When Penn (19-8, 10-1 Ivy) hosts Yale (13-12, 9-3) tonight, it will be a de facto championship game - even if Penn has a one-and-a-half-game cushion.

Casey Hughes boasts the best slams on the Yale basketball team, but Sam Kaplan has the hottest dunks. Whether it's his Jordans, Air Force Ones or Nike Dunks, Kaplan has wowed his friends and teammates with a massive shoe collection. The senior swingman from Worcester, Mass.

James Baker, a former secretary of state and co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, will address the class of 2007 at Penn's 251st commencement on May 14. Baker will be joined by six honorary degree recipients, including Supreme Court justice Ruther Bader Ginsburg and R&B; songstress Aretha Franklin.

Van Pelt should offer extended general hours during midterms to alleviate the Rosengarten rush.

Open to all To the Editor: The accusations that have been leveled against Delta Zeta's national organization in regards to the DePauw University chapter have garnered the attention of the sorority community here at Penn and reminded us of the importance of diversity in our community.

If this weekend's IC4A and ECAC Championships are just "icing on the cake" - as coach Charlie Powell of the men's track team put it - then a trip to Arkansas for the NCAA Championships would be the post-dessert brandy and cigar. Both the men and women's track and field teams will be headed up to Boston to begin their spr ing breaks, and several Quakers are hoping that Beantown won't be the extent of their travels.

Joe DiMaggio once said of opening day: "You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen." The Quakers begin their season tomorrow with the first of eight games in Boca Raton, Fla., and they hope that some wonders are in their future.

Playing 10 games in only a six-day span, the Penn softball team will be hitting its midseason stride by the time the rest of school returns from spring break. During their stint in Orlando, Fla. for the Rebel Spring Games, the Quakers will see five doubleheaders through Friday.

For most students, spring break comes as a vacation from a month's worth of midterms, papers and summer internship applications. For Penn seniors, however, it comes as a vacation from a month of constant partying. Smokey Joe's, where FebClub begins and ends, was packed last night as seniors gathered to celebrate the last night of a month of daily senior events that included nights at clubs, parties and shows.

Approaching the EIWA Championships this weekend, maybe all the wrestling team needs is a few words of inspiration from its former leader. Roger Reina, who led the Quakers for 19 years before retiring in 2005, made an appearance at practice this week to speak to the team about how to approach the tournament, held at East Stroudsburg.

For the second year in a row, Penn will be facing a Big 12 power from the Lonestar State. The game will take place in Lexington, Ky. on Thursday afternoon. If Penn wins, it will face either No. 6 Louisville or No. 11 Stanford. Tottering between a 13 and a 14 seed, Penn emerged on the lower end and must now contend with an Aggies team that went 25-6 during the regular season but lost two of its final three games, all in conference play.

Brian Voelker must now do more with less. Voelker, in his fifth year coaching Penn lacrosse, counted on veterans on defense to carry the Quakers. But after seeing that unit get outmuscled on Wednesday in a tight 13-12 win over Lehigh, he thinks that the key might lie in playing smarter, not harder.

The women's tennis team heads to California for spring break with clear goals - five wins and good tans. The road trip will help show the No. 37 Quakers (6-1) exactly where they stand. They start out with their two toughest opponents, No. 41 UC Irvine and No.

Freshmen living in Hill College House have earned the right to special preferences in the housing lottery.

Another week, another full slate of top-ranked teams. That can effectively sum up the Penn men's tennis team's season so far, as it has already faced seven top-100 teams, losing to all of them. And by the time students are returning from their weeks of relaxation on the beach, the team will have faced five more.

Rap artist Juelz Santana has signed a contract and will officially headline Spectrum's annual spring concert, Penn officials and representatives for Santana confirmed yesterday. The concert will be held April 20 at the Theater of the Living Arts, the same venue as last year's concert.

Though citywide shooting rates are soaring, it seems there may be a bit of hope for West Philadelphia. The number of assaults with firearms in West Philadelphia - comprised of the 12th, 16th, 18th and 19th police districts - has dropped 35 percent from 2003 to 2006.