The Harvard men's basketball team (5-0) takes a hop, skip and jump across the Charles River tonight for a game against crosstown rival Boston University (1-3) at Case Gynasium.

B.U. won the America East title and earned an NCAA Tournament bid last season but has struggled this year against a tough schedule--its three losses are to No. 13 Connecticut, Rhode Island and Alabama, all perennial Tournament teams.

The Terriers were 25-5 last season, and 17-1 in the America East, but they have had to cope with the graduation of their all-time scoring and rebounding leader, forward Tunji Awojobi.

"[Awojobi's loss] will hurt their front line, but they have compensated for his loss by adding a lot of athletic players," said junior point guard Tim Hill.

Harvard has shown tremendous poise in a season in which it suffered its own big frontcourt losses in All-Ivy forward Kyle Snowden '97 and center Chris Grancio '99.

Although Harvard has been favored to win all its games so far this year, it can be proud of the fact that it has won them. Hill and captain Mike Scott have provided ample leadership on and off the floor, and the team has had contributions from a wide range of players.

But B.U. is a unique challenge--the Terriers are a team used to playing competitive basketball against big-time opponents.

"B.U. is an excellent basketball team," Hill said. "They have a lot of speed and quickness, but they're still very capable of out-rebounding opponents."

The Crimson lost a close game to B.U. last year, 80-72. If Harvard is going to get the B.U. monkey off its back, this may be the year.