Head basketball coach Bob Harrison, under fire lately because of his cagers' mediocre performance, discussed basketball in his office in the IAB on Tuesday.

Harrison named three difficulties peculiar to the Harvard situation.

First, he said that the Cambridge community was not as basketball-oriented as many other places and that players used to adulation by fans during their high school careers had to make an adjustment here.

Second, Harrison explained that basketball at Harvard is relatively low-budgeted and that the athletic program in general is not as high-powered as in other large schools.

Third, the head coach maintained that imbalanced reporting by the Crimson had damaged the team's reputation and hurt in recruiting players.

Harrison reminisced about his ten seasons at Kenyon College when he spoke of community support for the team.

"Kenyon was small and I was in touch with my players constantly. The whole school knew them. Here my relationship ends for the most part when I blow that last whistle," he said.

"The fans we have at the games here are great. It's what we don't have--that feeling of enthusiastic support by the entire student community--that makes a big difference to the players," he said.

Assistant coach Ernie Hardy interjected his own thoughts on fan support.

"Most guys who come here are used to fans who blow the roof off the gym. At Harvard people just view the game," he said.

Harrison cited last year's Oral Roberts game as an example of a case when the team responded to crowd enthusiasm and played great basketball.

"If we had that kind of spirit at all our games there is no doubt that it would be a tremendous lift to the team," he said.

Harrison leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head when asked to talk about the problems of coaching in the Ivy League.

"First of all, let me say that I understood perfectly the restrictions of the job before I came here and that I agree with Harvard's policies all the way," he noted.

"But when we come up against teams like Duke, or talk about teams like Kentucky and UCLA, we have to realize the priorities here and why those schools are tough," he added.