The easiest things in life are not always free.

And sometimes when that something free appears to be easy, it's not always taken advantage of.

In basketball, a foul by an opponent often results in a "free" throw. And a lot of the time, the fouled player has to make the first one in order to get a second chance.

So far this season, however, the Harvard men's basketball team has not been taking advantage of its free throws. The Crimson has converted only 77 of its 114 chances, a rate of 67.5 percent.

There was a time when Harvard opponents feared fouling a Crimson cager. During the 1983-84 season, Harvard set an all-time national collegiate record, converting 535 of 651 free chances, an incredible 82.2 percent.

That year, three Crimson cagers were ranked among the nation's leaders in free-throw shooting. The frontrunner was Steve Alford--the same Steve Alford who last year led the Indiana Hoosiers to a national championship and now is playing for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. Alford led all players that year, connecting at an incredible rate of 92 percent (115-for-125).

Harvard's Joe Carrabino (153-for-169, 90.5 percent) tied for second with St. John's Chris Mullin--now a member of the NBA's Golden St. Warriors--with the Crimson's Bob Ferry (84-for-93, 90.3 percent) in fourth. Arne Duncan was 13th, (91-for-105, 86.7 percent) and a fourth Crimson cager, Keith Webster, would have tied with Duncan, but he did not have enough attempts to qualify (52-for-60, 86.7 percent).

Ouch

But now there is no longer that fear of the Crimson shooters from the line, although several cagers have been outstanding. Tri-Captain Mike Gielen, who is 18-for-22 the year (81.8 percent), has hit crucial free throws in two of Harvard's victories this year. In the Crimson's 74-71 triumph over New Hampshire, Gielen hit two free throws with five seconds remaining, and in Harvard's 91-76 win over Vermont Tuesday, Gielen connected on eight consecutive free throws to keep the Catamounts out of striking distance.

"They're free," Gielen said. "If they are going to give them to me, I'll take them."

On the flip side, Tedd Evers has hit only 3-for-10 (30 percent) from the line, and Tri-Captain Kyle Dodson has hit 5-for-13 (38.5 percent).

Watch out, Joe: Freshman Ralph James scored a career-high 24 points (10-for-15 from the field) against Vermont. James has now scored 76 points in five contests, an average of 15.2 points per game.

If James continues at his present pace, he will break the freshman scoring record set by Carrabino, who tallied 380 points (14.6 per game) in the 1980-'81 season.

Never-Never Land: Last year, the NCAA instituted the three-point line, much to the chagrin of Harvard's foes. The Crimson shooters took advantage of the new rule, hitting 42 percent of its three-pointers.

The main intercontinental bombers for the cagers a year ago were Duncan and Webster. Webster had 73 triples, while Duncan sank 31.

Since the departure of the two captains, Harvard has had less than smashing success from long range. The Crimson is shooting only 37 percent from behind the line, while its opponents are hitting better than 45 percent of their three-point tries.

The main villain for the cagers this year is Gielen. The junior guard--who hit 20-for-55 last year--has hit only nine of his 31 three-point attempts thus far (29 percent).

Having the most success at the triple plays have been James and forward Kevin Collins. James is 6-for-9 (67 percent) and Collins is 3-for-5 (60 percent) from three-point range.

Lonely at the Top: Vermont's star Joe Calavita came to Cambridge averaging 29 points per game. The center scored a quiet 23 points against the tough Crimson defense of centers Bill Mohler and Malcolm Hollensteiner.

And Calavita did not get much outside help, as three of the Catamount starters combined to produce a single basket.