"The challenge for us clearly is our field goal defense and rebounding," Harvard Coach Frank Sullivan said. "We've been in the top half of every statistical category in the league except for rebounding and field goal percentage defense."

Last season, Harvard ended near the bottom of the Ivy League by allowing its opponents to hit 44.8 percent of their shots. Having a strong field goal defense is crucial for the Crimson. In games in which Harvard holds it opponents under .400 shooting, the Crimson is an astonishing 44-2 over the last five years and 5-0 last year. Unfortunately, Harvard went 7-15 in its remaining games, in part because of its relatively weak field goal defense.

In terms of rebounding, Harvard ended the season with a minus-1.0 rebounding margin. Despite its strength in steals and generally efficient backcourt defense, the Crimson frontcourt struggled in pulling down errant shots. In preseason practices, Sullivan frequently stressed this element of the game to his players.

"In order to be successful in any league, and ours is no exception, you have to be able to consistently rebound the ball," Sullivan said.

Last season, Harvard's bright spot in the rebounding department was center Tim Coleman, who was fifth in the league in rebounds per game. The Crimson will be without Coleman this season, however, as academic reasons have forced him to take the year off. He will return for the 2001-02 season.

Both players and coaches alike have made better defense and rebounding a central goal for the upcoming season.

"I think that where we will end up this season will depend on how we play defense and how we rebound the ball," Clemente said.