But Duncan's place in Harvard history is all but assured. He enters his final game tonight with 999 points, a single point away from the milestone of any college career (after only three varsity years), and 29 points short of 10th place on Harvard's all-time list.

"That doesn't mean anything to me," Duncan says of his career marks. "If you're into individual goals and stuff, you play golf or you play tennis--basketball's a team sport. One of the reasons I love basketball is working so hard together."

The Duncan presence will continued to be felt at Briggs in the person of younger sister Sarah, a sophomore and currently the second-leading scorer on the Harvard women's basketball team.

"This year she's come into her own--I think she's got a real good shot of becoming first team all-Ivy," the elder sibling says. "I'm just very happy things have worked out so well for her."

A younger brother, Owen, currently a high school junior, may be waiting in the wings. "He's in real good shape academically and a real good basketball player," Arne says. "[In the end, though,] he's got to do what's best for him."

Arne Duncan is not sure what the future will bring for him. He is interested in the possibility of pursuing basketball for a few years--most likely in Europe, although nothing is definite. A late-round pick in the NBA draft is not out of the question, either.

Ultimately, Duncan knows he wants to stay involved in the inner-city life he grew up with. "I really respect the [youth basketball program located at] Riverside Church [in Manhattan] and what Mr. Lorch has done and I'd really like to start up something like that in Chicago," Duncan says. "He's doing a lot of good, and I'd have a lot of fun doing something like that."

Whatever happens, Duncan will come away from Harvard with a poignant sense of the two cultures he has spent the last five years of his life transversing.

"Sometimes, especially this past year when I was home, I'd be hanging out with my friends," Duncan says, "guys I played ball with--and we'd see crazy stuff going on, and my friends would just laugh and say, `if the kids from Harvard knew you were around here they wouldn't believe it."'