By AARON BRACY
February 23, 2024
Big5Hoops.com
You can just feel it. The excitement. The pageantry. The brackets. One Shining Moment. All of it.
March Madness is just about upon us. Locally, it will kick off in two weekends when the Coastal Athletic Conference holds its conference tournament from March 8-12 in Washington, D.C. Drexel is a contender to come out of the CAA and earn the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
The Madness for Big 5 teams will then shift to New York, with La Salle and Saint Joseph’s at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the Atlantic 10 tournament, March 12-17; and Villanova at Madison Square Garden for the Big East tournament, March 13-16.
Big5Hoops.com will be there for all of it, in D.C. for as long as Drexel is alive (from Sunday on) and in Brooklyn and Manhattan for as long as La Salle, Saint Joseph’s and Villanova are playing. We can’t wait!
In addition, Temple will be playing in the American Athletic Conference tournament, which begins March 13, in Fort Worth, Texas. Penn will need a miracle just to qualify for the Ivy League’s Ivy Madness four-team mini-tournament.
Let’s take a close look at each of the six Big 5 teams, in alphabetical order, and see where they are and where they might be headed.
DREXEL (17-11 overall, 10-5 Coastal Athletic Association)
This week: Luke House led four Dragons in double-figures with 18 points as Drexel won its 11th straight game at the DAC, 81-66 over Campbell on Saturday. The Dragons dropped a rematch at Hofstra, 69-57 on Long Island on Thursday night. Drexel edged the Pride 79-77 last Thursday in Philly. In the rematch, leading scorer Justin Moore (illness) didn’t play, and the Dragons missed his offense. Drexel was down just one at the half but scored 25 points after halftime while shooting 31.8 percent (7 of 22) from the field and 11.1 percent (1 of 9) from 3-point range. Obviously, Drexel is going to need to play better to make their second NCAA tournament in four years by winning the league tournament.
What it means: The CAA standings are tightly bunched at the top. The Dragons have three games remaining, and they can finish as high as first and as low as eighth. Drexel next plays at rival Delaware on Monday night before finishing the regular season with a pair of home contests, Feb. 29 against Stony Brook and March 2 versus Northeastern.
What will a good finish do? At the least, Drexel needs to end the regular season in the top four in the CAA in order to get a double-bye in the conference tournament and a spot in the quarterfinals. Obviously, winning the regular season title not only would be nice, but it would help the Dragons’ case for an NIT bid should they fall short of the Big Dance. In the big picture, though, I don’t think it really matters whether the Dragons finish atop the regular-season standings. The most important thing is to be in the top four and avoid a Saturday game. Whether they are the first, second, third or fourth seed, the quality of opponent likely will be pretty similar in every Sunday quarterfinal game.
LA SALLE (12-14 overall, 3-10 Atlantic 10)
This week: The Explorers took down a pair of top-half Atlantic 10 opponents at Gola Arena in impressive fashion in their last two contests, defeating UMass 82-81 on Saturday and Saint Bonaventure 72-59 on Wednesday. After scoring 19 points in the win over the Minutemen, Daeshon Shepherd netted a career-high 23 points against the Bonnies, a game in which La Salle shot 51 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from the arc.
What it means: The Explorers have some life heading into their final four regular-season games. Picked to finish last in the A-10, La Salle looks again like a team that nobody will want to play in Brooklyn.
What will a good finish do? The Explorers have a realistic chance to win three of their final four regular-season contests, though it won’t be easy. They host Rhode Island (5-8) on Sunday before finishing at Duquesne (6-7), home versus GW (3-10) and at Loyola (11-2). Three wins in those contests would give La Salle a 16-15 overall mark and 7-11 record in the league heading into the conference tournament. Win a game there and there’s a pretty good chance La Salle will be playing postseason basketball, most likely in the CBI tournament. That would be a boon for the Explorers and something on which to build.
PENN (9-15 overall, 1-8 Ivy League)
This week: The Quakers lost 76-62 to Yale on Friday night and dropped a 71-64 decision to Brown on Saturday night. Both were at the Palestra. Clark Slajchert regained his form, scoring 32 points on 12 of 20 field-goal shooting against the Bears, in his third game back after missing seven with an ankle injury. But it wasn’t enough.
What it means: Penn dropped into a tie for last place in the Ivy with Dartmouth and is three games back of fourth place with five games left. It would take a miracle at this point for the Quakers just to qualify for Ivy Madness, which features the top four of the league’s eight teams. It’s all but certain that Penn’s NCAA drought will extend to five straight seasons and make it 15 NCAA tournament misses in the last 16 opportunities.
What will a good finish do? Penn plays Dartmouth tonight in a matchup against the only opponent it has beaten in league play before traveling to Harvard on Saturday night. The Quakers need to win every game and get major help to reach Ivy Madness. Finishing strong might help dull the pain of a season that started with so much promise before being sidelined by injuries and ineffectiveness, but it won’t do much more than that.
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SAINT JOSEPH’S (17-10 overall, 7-7 Atlantic 10)
This week: The Hawks completed a two-game road trip in which they looked out of sync on Saturday, losing 66-56 at Duquesne. They rebounded on Wednesday with a gritty, if not pretty, 79-75 home victory over undermanned GW on Wednesday. Erik Reynolds II continues to struggle to find his long-range shot, but he got to 20 points by being aggressive and taking the ball to the basket, going 6 of 8 from the foul line, while dishing six assists and grabbing five rebounds.
What it means: Saint Joseph’s is 2 ½ games back of a coveted double-bye in the A-10 tournament that goes to the league’s top four regular-season finishers with four regular-season games remaining, beginning Sunday at VCU. The Rams currently are in fourth place, so a Hawks victory would pull them within 1 ½ games of fourth. At this point, a double-bye seems highly unlikely. I’m still not sure what exactly to make of this St. Joe’s team and whether to consider them a true contender for the A-10 title. For most of the season, I thought that, while not perfect, they were really good and would be a problem in Brooklyn. Now, I’m just not sure. The Hawks need to improve their defense to convince me and, more importantly, convince their opponents. Their offense, especially when Reynolds finds his groove again, is good enough to beat anyone in the league.
What will a good finish do? It’s all about Brooklyn for these Hawks. But St. Joe’s does need to bring mojo and confidence to Brooklyn in order to have a chance of winning four games in five days. The league’s automatic bid is their only ticket to the NCAA tournament, where they have not been since 2016.
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TEMPLE (9-17, 2-11 American Athletic Conference)
This week: The Owls ended a 10-game losing streak with an 83-77 home win over UTSA on Sunday. Hysier Miller scored 20 points for the Owls, and Steve Settle III went over 1,000 career points with 16.
What it means: Temple avoided an 11-game slide and stayed out of the AAC basement with Sunday’s win. The Owls currently sit in 13th place and a half-game ahead of last-placed UTSA.
What will a good finish do? Honestly, I’m not really sure. Maybe some hope for the future? Maybe a little more attractive for a player in the transfer portal?
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VILLANOVA (15-11 overall, 8-7 Big East)
This week: The Wildcats played very well in a 72-62 win over Butler on Tuesday at the Pavilion. Their offense in the first half was as good as I’ve seen it since taking the Battle 4 Atlantis title over Memphis way back in November. Their defense was really good, though maybe slightly less than the dominant force it’s been of late. Villanova now has won four of five following a five-game losing streak.
What it means: The Wildcats are on the NCAA at-large bubble, currently on the outside looking in but with a real chance to get into the field without having to win the always tough Big East tournament and earn the conference’s automatic bid.
What will a good finish do? The Wildcats have a huge opportunity on Saturday when they travel to Storrs, Conn., to play No. 1 UConn at 8 p.m. After that, they’ll get Georgetown at home on Tuesday, then at Providence and Seton Hall before a regular-season finale against current No. 15 (and likely to go up next week) Creighton at the Wells Fargo Center at 2:30 p.m. on March 9. Here’s what I think will get Villanova in: Win three of the last five regular-season games and a first-round Big East tournament contest. That will give Villanova a 19-13 mark. If the Wildcats can pull off an upset at UConn, I think they’d be safe with 18 total victories.
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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.
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Big 5 Hoops Rankings
(Through games Feb. 22)
1. Villanova 15-11, 8-7 Big East
2. Saint Joseph’s 17-10, 7-7 Atlantic 10
3. Drexel 17-11, 10-5 Coastal Athletic Association
4. La Salle 13-14, 4-10 Atlantic 10
5. Temple 9-17, 2-11 American
6. Penn 9-15, 1-8 Ivy
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Big 5 Hoops Scoring Leaders
(Through games Feb. 22)
1. Clark Slajchert, Penn, 17.5
2. Erik Reynolds II, Saint Joseph’s, 16.6
3. Eric Dixon, Villanova, 15.9
4. Hysier Miller, Temple, 15.6
5. Khalil Brantley, La Salle, 15.1
T6 .Jhamir Brickus, La Salle, 14.1
T6. Tyler Perkins, Penn, 14.1
8. Xzayvier Brown, Saint Joseph’s, 12.7
9. Jordan Riley, Temple, 12.5
T10. Jahlil White, Temple, 12.2
T10. Justin Moore, Drexel, 12.2
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Big 5 Hoops Rebounding Leaders
(Through games Feb. 22)
1. Amari Williams, Drexel, 7.8
2. Nick Spinoso, Penn, 7.6
3. Rasheer Fleming, Saint Joseph’s, 7.2
4. Tyler Burton, Villanova, 6.7
5. Jahlil White, Temple, 6.6
T6. Christ Essandoko, Saint Joseph’s, 6.3
T6. Eric Dixon, Villanova, 6.3
8. Jordan Riley, Temple, 6.0
9. Sam Hofman, Temple, 5.8
T10. Daeshon Shepherd, La Salle, 5.5
T10. Rokas Jocius, La Salle, 5.5
T10. Tyler Perkins, Penn, 5.5
T10. Steve Settle III, Temple, 5.5