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.

With league play about to descend upon the Ancient Eight, contests over winter break gave one final look at Penn's conference rivals before the "real" season begins. A bit stingy. To get a sense of how the Princeton defense has been playing recently, one fact from this week says it all: Rice's Morris Almond entered Jadwin Gymnasium on Saturday as the most prolific scorer in the nation, averaging a Division I-best 31.

While most students were sleeping and catching up on Grey's Anatomy, the Penn men's basketball team was going through some final tune-ups before the start of the Ivy League season. Listed are five things the Quakers learned about themselves that will tell in upcoming games a lot about their chances of repeating as league champions and returning to the NCAA Tournament: 1.

Four wins over break would have been too much to ask for the men's basketball team - the last time Penn went undefeated over winter vacation was 1979, when the Quakers ended up in the Final Four.

By Eric Karlan Staff Writer karlan@sas.upenn.edu It wasn't the most humiliating defeat. It wasn't even their poorest performance. But after the Quakers lost their fourth straight game on Saturday night - 78-72 to Princeton - women's basketball coach Pat Knapp sat in the press room looking utterly dejected.

By Josh Wheeling Sports Editor jw4@sas.upenn.edu CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Jan 3 - Five minutes into the game, Penn was making No. 2 North Carolina's defense look like Swiss cheese. The Quakers' perimeter offense, typically with four players outside the three-point arc and one at the high post, used motion and sharp cuts to the basket to open up a 15-8 lead over the Tar Heels at the Smith Center.

Whitney Downs did what she had been doing all along. The Princeton sophomore forward stepped out and nailed a three-pointer, her 5-foot-11 frame letting her get it off cleanly in the face of a shorter defender. It didn't matter that Joey Rhoads drained one of her own on the next possession for three of her game-high 24 points.

A cold afternoon from the field and ineffective defense off the dribble sent Penn to another loss on Saturday, as the Quakers closed out 2006 with a 94-85 defeat to Seton Hall at Continental Airlines Arena. After crashing back to earth in a 80-61 loss to Virginia Tech two days earlier, the Pirates (7-2) exploited a shaky Penn defense to go on a 13-3 run late in the first half.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Congratulations are in order for Ibrahim Jaaber, who scored a career-high 32 points in Penn's loss to Seton Hall on Saturday. As notable of an accomplishment as that is, it never should have been achieved. Not even close. If you ask Penn coach Glen Miller, he will tell you, "We don't have trouble scoring points, we share the ball.

The holidays are right around the corner, and the Penn basketball team certainly looked like it started the winter vacation early in its loss to Fordham on Saturday. Perhaps the Quakers have been pulling too many all-nighters as the semester winds down, but the sharp Rams squad left no room for error and easily exploited Penn's lackadaisical play.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Five minutes into the game, Penn was making No. 2 North Carolina's defense look like Swiss cheese. The Quakers' perimeter offense, typically with four players outside the three-point line and one at the high post, used motion and sharp cuts to the basket to open up a 15-8 lead over the Tar Heels at the Smith Center.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.-Penn came out against North Carolina firing, appearing more than prepared to compete against the No. 2 team looking for its tenth consecutive win. But the Quakers were unable to keep up with the explosive North Carolina squad and fell to the Tar Heels, 102-64.

Though the score did not suggest it, its meet against Columbia was by far the men's swimming team's closest of the year. Columbia defeated Penn 177-123 Saturday in New York, in a meet full of close races - most of which did not go the Quakers' way. "It was unbelievable," coach Mike Schnur said.