It may not be a triumphant return of a beloved tradition, but the Red and Blue could sure use a triumph or two this weekend.

There seems to be little question that Penn women’s basketball is the team to beat in the Ivy League right now. At 3-0 in conference play, the Quakers are in sole possession of first place in the storied conference and is hot off two double-digit wins at home last weekend.

It was early March when Jake Silpe, in the midst of his second semester as a senior in high school, received some very unexpected news. Jerome Allen, the University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball head coach, had just been fired, with several games still left to play on the Quakers’ schedule. Allen had recruited Silpe to Penn, and once he signed his letter of intent, Silpe was fully under the assumption Allen would be his coach for his college basketball career.

Better late than never. For Penn Athletics, the timeless idiom has never been more true, as several transfer students have found their respective ways to 33rd Street and quickly made an impact on the Quakers’ athletic program.

Penn basketball was handed 23- and 6-point losses by Yale and Brown this weekend. And I was still excited by what I saw.

Dominant. There aren’t too many better words to describe Penn women’s basketball’s weekend.

Behind 26 points, eight rebounds and five blocks from the 6-foot-9 superstar, the Bears held off a feisty Penn squad in a battle of the final two winless Ancient Eight squads, taking an early lead and holding on for a wild 89-83 win.

All season long, Penn basketball's first-year coach Steve Donahue’s mantra has been simple: “We’re trying to build this into a championship program.” On Friday night, he may have gotten a first-hand view of what one looks like.

The Red and Blue will get a chance this weekend to rebound from a tough loss. But with non-conference play having reached its end, the next loss could be devastating. Penn women's basketball (12-3, 1-0 Ivy) will play host to Yale (11-8, 2-0) on Friday and Brown (12-4, 0-2) on Saturday in the Quakers' first Ivy doubleheader of the season.

On non-conference schedule: I thought we had some solid performances. We had some games where we would have liked to have played better and closed it out with some leads and some games.

Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” But I have to disagree with the football legend on this one — at least in the context of Penn basketball. On Tuesday night, Penn women’s basketball lost to Villanova, 66-46, in what undoubtedly was its worst performance of an otherwise stellar season.

If the Penn football team beats Cornell at Franklin Field to win the Ivy League title and Brian Seltzer is not in the booth to provide commentary, did it really happen? Ever since 2008, the 2007 college graduate has been the voice of Penn football.

If you’re going to beat Penn women’s basketball, you’re going to need to hit the treys. And that's exactly what Villanova did. As the Wildcats rained down threes, the Quakers offered little in response as their Big 5 title hopes dissipated on Tuesday, falling 66-46 at the Pavilion. The game didn’t look like it would be ugly at the start.

Despite reports in December that the Ivy League was on the verge of announcing a postseason tournament to crown a conference champion, the actual pace of action seems to be a good deal slower.

For me, it’s a no-brainer. The Ivy League needs a conference tournament for basketball. When you look at Ivy Athletics as a whole, there’s something left to be desired for those students who are fans of NCAA athletics as a whole.

Taking the court in a cross-town affair for the second time in four days on Thursday, Penn women's basketball couldn't have been more familiar with the opponent it was set to face.

On Wednesday night, Penn men’s basketball was beaten by a much better team. The Red and Blue were routed by Saint Joseph’s, a well-oiled juggernaut of a squad that sits as the nation’s 30th-best team by RPI.