Penn wrestling won't ease its way into the season - instead, it will jump in against four top-20 teams. The Quakers travel to East Lansing, Mich., this weekend for the Michigan State Open and the start of a promising season. The steep competition - including No.

The men's basketball team tips off its season in upstate N.Y. in 3-game tournament.

Syracuse, N.Y. - Ibrahim Jaaber was back on the court tonight against the Orange, but that didn't seem to matter. Neither did his 18 points, four assists, or four steals. The Quakers lost, 78-60, to a No. 20 Syracuse team playing at the top of its game in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.

After struggling against the zone last year, Penn faces a coach who has made a living with the 2-3

On Nov. 24, 2002, Penn beat Iowa State, 84-77 in the Midwest-dominated Las Vegas Invitational (the other two teams were Illinois and Eastern Illinois). That was the last time the Quakers played three games in three days - winning two - until this weekend, when the Quakers will take on Texas-El-Paso, Saint Francis (N.

While the Penn men's basketball team is one of four Ivies without a black coach, the Red and Blue is still doing its part to support diversity. This weekend, the Quakers will compete in the Black Coaches Invitational, an event sponsored by the Black Coaches Association.

For many students, the decision to pursue higher education is not a particularly difficult one to make. For St. Francis junior Bassith Yessoufou, the decision meant leaving his country, learning a new language and adapting to a culture that is wildly different from his home in the Ivory Coast.

With five games to play in the fall season, Penn's teams have an overall record 43-37-5 and will not bring home any Ivy League titles. Some teams have been disappointing, some have played up to mediocre expectations, and some have demonstrated that there are reasons to have high hopes for the future.

In 2003, a heralded Syracuse freshman led the team in scoring and rebounding and carried the Orange to a national championship. Four years later, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim is hoping to get from Paul Harris a fraction of what he saw from Carmelo Anthony.

High-profile basketball recruiting prospect Josh Owens has chosen to play his college ball at Stanford, rather than at Penn or Vanderbilt, the other two teams on his list. According to a source close to the situation, the Austell, Ga., native is expected to sign a national letter of intent to play for the Cardinal.

Former Penn football coach John Stiegman died of cancer in his home in Lawrenceville, N.J., on Oct. 31, at the age of 83. The Buffalo, N.Y., native spent time as a head coach at Rutgers and at Iowa Wesleyan, as well as Penn, during a coaching career that spanned three decades between the 1940s and the 1970s.

For reigning NCAA champion Matt Valenti, it will be impossible to improve on last year's results. But for this year's wrestling team, a top-20 ranking means that Valenti is not the only one who will compete strongly at the national level. Penn's most competitive sport in the NCAA begins this season ranked No.

With Penn out of the running for the 2006 Ivy League football title, the team must now try to end the year on a positive note. "It's the same motivation you would have in Week 1," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "We never talk about titles." Playing under any circumstances is "something that you've been trained to do," he added.

Zellerbach Theatre was rocking as the 15th annual Mr. and Ms. Penn Bodybuilding Contest kicked off. The Mr. Penn prize was awarded to College junior Ian Barrett, while College junior Jesse Carlin was dubbed Ms. Penn. The crowd enthusiastically did the wave while anxiously anticipating the first competition.

n Women's Rugby. The team emerged victorious during the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union championship weekend. Defeating Bloomsburg University, Penn finished on top in the White Division and undefeated for the season. At the semifinal game on Saturday, Penn dominated Saint Joseph's for a final score of 29-5.

When most athletes tear their rotator cuff and spend six months avoiding heavy physical training, they don't usually return to garner the highest accolade in their sport. But Matt Valenti isn't most athletes. In March 2006, Valenti became the first Quakers wrestler since Brent Matter in 2000 to capture the NCAA title.

How smoothly will the transition from Fran Dunphy to Glen Miller transpire? Is this the year that the Quakers finally win an NCAA Tournament game?