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.

It may only be January, but it’s already time for championship basketball. In the midst of a seven-game win streak, Penn women’s basketball has an opportunity to clinch a share of its second Philadelphia Big 5 title in as many years, heading to rival Villanova tonight in a battle for local supremacy. “We’re playing good basketball right now; we’re defending well, rebounding the ball as well as we’ve done all year and getting into a better flow in transition,” coach Mike McLaughlin said.

This weekend, even the snow couldn't stop the tumbling, flipping, and twisting of Penn gymnastics. The Quakers defeated Yale on Sunday in their first Ivy dual meet of the year by a score of 189.575-188.725.

While the blizzard raged on, Penn women’s squash found its fire on Saturday.

Oh the weather outside is frightful ... and it is apparently a bit too frightful for the Philadelphia Invitational that Penn Fencing was scheduled to host throughout Saturday and Sunday.

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.

And it was a beautiful night at the Palestra on Tuesday for the Quakers. That is, until their game got fully underway.

“QUAKER. OATS.” That is the conclusion to the Penn men's fencing squad's team cheer. Perhaps an unusual way to bring the hype, but the Red and Blue (10-1) are shaping up to be anything but ordinary this season.

On Tuesday, Penn volleyball and coach Kerry Carr announced the five members of the 2016 recruiting class, including Ariana Wiltjer, a middle blocker from Portland, Ore.

Behind the efforts of former Penn Athletic Director and current Big 5 executive director Steve Bilsky, a “Big 5 Classic” doubleheader will return to 33rd Street tonight in a celebratory event to honor the 60th anniversary of the group’s inception.

The Quakers want to be the Ivy League's top team for the first time in nine years, but they'll have to do it without the top player in program history. Sol Eskenazi, who became the program's most decorated player ever with eight All-Ivy awards in her four years at Penn, graduated last spring.

Big expectations are nothing new for Penn’s tennis programs, and both the men’s and women’s team go into this year with high Ivy League finishes in their sights. Penn women’s tennis finished the 2014-2015 season with three victories in their last four Ivy League matches, including impressive wins against nationally ranked Columbia and Cornell.

To be the best, you have to beat the best. Penn women’s tennis will have a chance this weekend to start proving that they deserve the exciting expectations surrounding the program for the 2016 season as they travel to compete in the International Tennis Association Kickoff Weekend. The tournament is reserved only for teams ranked in the top 100 in the ITA preseason rankings.

It isn’t always pretty. Coming off of a big win over Princeton last weekend, the Quakers came out flat against La Salle before fighting off a late comeback en route to a 78-68 win on Martin Luther King Day.

For a meeting between two of the top five women’s sides in the country, the No. 2 Penn and No. 5 Stanford matchup seemed to carry little of the tension that one would expect of such high ranked goliaths.