Vankoski also appreciates the opportunity that coach Leigh Hogan has extended to the newcomers.

"He's been playing us, and it's given us a great shot to contribute," Vankoski said. "We all get along great, and all of us seem to be doing the job. We just love playing."

Although it's now tough to imaging the Crimson line-up without Vankoski, the freshman phenom entered his senior year of high school expecting to attend Ivy arch-rival Princeton, and was also contacted by bigger name programs such as West Virginia, Wake Forest and Alabama.

Vankoski fell in love with Harvard on a recruiting trip last year, however, and his mind was made up from that point on.

"One they expressed interest, I knew there was no other place where I'd want to be," he said. "[The level of play] is not too far behind, and I liked the coaches and guys on the team."

Despite Harvard's poor showings in recent years, Vankoski was lured to the Ivy League both by the promise of playing time and the prospect of a rapid turnaround.

"Especially with the Ivy League, it seems that things can change from year to year," he said. "Look at Cornell--two years ago they won about 6 games, and now they came up here and beat us in both games [of a doubleheader]."

At this point, however, Vankoski is not at all satisfied with what the team has accomplished. Harvard is currently mired in third place in the Ivy League's Red Rolfe division, a distant five games behind front-running Yale.

"It's tough to be pleased so far," he said. "The team has been into it every time, but we've gotten beat in a lot of close games."

"We have a lot of good young players, though. We can get it together and win some games, and eventually an Ivy League title."