It was a loss that, in the context of the grind-it-out Big 5, was almost unprecedented. Penn, just a year removed from a competitive 10-point loss against Saint Joseph's, found itself on the wrong end of an 82-42 drubbing, the second-largest margin of victory in Big 5 history.

Over the first nine games of the season, the Penn men's basketball team held its opponent under 70 points only once. In the six games since, the Quakers have accomplished that feat five times. Granted, those better defensive numbers have come against the likes of NJIT and Florida Gulf Coast - hardly top-flight or even mid-major-level competition - but there are signs of progress, especially in the interior.

Whether it was rocking the gym at local high school powerhouse Neumann-Goretti, or playing Division I at Saint Joseph's, Hawks sophomore D.J. Rivera has been playing basketball for quite some time. But for the first semester of this school year, he had to do something he'd never done before - he had to leave the court.

Against one swimmer, the Quakers just have no answer. Against another team, they may just have all the answers. The men will face off against a pair of Ivy foes tomorrow at noon in New Haven. They will take on Yale - and its star swimmer, U.S. National Team member Alex Righi - as well as Dartmouth, the team sitting at the bottom of the Ivy standings.

Saint Joseph's dominating 82-42 victory over Penn on Saturday raises the prospect of a winless Big 5 season, which would be Penn's first since 2000-01.

After spending ten days training in Cape Town, South Africa, the women's squash team continues on its travels this weekend. Next up on the itinerary? The slightly-less exotic locales of Williamstown, Mass., Amherst, Mass. and New Haven, Conn., as the team takes on Williams (4-5), Amherst (2-1) and Bowdoin (1-3).

As many Penn students journey across campus this weekend for Rush, the men's squash team will be on a trek of its own, rushing through New England for a series of crucial mid-season matches against non-conference foes. Riding a two-match winning streak after three early losses, Penn (2-3, 1-2 Ivy) looks to get to .

The girls' swim team spent 10 days in Boca Raton, Fla., over winter break. But the trip was anything but a vacation. The Quakers practiced in the pool for two hours in the morning and another two in the afternoon, and also had dry land workouts every day.

Penn freshman Barbara Wei picked up her first table tennis paddle when she was seven years old. She just wanted to try different things, and a table tennis club was conveniently located near her Maryland home. Three years later, she was a Junior Olympics champion.

Harvard coach Tommy Amaker has seen it all in his coaching career. He was a member of Duke's assistant coaching staff for two NCAA championships, made the Sweet Sixteen as Seton Hall's head coach and won the NIT title with Michigan. And now he knows how it feels to lose to Dartmouth.

Behold, the wonders of modern technology! I spent my winter break halfway around the world in China, and thanks to the live streaming video service provided by PennAthletics.com, the basketball teams' mid-vacation action made the trip with me. But as the feed stuttered and the audio came and went at its own whim, it became clear that a new limiting factor had replaced distance: technical kinks.

Tuesday night's Big 5 contest involved two young teams that produced one ugly game. Both teams did a nice job of finding ways to get open looks, but neither could finish around the basket. Penn was fairly successful in getting the ball into the post, but the forwards couldn't hit, and slashing layups seldom connected.

In the first 71 years of the Baseball Hall of Fame's existence, zero Penn alumni were inducted into it. But now the Quakers are finally represented in Cooperstown. Walter O'Malley (C '26) was voted in by the Veterans Committee in early December for his work as owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1944 to his death in 1979.

After the men's basketball team struggled to find a groove through the first half of the season, winter break brought much of the same. Penn split its four games, 2-2. Here, The Daily Pennsylvanian recaps all of the hoops action from the last three weeks.

Facing its biggest hurdle of the season so far, Penn fencing thrusted and parried its way to seven victories Sunday at the Philadelphia Invitational. The men thrashed both their competitors, Duke and North Carolina, en route to 20-7 and 17-10 victories, respectively.

The biggest concern was rust. Heading into their match on Saturday, the No. 9 Quakers had not played a match in over five weeks, thanks to inclement weather and a long winter break. Yet No. 10 Navy had not competed in even longer - dating back to November - and it was unable to right the ship against Penn.

Since John Giannini took over La Salle's struggling program in August 2004, he hasn't gone for the traditional players. Instead of seeking out those with the best skills, he's gone for the best athletes. Take a 6-foot-5 wing and teach him how to play the point.