Brown

After Penn and Princeton, the rest of theleague race becomes murky. Many of the preseasonmagazines tabbed Cornell to finish third, but theleague's preseason media poll picked Brown by anarrow margin. The vote here goes to the Bears.

Coach Frank "Happy" Dobbs is in his third year,and after two tough seasons, he and his team areready to repay old debts. "Our toughest opponentis ourselves," Dobbs said. "This is a talentedteam who will be competitive in every game."

Brown will rely heavily on its backcourt, whichfeatures flashy sophomore Eric Blackiston anddependable junior Alan Cole. They and sophomoresSteve Silas and Brian Lloyd provide the meat to awide-open offensive attack.

Offense won't be the Bears' problem. If Dobbsis to win, though, he will need to find a reliablefrontline. Juniors Joel Koplik and Darrin Bradleyand sophomore James Joseph provide some muscle,but don't be surprised if freshmen Chris Thanos orChris White step into the lineup right away.

Cornell

Although Coach Jan van Breda Kolff and lastseason's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, forwardPax Whitehead, left for Vanderbilt, Cornell willreturn three starters from a squad that surgedlate to finish third in the league last year.

The strength of the team lies in forwards ZekeMarshall and Justin Treadwell, the league's thirdleading rebounder. Freshman Jeremy Flagel, a 6'7"forward who played on the Washington state highschool championship team, could help add to theteam's imposing frontline immediately.

The biggest challenge for Cornell will be toreplace its starting backcourt, which consisted ofspeedy defensive whiz Mike Parker and the league'sfifth-leading scorer, Jeff Gaca. Freshman JohnMichael Roberts, who averaged 20 points per gameat Andover, may be the answer.

Dartmouth

Change is the watchword in Hanover this year.Senior guard Dave Frame, junior forward JamieHalligan and sophomore forward Jacob Capps willanchor the Big Green, but almost nothing elseabout the lineup is settled.

With center Crawford Palmer, the Duke transfer,having played out his one-year wonder tour of theIvy League, Dartmouth once again has a hole in themiddle. Freshmen big men Chris Butler and BiranGilpin could provide help, but Coach Dave Faucherremains cautious.

The dimunitive Faucher has been quoted in onepreseason magazine as saying, "There's an oldsaying that experience is what you get when youdon't get what you want. The veterans all knowthat playing time is not guaranteed." Ouch.

Harvard

But improving.