"I think it's an advantage and a disadvantage,"Roby says. "Any wins you get on the road are abonus in this league. The pressure's on the teamto win at home."

After claiming the Lobster Shootout in Decemberwith wins over Maine and Texas A&M, the Big Greenhas struggled, losing its last four in a row,including a 79-61 spanking at the hands of HolyCross Wednesday.

"But that's to be expected out of Dartmouthafter they lost Jim Barton to graduation," Robysays. "You'd expect a lot of inconsistency."

To offset the loss of his All-Ivy sharpshooter,Cormier has looked for a more equal distributionof the offensive load this year, stressing theinside play of 7-ft., 1-in. center Walter Palmer.Palmer, currently hampered by a stress fracture toa vertebrate, leads the team with 16.7 p.p.g.

"We're having more of an equal opportunityoffense where we have to get more peopleinvolved," Cormier says. "We think we have somevery good outside shooters. Along with thedevelopment of Walter Palmer, we'll have a morebalanced inside-outside attack as opposed to thepast, when we relied on Jim maybe too much."

Playing impressively up front is junior BrendanO'Sullivan, who leads the team in rebounding (7.0r.p.g.). But like the Crimson, Dartmouth will haveto rely on strong play from its backcourt to makea run at the title. Neither Mackay or Blackwellhave responded well this year, each hoveringaround only 40 percent from the field. But Cormierremains confident.

"You can bang your head against a wall andstart worrying about what's happened in the past,but we look forward to the future," Cormier says.

In this age of Ivy League obscurity in theworld of collegiate men's basketball,Princeton is the one team making wavesamong the sport's elite. The Tigers seem to haverelished their newfound respect after the loss toGeorgetown, for they have already beaten Lehigh,St. Joseph's, Canisius, Iona, Arkansas-Little Rockand Rutgers.

And most of this has been done without thebenefit of sophomore guard Sean Jackson, whomissed the team's first six games with a brokenthumb. A transfer from Ohio University who workedhis way into the starting lineup in camp, Jacksonis second on the team with 11.4 points per game.

The Tigers' best player is All-Ivy juniorcenter Kit Mueller, who is the leading candidatefor the league's Player of the Year. Muellercurrently leads Princeton in scoring (16.2p.p.g.), rebounding (4.6 r.p.g.), shooting (58percent) and assists (4.6 a.p.g.). But Carril isquick to point out that he doesn't want Muellerpressured into feeling he has to fill the sneakersof graduated Bob Scrabis, last season's Ivy Playerof the Year.

Helping Mueller out are junior forward MattHenshon and sophomores George Leftwich and MattEastwick. Captain Matt Lapin anchors the bench.

As usual, Princeton's strength is thedefensive, patient, cerebral game plan of Carril,who has guided his teams to four Ivy titles in the'80s.

"You have to play with the cards you have,"Carril says. "We play the way we do because that'sthe only way we can play."

Also having won four titles in the '80s,Penn appears headed in the oppositedirection from the Tigers. Two tough graduationshave weakened the Quaker program tremendously,although some still consider them among theleague's best. The Quakers have played Temple andLaSalle tough early in the season, but their 2-6record illustrates the same inconsistencies thatare plaguing Harvard and Dartmouth.

If Penn does make a run for the title, it willbe because of its powerful frontline of three6-ft., 7-in. horses, Hassan Duncombe, Vince Curranand Ray Marshall. Duncombe leads the team inscoring (17.6 p.p.g.), including a 44-point effortin Penn's 90-81 overtime win over Navy, and isgrabbing eight rebounds per game. Curran averaged11.7 boards in his three games of action beforegoing down with an injury. Marshall adds fiverebounds per game and another bruising body upfront.