This is unreal.

In back-to-back games, the Harvard men's basketball team has won. By a lot.

First, there was Saturday's 108-60 destruction of Babson. Then came last night's 89-60 bombardment of Army. Two games, 197 points scored.

What the heck is going on here?

Something funny is going on in Lavietes Pavilion, for sure. Add last year's season-ending wins against Cornell and Columbia to an exhibition victory over McMaster, and that makes five consecutive resounding wins for Harvard at home.

Cameron. Pauley. Lavietes.

Yes, this is the same Harvard team that went 6-20 last year. That has never won an Ivy League title. That is off to its best start since 1984--with a 2-0 record. Isn't there some law against the Crimson basketball season beginning on such a positive note?

I guess not.

"This win right here is going to be a catalyst," junior forward Chris Grancio said after last night's game. "Even though we didn't play all that great, we still won by 30."

Catalyst? Didn't play all that great in a blowout win? Are there even bigger things on the Crimson horizon? Is such a notion possible for the Harvard men's basketball team?

As much as this cynical reporter hates to admit it, things sure look that way. Harvard didn't play all that great--the team committed 26 fouls and shot 41.9 percent from the floor in the first half. To make matters worse, the Crimson's only true center, sophomore Paul Fisher, fouled out by getting a technical early in the second half.

So how did Harvard win? The rebounding sure didn't hurt, as the Crimson pulled down 46 boards to the Cadets' 28--in fact, Harvard had as many offensive rebounds as Army did defensive.

Also, the Harvard shooters had a great second half, making 64.5 percent of their shots and two out of three treys. That opened up things a lot for the Crimson in the paint, where juniors Kyle Snowden and Grancio--who did well in Fisher's absence--15 second-half points.

And one cannot forget the presence of freshman point guard Tim Hill, who was a continuous spark plug for the Crimson offense.

But most importantly, the Cadets showed about as much skill as Iraq's infantry. Army shot 56.8 percent from the free-throw line--41.2 percent in the first half--and connected on less than 35 percent of its field goals.