"All three of the Tournament games are pretty similar," Brown said. "Still the atmosphere of the games and the chance to prove ourselves are what we're looking forward to."

Harvard's hopes Saturday's game will provide that proof. A team that was peaking until a regular season-ending loss to Dartmouth last week will be looking to rebound and regain its top form.

"I thought we were [peaking]," Brown said. "Now we want to get back to where we were before Dartmouth."

"The Dartmouth loss was a reality check for us," Pemper said. "We were really starting to peak with the wins against Yale and Brown, and going back to Penn and Princeton. We're going to try to raise our level of play like we always do in the tourney; the players like the underdog role."

Looking back, the season appeared to have several signposts along the way, all pointing to a Crimson tournament bid. The coaching trio was divided as to the season's biggest turning points.

"The win over Princeton here was a big game this season," Brown said. "I enjoyed watching our girls respond after losing down there."

"I look back to the first 10 minutes of the Penn game," Stuebner mentioned, referring to Harvard's 42-point feeding frenzy to open its game in Philadelphia. "That was just an awesome offensive display."

"I think the game down at South Carolina was a big one," Pemper said. "We really got a taste of our capability against strong competition. We just fell short of what, for a lot of the girls, was a dream. Another big moment was beating Loyola to win our tournament.

"We hadn't won our tournament in a long time," Brown added.

While Harvard's tournament came to a close months ago, another looms large, and the student body is beginning to take notice.

"We have a small student population that has been extremely supportive," Stuebner remarked. "I'd like to thank those kids that have been with us the whole way. We've even been getting phone calls at the office from people who want tickets for the game out in California this week!"

Stuebner had even more to say about the addictiveness of watching the lady cagers.

"We're one of those teams that, if you watch us once, you're hooked," Stuebner said with a smile. "Anybody who comes and sees those five seniors [Allison Feaster, Megan Basil, Sarah Brandt, Alison Seanor, Karun Grossman] play will want to keep coming. For anyone who hasn't seen them yet, I hope they take an interest in the upcoming game."

Pemper, taking all of the team's praise in stride, still had to comment on the amount of attention given the team.

"Everyone on campus has a reason to be proud,"Pemper said. "The girls have been a real exampleof what hard work is. All of the press that theyhave been getting is deserved. The girlsthemselves are great role models."

Although assistant coaches can often be theunsung heroes of any team, these three seem tocapture the essence of working with, not for, theteam.

Each bringing a different background to theCrimson, the coaches provide a knowledge ofstrategy, their players and what it's like to beat the center of one of America's 64 finestwomen's basketball programs