At this time last year, the storied tradition of Princeton basketball appeared to have gone down the drain. Going into the Ivy League season, the Tigers were in a six-game tailspin that started with a 21-point performance against Monmouth and was exacerbated by an embarrassing home loss to Division III Carnegie Mellon.

After the end of a 19-year era last year, the Penn gymnastics program is charged with starting a new one this season. The Quakers head into this season with a new head coach, John Ceralde, after program tenet Tom Kovic stepped down to begin an athlete consulting firm.

Four matches. Four victories. The 9-0 outcome of last night's contest against No. 10 Navy (10-3) was no different than the way the No. 4 Penn men's squash team dominated its previous opponents. The Quakers (4-0, 3-0 Ivy) earned their third shutout of the year and fourth top-15 victory.

By Molin Zhong Staff Writer molin@sas.upenn.edu Look closely at the Penn gymnastics team this year and one might notice that along with a new head coach, the team members will also sport revised dictionaries. The team has learned that the word 'change' does not always mean that things will be different.

Ten months ago, things were looking up for Brown basketball fans. And then John Chaney got involved. The Bears ended their 6-8 Ivy campaign on a high note, decisively beating Princeton and taking eventual league champion Penn to overtime. And with all five starters returning, led by standout junior forward Keenan Jeppesen (11.

Just before Cornell freshman Ryan Wittman graduated from high-school basketball to NCAA competition, his father, Randy, offered some words of advice. "He told me how it's going to be more intense, how guys are going to be stronger and how you have to play differently," Wittman said.

By Brian Finkel Staff Writer finkel@wharton.upenn.edu Back from its lengthy Scandinavian voyage, the men's squash team is now looking to dominate in a region not known for its tall, blond inhabitants. After a winter break tour that included stops in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, the No.

Glen Miller's career as Penn coach is 520 minutes old. For those of you who have not taken a class taught by Jim Harrick, that translates into 13 games. And over that time, the record has actually been a good reflection of the Quakers' play. At 7-6, Penn has been very inconsistent, within games and from game to game, and does not yet have a particularly strong identity.

In the November 13 Associated Press college basketball poll, Harvard received a single top-25 vote. And Harvard remains the only Ivy team to receive a vote this year. Incongruent with their national nod, the Crimson was picked to finish seventh in the preseason Ivy League basketball poll.

Erin Power was hardly the only one ecstatic when the University accepted her early decision in December. So was David Power - her father and basketball coach at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois. And head coach Pat Knapp and the rest of the women's basketball program might have cracked some smiles, even in the midst of another rough season.

With sophomore guard Adam Gore leading the charge, the Cornell men's basketball team shone in its first game of the season at Northwestern, knocking off a Big Ten opponent for the first time since 1967.

By Parisa Bastani Staff Writer pbastani@sas.upenn.edu Given Yale's 4-9 record so far this season, the Elis don't seem like they have much to be optimistic about as they approach their first Ivy League contest at Brown on Saturday. Yale opened the season on a positive note with a win over Allegheny, but then fell into a slump, dropping nine of their next 11 games.

For the Columbia Lions, Friday's Ivy League opener against the Princeton Tigers is about much more than emerging as the superior feline. The Lions (9-5) now have another chance to prove they belong among the best of the league. They have been unable to do just that for a long time.

Basketball and horse racing couldn't be more different, but Penn junior guard Michael Kach and Philadelphia native Barbaro have a striking similarity.

If all goes as expected for the Penn basketball team, its roster will swell to 17 or 18 players next year. Currently a 15-man squad, the Quakers will lose four seniors, but bring in six freshmen - and the possibility of a David Whitehurst return has not been completely ruled out by head coach Glen Miller.

If I get a chance to watch the New Orleans Saints host a playoff game at the Superdome next week, I might finally realize what those much smarter than yours truly have known for decades. Sports provide an escape. When life is kicking our butt, we take an afternoon and watch professionals kick each others' for three hours.

By Sebastien Angel Staff Writer angelsd@sas.upenn.edu Penn basketball head coach Glen Miller said yesterday that David Whitehurst has yet to contact him this season, and suggested that the former guard does not figure into his vision for the program. "It doesn't mean we won't have a conversation down the road, but I don't know what David's thinking," the coach said.