Big 5 Basketball

I had a big surprise today when I saw on the Peacock channel that there was a group of three Philadelphia Big 5 basketball games in a special first time Tournament with six teams playing on a Saturday afternoon. There were the five traditional Philly college teams Villanova, Penn, Temple, LaSalle and St. Joseph's but this time Drexel was added to the mix. The first game was Drexel vs Villanova, then Penn vs LaSalle and ending with Temple vs St Joe's. 

I watched most of the first game, a little bit of the second game because we spent some time at an art reception and them most of the third game. Drexel upset Villanova in the first game. 

I've always been a fan of college basketball and much more than the NBA.  I just like watching the young people play rather than the almost by rote play of the pros. As a high school student I used to go to some of the Big 5 games when they had their special double header games on a Saturday afternoon at the Palestra on the Penn campus. They were always a lot of fun. Back in the day I rooted for LaSalle a lot of the times because they were a college from our part of the city and I also had friends attending LaSalle High School. Later on I became a Temple fan especially in the 70's when I was a student there.

Over the years I always root for any or all of the Big 5 teams that get into the NCAA March Madness tournament. There is usually at least one of the teams. It's only been the last twenty years or so that Drexel has been on the Philly basketball map. They have actually been pretty good in recent years.

Now they appear to have earned the status of a member of the Big 5. Should they be the Big 6 now? So I enjoyed watching this mini tournament and I'm not sure how they ranked the teams but apparently they had positions going into the night's play.

The results at the end of the night rankings for the Big 5 Classic were:

1. St Joseph's
2. Temple
3. LaSalle
4. Penn
5. Drexel
6. Villanova