The second-ever Big 5 Classic tips off Saturday in South Philly with six Philly schools competing on the court at the Wells Fargo Center for local bragging rights.
The event follows last year’s reimagining of the Big 5, an informal association of Philly’s biggest college hoops programs and a certified city institution dating back to 1955.
Over the years, changes in the larger landscape of college athletics and the exodus of big-name players and coaches from the Big 5 led to waning interest locally and nationally.
Before the start of the 2023-24 season, Drexel was added to the Big 5 (joining Temple, Villanova, La Salle, Penn and St. Joseph’s), and a new format for crowning a champion was announced.
Rather than a round-robin format in which each school plays one another, the schools are now split into two pods of three. The top team in each pod advances to the championship game, while the other four duke it out during a one-day, triple-header called the Big 5 Classic.
Last year’s inaugural event saw three wild games that included an upset of a ranked Villanova squad by newcomer Drexel and a buzzer-beating overtime win by La Salle over Penn. St. Joe’s took down Temple in a down-to-the-wire championship game.
The event was widely hailed as a success, but does that mean the Big 5 is back? Only time will tell.
“I do think the Big 5 Classic helped revitalize some interest in [the Big 5] last year. Last year’s triple-header was very well-attended and it went well,” said Josh Verlin, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the popular Philly hoops site cityofbasketballlove.com.
“I was someone who was kind of skeptical. I’m a Big 5 purist,” Verlin said.
“I’m very curious to see if that momentum maintains. Was that a one year curiosity, or were people like, ‘oh, this is actually really fun and I liked it, and I’m gonna come back to do it again?’”
The 2024 Big 5 Classic takes place Saturday, December 7, with Penn and Drexel squaring off for fifth place at 2 p.m. That game is followed by a third-place matchup between Villanova and Temple (at roughly 4: 30 p.m.) before the championship tilt between defending-champ Saint Joe’s and La Salle at about 7:30 p.m.
Lots of screaming and yelling, high drama, and a yearning for years gone by? Sounds like the perfect way to get into the holiday spirit.
Going into the 2024 Big 5 Classic, the Philly teams have the following records:
- Temple University: 4-3
- Drexel University: 5-4
- La Salle: 6-3
- Penn: 3-5
- Villanova: 5-4
- St. Joe’s: 5-3
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