Philadelphia Big 5

The Big 5 is an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’s collegiate championship.

The Big 5 consists of the University of Pennsylvania, La Salle University, Saint Joseph's University, Temple University, and Villanova University. Penn, La Salle, Saint Joseph's, and Temple are located in Philadelphia proper and Villanova is in a nearby Main Line campus.

Big 5 schools represent some of the oldest and most successful men's basketball programs in the nation. Four of the five teams—Temple (5th), Villanova (19th), Penn (22nd), and Saint Joseph's (47th)—are in the top 50 for all-time Division I basketball victories.

The Big 5 creed reads: "They say there's no trophy for winning the Big Five. They must not be from Philadelphia."

History

The Big 5 was formed in 1955 a year after La Salle won the 1954 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. The group showcased Philadelphia's basketball talent and helped pay for the upkeep on the Palestra, on the University of Pennsylvania's campus where the games historically took place. Games were scheduled as double or triple-headers. All schools agreed to split ticket and concessions revenues equally once Penn was paid for upkeep costs on the Palestra. The arrangement promoted already intense intra-city collegiate basketball rivalries dating back three decades or more.

During the heyday of the Big 5, many major college programs, especially in the northeastern United States, 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, the University of Pennsylvania is a member of the Ivy League), 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.

However, 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, St. Joe's, and Villanova do not always use the Palestra for their home games in the series.

There are intense rivalries inside the Big 5, most notably the rivalry between Villanova and Saint Joseph's, also known as the Holy War. The St. Joe's–Temple rivalry 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 John Bryant. Bryant's arm was fractured. La Salle considers Saint Joseph's to be its biggest rival.

, at least one team from the Big 5 had made it into the NCAA Tournament for 42 straight years. La Salle and Villanova are the only Big 5 teams to have won the tournament.

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 in Big 5 competition receives the Robert V. Geasey Trophy.

Drexel University

Some have suggested adding Drexel to the Big 5. These talks amplified during the 2006–07 season, as Drexel beat three of the four Big 5 teams it played, but no changes were made. Drexel is a member of the City 6, which is an intra-city intramural competition among the six schools.

Annual winners

Men

All Big 5 men's basketball teams play each other once per season for a total of four games per team. Currently La Salle and St. Joe's meet twice per season since they both share a conference. If two or more Big 5 teams do share a conference, the second matchup between the schools is counted toward the Big 5 standings while the first matchup is not. There is no season-ending Big 5 Tournament, so a "champion" of the unofficial athletics group is determined by a round-robin tournament. 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), though the latter two cases were during the period when there was no round-robin format, so not every team played all four other teams.

Most championships

*Asterisk (*) denotes shared championship
*Bold denotes all five schools tied

Women

All Big 5 women's basketball teams play each other once per season for a total of four games per team. Currently La Salle and St. Joe's meet twice per season since they both share a conference. If two or more Big 5 teams do share a conference, the second matchup between the schools is counted toward the Big 5 standings while the first matchup is not. There is no season-ending Big 5 Tournament, so a "champion" of the unofficial athletics group is determined by a round-robin tournament. Since 1979 there have been four instances of a three-way tie among all member schools and four instances of a two-way tie. Due to COVID-19 the complete round robin tournament is not contested in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 season.

Other uses

Although known primarily of an association of Philadelphia sports teams, students from the Big 5 also coordinate frequent student government meetings. The governments consist of La Salle, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple, Saint Joseph's, and Drexel University instead of Villanova. Drexel has representation instead of Villanova since meetings primarily revolve around Philadelphia issues. Villanova is the only Big 5 college not located in the city.

See also

* Mayor's Cup (Temple–Villanova)
* St. Joe's–Temple rivalry
* Holy War (Villanova vs. St. Joe's)

References

External links

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1955 establishments in Pennsylvania
College basketball rivalries in the United States
History of college basketball in the United States
La Salle Explorers basketball
Organizations established in 1955
Penn Quakers basketball
Saint Joseph's Hawks basketball
Sports in Philadelphia
Temple Owls basketball
Villanova Wildcats basketball