"Box out, box out. Defense with your feet, with your feet, gentlemen."

To anyone watching a Harvard basketball practice these dark November days, one fact becomes clear from Crimson coach Tom "Satch" Sanders's constant exhortations to his troops--defense is the key to having a winning basketball team.

Of course, to any basketball devotee over the past 15 years, that this should be Sanders's principal tenet should come as no surprise.

Sanders was one of the greatest defensive cagers ever to play the game, in a long career with the championship Boston Celtics teams. Sanders was regularly given the task of guarding the Elgin Baylors of opposing teams, and he symbolized more than any other player the kind of hardnosed, aggressive defense that was characteristic of Celtic teams.

It is only natural that Sanders would try to instill this philosophy into his youthful players. Defense carried the Celtics to 11 titles in 13 years, and it is defense that Sanders hopes will carry the Crimson to a winning season and its first Ivy League championship this year.

Respectable

But achieving these goals will be no easy task for Harvard. The Crimson managed a respectable 11-13 record overall, and a strong 9-5 record, good for fourth place, in the Ivy League last year. Seven of those losses were decided by three points or less.

However, this year Harvard will have some of the "heavies"--Cincinnati, Dayton, and Oral Roberts--on its schedule, in addition to good local teams like Boston College and Massachusetts.

The Ivy teams that finished ahead of Harvard--Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Brown--all will be stronger than last year. Despite the stronger competition, Sanders is optimistic about his team's chances this winter.

"We will definitely be better than last year," Sanders said. "We're going to get a lot of help from last year's freshman squad."

Lanky Addition

The biggest addition is lanky center Brian Banks. Banks must fill the shoes of the departed Tony Jenkins at the pivot spot. Banks has great potential, but as Sanders is quick to add about all of his players, "This or that one might have potential, but it all depends on how serious they are about the game. That will determine whether they live up to that potential."

At forward, 6 ft. 7 in. senior co-captain Lou Silver, a two-year starter, has a spot nailed down. Junior Bill Carey (6 ft. 5 in.), senior co-captain Len Adams (6 ft. 5in.) and last year's starter Arnie Needleman (6 ft. 2 in.) are fighting for the other starting berth.

In the backcourt, "things are still up in the air," according to Sanders. The big gap is the one left by last year's playmaker Ken Wolfe. Mike Griffin, last year's other starter, Jonas Honick, David Rogers, and Steve Selinger are the principals vying for the starting positions.

Harvard's big problem last year was its inability to control the defensive boards.

"We were simply giving up too many second and third shots to the opposition," Sanders said.

Aside from allowing extra chances at the hoop for the other team, the failure to play the defensive boards well cut down on the ability of the Crimson to mount a fast break. "I would love to run a fast break type offense," Sanders said. "But you can't do it without control of the defensive boards."

Unfortunately, except for the addition of Banks, Harvard may again be deficient in the all-important rebounding category. But if the Crimson employs the same kind of tough team defense that it used last year, it might just launch a strong bid for the Ivy title.