Lucky Leake

Leake is fortunate in that he will not be asked to provide much of an offensive threat. Leake's role on offense will be primarily to get the ball in to Mitchell and Rullman, Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside for the Crimson.

Leake's job will be tougher on defense, as he will be asked to stop the Ivy's franchise guards. But defense, as Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski likes to say, is 20 percent talent and 80 percent heart.

McClain faces many of the same challenges, in addition to the expectation that he will provide a second outside threat for Harvard.

But any deficiency Harvard has at the guard positions is more than made up for by the Crimson's awesome inside game.

Mitchell and Rullman are formidable by themselves. But the large talent gap between the Harvard duo and any other Ivy League frontcourt (except, natch, for Princeton) means that the forwards should have a spectacular season.

Mitchell should nail down Player of the Year. First in rebounding and field-goal percentage and third in scoring a year ago, there is no reason those stats should not get better.

Rullman, who shoots 45 percent from three-point land, will nicely complement Mitchell's inside domination.

But.

But, as is always true in basketball these days, winning starts with the guards.

If Leake and McClain cannot break the pressure opponents are sure to bring, Mitchell and Rullman will not get the ball and the Crimson will not win.

Harvard needs the guards' passing and ballhandling to have the kind of year the Crimson is projected to have.

It's a magnificent opportunity for these two to prove themselves.