Since 1955, when the Big Five began the City Series in Philadelphia, with the five major college basketball Division I schools playing each other, only three times has the last game pitted two teams with undefeated City Series records for that season. Throughout the years, parity has stuck a fork in these heated rivalries, whether teams were nationally ranked and looking ahead to the Big Dance, or scratching and clawing at the goal of staying above .500. When two Philly schools get together at the Palestra, it's going to be something special.
For those who don't know, the Big 5 in Philly are Temple, Villanova, St. Joseph's, LaSalle, and Penn. Drexel, the little brother who got kicked out of the treehouse, could be considered a sixth, although they aren't involved in the City Series.
All of these schools have rivalries with one another. Three of them play in the same conference, the Atlantic 10. But none of them hold the deep-seeded hatred that can only really come to a boil when Catholics are involved. Tonight at 7:30, we will be treated to this year's rendition of the Holy War in college basketball when St. Joe's takes on Villanova in the hallowed halls of the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Both schools would be considered small by national standards. VU enrolls around 6,300 undergrads, while there are around 4,200 Hawks circling the City Line Ave. area. They are mere miles apart and you can feel the ire burning through the Main Line and toward West Philly each time they get together. Their students hate each other, and when they get to their schools as bug-eyed freshman, they usually don't even know why.
They hate each other because they are told to at first, but then it takes on a theme. The Wildcats are the spoonfed rich kids and the Hawks are the suburbanites that lived one step below them their whole lives. Of course, at the University level, that's a pretty loose blanketing theory to throw out there, but to a neutral party in the area, that's what it always has and always will look like.
So how big is this rivalry? Well, this week is Rivalry Week on ESPN, and take a shot what game is kicking it off? Most of the country would never have heard of either of these schools if it weren't for 1985 and Brian Westbrook for Villanova, and coaching greats like Jimmy Lynam and Dr. Jack Ramsey, or Jameer Nelson, and the 27-0 regular season Hawks of two seasons ago, yet ESPN wants to put it front and center as it kicks off its post-football run toward March Madness.
The Palestra is like a brick sardine can. The tickets for tonight's game are split right down the middle, half to each school, and they will pack into this mecca of round ball so tightly that it will be a dieters dream sauna, and a claustrophobics nightmare closet. The gym is hot, the pressure and intensity are thick, and the hoops will be frantic, because that's what the Big 5 delivers. All sports have their little anomalies that many people don't know about that make them great. There are many in college basketball, but none more meaningful, more energetic than Big Five hoops.
For the fourth time in 51 years, two City Series undefeateds will put the title on the line in Philly, and it's only fitting that the combatants are the biggest rivals in a series defined by the word rivalry.
For those who don't know, the Big 5 in Philly are Temple, Villanova, St. Joseph's, LaSalle, and Penn. Drexel, the little brother who got kicked out of the treehouse, could be considered a sixth, although they aren't involved in the City Series.
All of these schools have rivalries with one another. Three of them play in the same conference, the Atlantic 10. But none of them hold the deep-seeded hatred that can only really come to a boil when Catholics are involved. Tonight at 7:30, we will be treated to this year's rendition of the Holy War in college basketball when St. Joe's takes on Villanova in the hallowed halls of the Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Both schools would be considered small by national standards. VU enrolls around 6,300 undergrads, while there are around 4,200 Hawks circling the City Line Ave. area. They are mere miles apart and you can feel the ire burning through the Main Line and toward West Philly each time they get together. Their students hate each other, and when they get to their schools as bug-eyed freshman, they usually don't even know why.
They hate each other because they are told to at first, but then it takes on a theme. The Wildcats are the spoonfed rich kids and the Hawks are the suburbanites that lived one step below them their whole lives. Of course, at the University level, that's a pretty loose blanketing theory to throw out there, but to a neutral party in the area, that's what it always has and always will look like.
So how big is this rivalry? Well, this week is Rivalry Week on ESPN, and take a shot what game is kicking it off? Most of the country would never have heard of either of these schools if it weren't for 1985 and Brian Westbrook for Villanova, and coaching greats like Jimmy Lynam and Dr. Jack Ramsey, or Jameer Nelson, and the 27-0 regular season Hawks of two seasons ago, yet ESPN wants to put it front and center as it kicks off its post-football run toward March Madness.
The Palestra is like a brick sardine can. The tickets for tonight's game are split right down the middle, half to each school, and they will pack into this mecca of round ball so tightly that it will be a dieters dream sauna, and a claustrophobics nightmare closet. The gym is hot, the pressure and intensity are thick, and the hoops will be frantic, because that's what the Big 5 delivers. All sports have their little anomalies that many people don't know about that make them great. There are many in college basketball, but none more meaningful, more energetic than Big Five hoops.
For the fourth time in 51 years, two City Series undefeateds will put the title on the line in Philly, and it's only fitting that the combatants are the biggest rivals in a series defined by the word rivalry.
