When the Harvard men's basketball team takes to the floor against Navy Saturday night at Lavietes Pavilion, the Crimson will be faced with a tall order.

A 6'8 order, as a matter of fact.

That is the height of Midshipmen senior center Sitapha Savane, who led the Patriot League in rebounding and field goal percentage one year ago, and has shown little sign of slowing down so far this season.

In his last two games, Savane has notched a combined 40 points, 12 rebounds, and an astounding 11 blocks. He is also shooting better than 55 percent over that stretch.

Come Saturday, the Crimson (3-1) will attempt to neutralize Savane with 6'8 junior Tim Coleman, who is averaging 14 points through the last three games, and possibly 6'8 freshman Onnie Mayshak, who started at center last Tuesday against Marist and scored 6 points. But while Mayshak and Coleman may be able to match Savane size-wise, they will face a significant challenge trying score on him inside and beat him to the ball off the glass.

Savane anchors a Navy team that has shot 45.3 percent from the field over its first five games while holding its opponents to a remarkably low 39.6 percent. Additionally, the Midshipmen (2-3) are averaging better than 40 rebounds a game.

Robert Reeder, a 6'7, 240-pound power forward, and Chris Williams, a 6'4, 210-pound small forward, lead the team with an average of 5.7 boards per contest apiece. Freshman Scott Long, a 6'6 forward, is also coming off an 8-point, 6-rebound performance in just 16 minutes of action against Coast Guard on Monday.

Harvard will clearly face an uphill struggle in confronting the bigger, stronger Navy frontcourt. Rebounding especially has been a problem for Harvard of late. In last Tuesday's 87-82 loss to Marist, Harvard gave up too many second-chance opportunities on the defensive end, while failing to grab enough offensive boards of its own. Against Navy, the team will either have to find a way to box out Reeder and Williams, or else improve its shooting from the floor.

Harvard coach Frank Sullivan will also need to get a more consistent game-long effort out of his team than he has in recent outings. In its past two contests, the Crimson have turned in two spectacular 50-point second half showings, but only after getting off to dismally slow starts in the first half.

Whether or not Harvard can get off on the right foot will depend much on the early play of junior forward Dan Clemente. Against both Lehigh and Marist, Clemente got off to an uncharacteristically cold start. Though he finished those two games with a combined 46 points, only 11 came in the first half.

Harvard will certainly need Clemente, who has drained a trey in 22 consecutive games, to display the hot hand over the course of the entire 40 minutes of play, especially if the Navy defensive frontcourt pushes the Crimson offense outside to the perimeter.

If that does indeed occur, Clemente will look for help from the Harvard backcourt. The guard set will again be led by senior captain Damian Long and sophomore Andrew Gellert, both of whom have scored in double figures in the past two games.

In addition to providing help with scoring, the Harvard guards will also need to limit turnovers, especially against a Navy squad that grabbed 20 steals in its 82-46 win over Coast Guard on Monday.

On the defensive side, the Crimson backcourt must keep an eye on sophomore guard Jehiel Lewis, who displays a nice shot and has quietly become the Midshipmen's third leading scorer (9.4 ppg). Lewis has been able to ambush most teams thus far by coming off the bench. The Crimson players cannot allow him to sneak up on them.

Also for Navy, senior point guard Reggie Skipworth averages just under five assists per game. Harvard will need to trap Skipworth, a skilled ballhandler, up front, as he will most likely be looking to feed the ball inside to take advantage of mismatches in the low-post.

If there is one glaring chink in Navy's armor that the Crimson can capitalize on, it is free throw shooting. Through its first five games of the season, the Middies have shot a miserable 56.6 percent (77 of 136) from the line. If, at the very least, the Crimson can manage to keep the score close entering the final minutes of play, free throws could potentially be the difference down the stretch.

If Harvard fails to take advantage of Navy in categories such as this one, where it can easily gain the upper hand, it very well may be in for a long evening.