The
Philadelphia Big 5 is an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, USA. It is not a conference; indeed the five schools that are members of the Big 5 are members of three separate conferences: the Atlantic 10, the
Big EastThe Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
, and the
Ivy LeagueThe Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
.
The five universities that compose the Big 5 are the
University of PennsylvaniaThe Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 27 varsity sports. The school has won three NCAA national championships in men's fencing and one in women's fencing.-Men's crew:-Football:...
,
La Salle UniversityLa Salle Explorers is the name of the athletic teams from La Salle University. The school's 23 varsity sports teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and are a member of the Atlantic Ten Conference. The American football team previously played in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football...
,
Saint Joseph's UniversityThe Saint Joseph's Hawks represent the athletic teams at Saint Joseph's University. The Hawks compete in Division I in the NCAA and the Philadelphia Big 5. The school also has intramurals and extramurals, the latter of which compete with the City 6 . The school is mostly known for its men's...
,
Temple UniversityTemple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has a very long-running athletic program. The school's sports teams are called the Owls, originating from the university's early days as a night school. The current athletic director is Bill Bradshaw....
, and
Villanova UniversityThe Villanova Wildcats is the name of the athletic teams of Villanova University. They compete in the Big East for every sport except football, where they compete in the Colonial Athletic Association .-Men's basketball:The Villanova Wildcats compete in the Big EAST and are currently coached by Jay...
. Four of the Philadelphia Big 5 schools are within (or mostly within) the city limits (the campus of Saint Joseph's University straddles the city's border). The fifth, Villanova, is located in a nearby
Main LineThe Main Line is an unofficial historical and socio-cultural region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, comprising a collection of affluent towns built along the old Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad which ran northwest from downtown Philadelphia parallel to Lancaster Avenue , a road...
suburb.
History
The Big 5 was formed in 1955 in order to showcase the rich
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
talent in the city and help pay for the upkeep on the
PalestraThe Palestra, also known as the Cathedral of College Basketball, is a historic arena and the home gym of the University of Pennsylvania Quakers men's and women's basketball teams, volleyball teams, wrestling team, and Philadelphia Big 5 basketball. Located at 215 South 33rd St...
, where the games historically took place. All schools agreed to split ticket and concessions revenues equally once Penn was paid for upkeep costs on the Palestra. The intense rivalries between the teams and the proximity of the schools and their fans make the Big 5 a unique tradition in college basketball.
Historically, games were played as double or triple-headers. However, it has been argued that changes in the structure of college basketball in the last quarter of the 20th century caused the Big 5 to lose much of its significance. During the heyday of the Big 5, many major college programs, especially in the northeastern
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, were independents. As the Big East and Atlantic 10 Conferences expanded to cover most of the Northeast (Villanova joined the Big East, while Temple, St. Joseph's, and La Salle joined the Atlantic 10), and as college basketball became increasingly driven by television and its need to appeal to a broad national audience, the local character of the Big 5 was a liability. The round-robin series ended in 1991.
In 1999, the Big 5 round-robin series was revived, and has continued to this day. Some things have changed from the series' heyday: the schools no longer evenly split the proceeds from the games, and La Salle, Temple, and Villanova do not always use the Palestra for their home games in the series. Nonetheless, the revival of the Big 5 provides a living link to the past of college basketball.
Each year the Herb Good Basketball Club selects All-Big 5 teams, as well as a coach of the year and the most outstanding player receives the
Robert V. Geasey TrophyThe Robert V. Geasey Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding basketball player in the Philadelphia Big 5, an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is not an MVP award and does not represent the entire regular season's most valuable...
.
The Big 5 creed reads, "They say there is no real prize for winning the Big Five. They must not be from Philly."
There are a few intense rivalries inside the Big 5, most notably the rivalry between Villanova and Saint Joseph's, also known as the
Holy WarThe Holy War is a basketball rivalry game in the Philadelphia Big 5 between Saint Joseph's University and Villanova University, which is considered the most intense of all the Big 5 games. It's called the "Holy War" because both universities have Roman Catholic religious affiliations: Villanova...
. The rivalry between Saint Joseph's and Temple has increased in intensity in recent years, mostly because of the "Goon Gate" incident in 2005 involving former Temple coach John Chaney where he sent in a player to intentionally foul an SJU player which led to John Bryant's fractured arm. La Salle considers Saint Joseph's to be its biggest rival.
As of 2011, at least one team from the Big 5 had made it into the NCAA Tournament for 34 consecutive years.
Future
Recently there has been talk of officially including
DrexelThe Drexel Dragons are the athletic teams of Drexel University.The school's athletic program includes eighteen NCAA Division I sports including nine men's and nine women's teams, with most sports teams competing in the Colonial Athletic Association . Drexel's athletic department was ranked first in...
in the Big 5. These talks amplified during the 2006–07 season, as Drexel beat three of the four Big 5 teams it played, all away from Drexel's home court (Drexel did not play La Salle). Many sportswriters have called for Drexel's inclusion, and coaches of Big 5 teams have agreed. Regardless of Drexel's absence in the Big 5, it is a member of the
City 6The City 6 refers to an informal association of college athletic programs in the Philadelphia area. It is not a conference; in fact, the six schools that are members of the City 6 are members of four separate conferences: the Atlantic 10, the Big East, the Colonial Athletic Association , and the...
, which includes every Big 5 school plus Drexel.
Men
All Big 5 men's basketball teams play each other once per season for a total of four games per team. There is no season-ending Big 5 Tournament, so a "champion" of the unofficial athletics group is determined by a
round-robin tournamentA round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...
. Since 1956 there have been three instances of a five-way tie among all member schools, which occurred in 1980–81 (2–2 records), 1991–92 (1–1 records) and 1997–98 (1–1 records).
| Key |
|
Outright Big 5 title winner |
|
Shared Big 5 title winners |
| Team (#) |
Denotes the total number of titles for that school at that point |
| Season |
Champion(s) |
Record |
| 1955–56 |
Saint Joseph's (1) |
4–0 |
| 1956–57 |
La Salle (1)
Saint Joseph's (2)
Temple (1) |
3–1 |
| 1957–58 |
Temple (2) |
4–0 |
| 1958–59 |
Saint Joseph's (3) |
4–0 |
| 1959–60 |
Saint Joseph's (4)
Villanova (1) |
3–1 |
| 1960–61 |
Saint Joseph's (5) |
4–0 |
| 1961–62 |
Villanova (2) |
4–0 |
| 1962–63 |
Pennsylvania (1)
Villanova (3) |
3–1 |
| 1963–64 |
La Salle (2) |
3–1 |
| 1964–65 |
Saint Joseph's (6) |
4–0 |
| 1965–66 |
Saint Joseph's (7) |
4–0 |
| 1966–67 |
Villanova (4) |
4–0 |
| 1967–68 |
Saint Joseph's (8) |
3–1 |
| 1968–69 |
La Salle (3) |
4–0 |
| 1969–70 |
Pennsylvania (2) |
4–0 |
| 1970–71 |
Pennsylvania (3) |
4–0 |
| 1971–72 |
Pennsylvania (4)
Temple (3) |
3–1 |
| 1972–73 |
Pennsylvania (5) |
4-0 |
| 1973–74 |
Pennsylvania (6) |
4–0 |
| 1974–75 |
La Salle (4) |
4–0 |
| 1975–76 |
Saint Joseph's (9)
Villanova (5) |
3–1 |
| 1976–77 |
Pennsylvania (7)
Temple (4) |
3-1 |
| 1977–78 |
Temple (5)
Villanova (6) |
3–1 |
| 1978–79 |
Pennsylvania (8)
Temple (6) |
3–1 |
| 1979–80 |
Saint Joseph's (10) |
4–0 |
| 1980–81 |
La Salle (5)
Pennsylvania (9)
St. Joseph's (11)
Temple (7)
Villanova (7) |
2–2 |
| 1981–82 |
Saint Joseph's (12)
Temple (8) |
3–1 |
| 1982–83 |
Villanova (8) |
3–1 |
| 1983–84 |
La Salle (6)
Temple (9) |
3–1 |
| 1984–85 |
Villanova (9) |
4–0 |
| 1985–86 |
Saint Joseph's (13)
Temple (10) |
3–1 |
| 1986–87 |
Temple (11) |
4–0 |
| 1987–88 |
Temple (12) |
4–0 |
| 1988–89 |
La Salle (7)
Temple (13) |
3–1 |
| 1989–90 |
La Salle (8) |
4–0 |
| 1990–91 |
Saint Joseph's (14)
Temple (14) |
3–1 |
| 1991–92 |
La Salle (9)
Pennsylvania (10)
Saint Joseph's (15)
Temple (15)
Villanova (10) |
1–1 |
| 1992–93 |
Temple (16) |
2–0 |
| 1993–94 |
Pennsylvania (11)
Temple (17) |
2–0 |
| 1994–95 |
Saint Joseph's (16)
Temple (18) |
2–0 |
| 1995–96 |
Temple (19) |
2–0 |
| 1996–97 |
Temple (20)
Villanova (11) |
2–0 |
| 1997–98 |
La Salle (10)
Pennsylvania (12)
Saint Joseph's (17)
Temple (21)
Villanova (12) |
1–1 |
| 1998–99 |
Villanova (13) |
2–0 |
| 1999–00 |
Temple (22)
Villanova (14) |
3–1 |
| 2000–01 |
Villanova (15) |
4–0 |
| 2001–02 |
Pennsylvania (13) |
4–0 |
| 2002–03 |
Saint Joseph's (18) |
4–0 |
| 2003–04 |
Saint Joseph's (19) |
4–0 |
| 2004–05 |
Temple (23)
Villanova (16) |
3–1 |
| 2005–06 |
Villanova (17) |
4–0 |
| 2006–07 |
Villanova (18) |
4–0 |
| 2007–08 |
Temple (24)
Villanova (19) |
3–1 |
| 2008–09 |
Villanova (20) |
4–0 |
| 2009–10 |
Temple (25) |
4–0 |
| 2010–11 |
Villanova (21) |
4–0 |
External links