Nonetheless, McLaughlin pooh-poohed the entire incident. "We were emotionally drained," he said. "And Princeton was frustrated.

Harvard has had a long and one-sided rivalry with the Tigers, but since McLaughlin has been at the helm of the Crimson. Harvard had always lost with honor Until Saturday.

Ironically, when the cagers finally beat Princeton at Jadwin Gym a year ago to end a 25-year drought there, the Tigers showed their classless stripes and refused to shake hands with the Crimson after the game. Now Harvard has sunk to that level.

The worst part of this mess is that McLaughlin decided to take no disciplinary measures whatsoever against the Crimson pugilists, thus intensifying the dishonorable odor of the incident.

That's just plain wrong. Those who attended Friday night's 53-51 loss to Penn remember that superstar Perry Bromwell-who eventually sunk a game-winning 18-ft, jumper with four seconds remaining-did not start the ballgame.

That's because Quaker Coach Craig Littlepage sat Bromwell down at the outset of his squad's most important game of the season. And Bromwell hadn't tried to strangle an opponent or dropkick a referee; he was merely late for practice last Thursday.

McLaughlin should learn from Littlepage's example. Penn has always been a class act. I used to think the same of McLaughlin and his team.