By AARON BRACY
March 8, 2024
Big5Hoops.com
In 1977, zero Big 5 teams made the NCAA tournament. It wasn’t until last year that it happened again where neither La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph’s, Temple or Villanova were in the Big Dance.
Hello, March Sadness.
Might it happen again? For a second straight season?
The Big 5’s hopes rest largely, not surprisingly, on Villanova. And, surprise, surprise, in its first-ever Big 5 season, on Drexel.
Penn did not qualify for the Ivy League tournament.
Conference tournament titles are highly unlikely for Saint Joseph’s, likely a No. 8 or No. 9 seed in the Atlantic 10 tournament; extremely unlikely for La Salle, likely a No. 11 seed in the A-10 tournament; and practically impossible for Temple, which will be a No. 13 or 14 seed in the AAC tournament.
Yes, March Sadness, indeed.
The reasons for the dive and potential fixes, or even whether they are possible, are for another day.
For today, let’s take a close look at where each Big 5 team is and where each might be headed. We’ll start with the two legitimately possible NCAA tournament teams.
Drexel (20-11, 13-5 Coastal Athletic Conference)
The Dragons completed a fantastic regular season with Saturday’s 73-59 home victory over Northeastern. It moved Drexel to 20 wins for just the 10th time in the school’s 57 seasons.
Drexel earned the No. 2 seed in the Coastal Athletic Conference tournament and will play the winner of Saturday’s Stony Brook/Northeastern game at 6 p.m. on Sunday in Washington, D.C. A victory in the quarterfinals on Sunday moves Drexel into the CAA semis at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, with the finals slated for 7 p.m. on Tuesday. (Full bracket: Click HERE.)
A reminder that Big5Hoops.com will be with the Dragons in D.C.
Villanova (17-13, 10-9 Big East)
The Wildcats missed out on a golden opportunity to pretty much secure their NCAA tournament at-large bid when they lost at Seton Hall, 66-56, on Wednesday night. It all comes down to Saturday’s showdown against No. 10 Creighton at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center. Win and Villanova is in the NCAA tournament. Lose and, barring a deep run in Big East tournament (or, of course, winning the conference tourney title), the Wildcats will likely be on the sideline of the NCAA’s for the second consecutive season.
Seeding for the Big East tournament isn’t top of mind for the Wildcats, but they are pretty much locked into the No. 6 seed and a first-round matchup against DePaul at 9 p.m. Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. A victory will move the Wildcats into the quarterfinals at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night against either Creighton or Marquette, depending on what happens in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
A reminder that Big5Hoops.com will be with the Wildcats in New York City.
Saint Joseph’s (18-12, 8-9 Atlantic 10)
The Hawks lost at Richmond, 73-66, on Wednesday night without Lynn Greer III (hip). Erik Reynolds II scored 21 points but needed 21 shots to get there. Saint Joseph’s, despite what I thought heading into the Atlantic 10 portion of its season, does not look like a team capable of winning four games in five days in Brooklyn.
Any potential run to the A-10 title is made even tougher by the Hawks’ likely spot in the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, with the winner playing top-seeded Richmond at 11:30 a.m. in Thursday’s quarterfinals. It looks like St. Joe’s NCAA tournament drought is going to extend to seven consecutive missed tournaments. They last made the NCAA’s in 2016. (There was no tournament in 2020.)
A reminder that Big5Hoops.com will be with the Hawks in Brooklyn.
La Salle (15-15, 6-11 Atlantic 10)
The Explorers have played their best basketball down the stretch, winning four of their last five games, including Saturday’s 72-66 victory to close out Tom Gola Arena. Two of the wins came against UMass and St. Bonaventure, both of which are in the top half of the conference standings. La Salle was picked to finish last in the 15-team league in the preseason and has exceeded expectations.
Last up in the regular season for La Salle is a tough task at Loyola-Chicago, which sits at second in the league. The Explorers are either going to finish as the No. 10 or No. 11 seed. They currently are tied with Fordham, which hosts Rhode Island on Saturday. A Rams win and a La Salle loss puts the Explorers at No. 11. Should they finish tied, La Salle wins the tiebreaker and will be the No. 10 seed.
As a No. 10 seed La Salle would play at 2 p.m. on Tuesday in Brooklyn against the No. 15 seed. A No. 11 seed gives the Explorers a 4:30 matchup on Tuesday versus the No. 14 seed.
Penn (11-17, 3-10 Ivy League)
The Quakers already have been eliminated from Ivy Madness, the league’s four-team tournament that will determine the eight-team league’s automatic entry into the NCAA field. The only thing remaining for Penn is to try to play spoiler against rival Princeton on Saturday night at the Palestra. The Tigers are tied with Yale for first place in the Ancient Eight.
Temple (11-19, 4-13 American Athletic Conference)
The Owls lost 100-72 at home to UAB on Thursday night. A report from Sports Illustrated surfaced after the game regarding an alert that was sent out due to unusual wagering before the contest. Temple opened as 2 ½-point underdogs in some sports books, but the betting line unusually moved greatly during the day. This story bears watching, at least.
Temple will be a No. 13 or 14 seed in the AAC tourney. More on the Owls another day.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Big5Hoops.com is his second website dedicated to Philadelphia college basketball. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages.