The Ivy League title clincher and the first round of the NCAA Tournament aren't supposed to feel like preseason tryouts. For Brennan Votel and Justin Reilly, they may have been just that. We sit eight months away from the Penn basketball team's first rebuilding effort in four years.

Joe Scott was escorted to his new job by an eye-catching cheerleader with CBS's NCAA Tournament theme song blasting in the background. He may have thought he was dreaming, but he wasn't. And there was plenty more where that came from at Denver's Magness Arena yesterday, where Scott was introduced as Denver's new basketball coach.

As the losses continued to pile up, confidence somehow never wavered for the Penn men's tennis team, though lately it has not translated to positive results on the court. Perhaps all it needed was some home cooking, when its confidence off the court finally turned into a dominating performance.

It's been like a deal with the devil gone wrong. When the Penn pitching staff traded in its double-digit ERAs of the Florida trip for sterling sub-2.00 marks back in the Northeast, all of a sudden it found the run support missing. Now if only they could put the two phases of the game together.

One hundred sixteen games, 79 wins and three Ivy League titles - that's a pretty impressive accomplishment for the senior class of Stephen Danley, Adam Franklin, Ibrahim Jaaber and Mark Zoller. But how do they stack up with the greats from Penn - and the rest of the League - who have graced Ivy gymnasiums over the past four years?

With a 3-5 stretch in a trip through the Southern Conference last week, Lafayette's spring break might not have been what they expected. And as the Leopards come into town today to take on Penn (5-6) after such a trip, coach Joe Kinney just wants to avoid slipping into an even deeper funk.

After three years of disappointment, Princeton basketball may be in for another upheaval. Head coach Joe Scott will be announced as Denver's new coach at a 5 p.m. press conference today, sources told ESPN.com yesterday. Denver's Sports Information director would not confirm the hiring to The Daily Pennsylvanian last night, but he confirmed the press conference.

As his teammates busied themselves with warm-ups at Franklin Field yesterday, Chris Casey spoke about taking over the coveted starting job of a friend. A freshman goalkeeper, Smith led Georgetown Prep to an undefeated season and a No. 1 national ranking as a high school senior.

They just need a breath of fresh air. The Penn men's tennis team (4-11) return home for the first time since before spring break for their first outdoor match on the Lott Courts, and could do with a win. Last Sunday, senior Mikhail Bekker picked up the team's only point in a 1-6 loss to No.

Athletic director Bob Scalise and the Harvard athletic department fired long-time basketball coach Frank Sullivan at the beginning of the month. Now that he is gone, the Crimson have an exceptional opportunity to move their basketball program forward. Harvard needs to look at its program as one that needs to be revamped, not one that is on the precipice of greatness.

Princeton head coach Joe Scott has left the university to take over the same position at the University of Denver, sources told ESPN.com today. The report indicates that Scott will be introduced as the Pioneers' next coach at 5 p.m. tomorrow after three years with the Tigers.

With every winter workout, every early morning and every stroke in the water, the men's heavyweight and women's rowing teams are combatting uncertainty with confidence. Confidence. That's the key word that's been offered up by both men's coach Fred Honebein and women's coach Mike Lane.

If you haven't had it happen to you yet, it's probably because you just haven't been around here long enough. It's a question I dread, even home in Penn-centric Long Island. "Where do you go to school?" Often, it takes a long time to explain what exactly the University of Pennsylvania is, and where it is located, and most importantly, that it is not the same place as the very large school in State College, Pa.

After the firestorm that characterized the removal of former heavyweight rowing coach Stan Bergman and the hiring of Fred Honebein to the position, things have seemed to cool off around Boathouse Row.

Fred Honebein learned everything he needed to know from Mike Spraklin in 16 words. "Technique will get you inches, training will get you meters, and motivation will get you miles," Spraklin, who was Honebein's coach during his time on the national team, said.

During the final rounds of the last two NCAA 133-pound championships, one area made the difference for Matt Valenti. It was the senior's ability to ride his opponent in both of the bouts to garner the same result - a national title. "When you're able to ride somebody like I did for a full period, it really starts to take the wind out of the guy," Valenti said.

LEXINGTON, Ky. 'Relax, I'm taking over." Texas A&M; guard Acie Law was overheard to say those words Thursday at a critical time. During a media timeout midway through the second half, Penn had come back from a 16-point deficit to finally take a 39-37 lead.