At long last, Philadelphia's storied Big 5 college basketball association is welcoming Drexel University into the fold.
The Big 5 announced the move Tuesday morning, along with a re-configured system featuring two pods of three teams and a culminating annual tournament at the Wells Fargo Center called The Big 5 Classic. The association is keeping the name despite adding a sixth member.
"Drexel University is honored to become part of the Philadelphia Big 5," Drexel Director of Athletics Maisha Kelly said Tuesday in a release. "The Philadelphia Big 5 is synonymous with basketball history in the city and it is exciting to have our brand now be associated with such a storied organization. As an institution of higher learning, prominently positioned in the city, we are proud to be aligned with these five schools that combine excellence in both academics and athletics. This is a historic day in Drexel basketball history."
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It is indeed. The Big 5 stretches back to 1955, making this the first time in the association's 67-year history that its member count has changed. And as the city's sixth Division I program, with a campus that literally abuts the University of Pennsylvania and is situated as close to Center City as any of the six schools, Drexel's inclusion is only logical and frankly overdue. (I am definitely not a biased Drexel alum.)
The Big 5 and the Wells Fargo Center released a Dan Baker-narrated hype video Tuesday welcoming us into a new era of the Big 5, so you know it's real:
As far as the pod system and the new scheduling works, here's what we're working with:
Pod One: Temple, La Salle, Drexel
NCAAB
Pod Two: Villanova, Penn, St. Joseph's
And here's how the system works, in the Big 5's own words:
"Each team will play the other two teams from their pod at their individual on-campus arenas. All teams will participate in the Big 5 Classic triple-header at the New Wells Fargo Center on December 2 with the first seed in each pod competing for the Big 5 championship, the second place teams in each pod competing for second place, and the third seeds competing for third place in the Big 5."
Seems fair enough, though it's a bummer that we're effectively separating schools this way. The beauty of the old Big 5 was that its round-robin, bracket-less approach meant every school played every other school. That was nice. This feels a little more... sterile? Perhaps they'll re-align the pods at some point in the future. I can't imagine Temple and Villanova don't want to face each other. That matchup is always a big draw, but right now the only way those two teams face off is if they reach the final of the Big 5 Classic.
Overall, though, this feels like a meaningful and intriguing way to try and bring interest back to the Big 5. Its cultural impact in the Philadelphia basketball-sphere is definitely not what it once was. Hopefully this kickstarts a new wave of greatness.