Yet, it's the visitors who boast the league's hottest defense. The Big Red has given up an average of just 38.7 points over the last three games, a whopping 30 points better than the Crimson over the same period.

"It's too late to do anything new now." McLaughlin concedes. "We won't do anything differently."

Unless of course you count Bob Ferry. The Crimson will look to the junior guard--mired in a late-reason slump-to give Joe "All-Anything-You-Want-Him-to-Be" Carrabino a rent. The 6-ft., 8-in, forward has carried the Crimson in its latest ventures, contributing 63 points last weekend in road victories over Yale and Brown.

It's back to Briggs tonight, though. And nothing could make McLaughlin & Co. happier.

We don't have to do anything special." Plutnicki adds, "because we're playing at home. Cornell and Columbia will have to play super, they'll have to play over their heads."

"I'm extremely nervous," the Crimson coach admits. "But if I were getting on a bus from Cornell and Columbia. I'd be depressed."

Instead, he's banking on the home court advantage to produce a little magic. And after tomorrow night he's hoping it'll produce a little pandemonium