This time last year, basketball was the furthest thing from Porter Braswell's mind. He was too busy exploring the Serengeti and throwing spears with Masai warriors. Braswell, a freshman guard at Yale, spent just over two weeks of his senior year at The Lawrenceville School on a trip to Tanzania.

On Friday night, Bob Adams watched his daughter net 13 points for Penn in a 62-47 loss to Dartmouth at the Palestra. On Saturday, he was on hand in a slightly more active role as the Siena Saints men's team downed Boise St. 93-70 in Boise, Idaho. Such is the life of an NCAA referee and basketball dad.

Last year, a Penn team picked by Baseball America to finish last in the Gehrig Division rode a remarkable season on the mound from Rookie of the Year Todd Roth to prove the pundits wrong. The Quakers played themselves to the brink of NCAA Tournament qualification, winning their division before falling in the Ivy playoff to Rolfe Division champion, Brown.

Numbers alone were enough to vouch for John Cole. The Penn baseball coach had led Rowan University to a .758 winning percentage and five Division-III tournaments in seven years. And since he took the helm of the Penn program in 2005 - the one that finished last in the Gehrig Division two years straight - the Quakers have re-staked their claim for Ivy relevance.

Penn wrestling coach Zeke Jones got more than he expected when sophomore transfer wrestler Phil Boyer showed up. Boyer was recruited at 125 pounds; he came to the team weighing 133. He was expected to be just another lightweight addition to an already strong team.

With older brother Brian - Penn basketball's senior captain - about to suit up at the Palestra for the final time, you might think Tom Grandieri would have some substantial shoes to fill as the only sibling left wearing Red and Blue. They're actually cleats.

One telling sign of a veteran team is an ability to put together a complete game - 40 minutes of solid play in all phases, offensive and defensive. The youth of the Penn men's basketball team is no secret, and it has most often manifested itself away from the Palestra.

It's been quite the two months for Cornell basketball. Despite unspectacular numbers from individual players - junior forward Jeomi Maduka's 14.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game aside - the Big Red continue to stifle Ivy League competition. They pummelled Yale and Brown by an average of 17 points this weekend, setting several school records.

Since hiring Tommy Amaker, Harvard has improved in a few areas. Closing out games has not been one of them. Going into the weekend, Harvard was 1-9 in games decided by ten points or fewer. That one win came in November, and since then the Crimson (8-18 overall) have lost close games in the most criminal of ways.

Inexperience and a season opener proved to be an unstable combination for the Quakers - one that blew up at just the wrong time. Up by three with 10 minutes to go, the men's lacrosse team looked primed for an upset win over No. 18 Drexel. But a bevy of mistakes let the Dragons score the game's final four goals to pull off a 9-8 comeback victory.

For the Quakers, two heads worked better than one over the weekend. The women's tennis team split six singles matches against Maryland, relying on a 2-1 doubles victory for the overall win, 4-3. Fourteenth-ranked doubles partners Julia Koulbitskaya and Ekaterina Kosminskaya downed their Terrapins' counterparts, 8-4.

HANOVER, N.H. - They enjoyed it. Good thing, because it didn't last. On the eve of their Saturday clunker against Harvard, the Quakers went to Leede Arena with all the answers and walked away with an 88-62 rout of Dartmouth. And even if the Quakers hadn't shot a better percentage than the Big Green from the foul line and out-rebounded them by 20, they would have had little trouble.

It wasn't pretty, but the women's lacrosse team got back to its winning ways of 2007. In the first game of the 2008 campaign yesterday, the No. 6 Quakers beat Drexel on its home turf, 6-5, in a back-and-forth affair. Aside from a one-minute stretch in the second half when Penn was up 6-4, neither team took a lead of more than one goal.

Columbia lost its aura of invincibility last night at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association championship in New York as it barely edged out a win over the Quakers at Fencing's first postseason meet. Only two bouts stood between Penn and the six-weapon team championship last night.

BOSTON - After two straight blowout victories, it finally looked like the Quakers were beginning to find their groove. Then, they went to Boston. Thanks to a first-half offensive outburst, Harvard stopped Penn 89-79 Saturday night. Coming in, the Quakers were still very much a factor in the Ivy League race.

The Quakers got robbed by their next door neighbors. For the majority of its season opener against No. 18 Drexel, the Penn men's lacrosse team maintained a two-goal lead. The Quakers were even up 8-5 midway through the fourth quarter before the Dragons turned it around to beat Penn 9-8 at Franklin Field.

PRINCETON, N.J. - The women's squash team had been here before. Down 4-2 to Princeton, the Quakers were one loss away from losing to their rivals. This time, however, there was no comeback in store. In a match that proved again just how close the two teams are, the Tigers got the wins it needed to put Penn away.