobility.

Because their squad is so small, the J.V.s have gotten into foul trouble and have found themselves with sometimes only three and four men left. Last Thursday against B.U., the J.V.s had control of the ballgame until Adams fouled out and Silver was thrown for fighting on a questionable call. With only three men on the floor, the J.V.s saw a big lead evaporate.

Hart is responsible for most of the J.V.s success, although he refuses to take credit for it. He is a strong believer in the value of tight defense, and he has drilled his ballplayers relentlessly on fundamentals. All of the J.V. ballplayers speak highly of Hart, and it would be a shame if at the end of this season, efforts were not made to keep him at Harvard. He was only hired on an interim basis, but the program will suffer if he is not made a permanent member of the staff.