There’s a 30-year record that could be snapped this year in college basketball, and you won’t see any coverage of it on ESPN.
The Big 5 is in trouble, and for the first time since 1977 it may not get a team into the NCAA Tournament.
The ironic part about this is that it really hasn’t been a bad year for the Big 5, besides Penn that is. There have been three fantastic games (two involving Saint Joseph’s and Temple), the most-recent one even prompting Temple guard Semaj Inge to say “I just don’t like St. Joe’s. It doesn’t have anything to do with the rivalry – I just don’t like those guys.
There are four teams from the Big 5 that have a shot of making it into the Tournament, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that any one team has even a 50-50 chance.
Temple (17-12, 10-5 A-10) has secured a bye in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, meaning it is automatically through to the quarterfinals. St. Joe’s (17-10, 8-6) is still fighting for one of the two remaining byes, while La Salle (13-15, 8-7) needs a win over the Owls on Saturday and some help to not have to play a dangerous team like Duquesne or George Washington in round one.
Villanova (18-11, 8-9 Big East) will need to make a major run in the Big East Tournament in order to have a shot at dancing.
Here are the RPIs of the teams, followed by their Sagarin rating (combining RPI and margin of loss/victory) and games remaining on the schedule.
Villanova (59, 62) Sat. at Providence
St. Joe’s (64, 63) Thurs. vs. No. 8 Xavier, Sat. at Dayton
Temple (65, 77) Sat. at La Salle
La Salle (158, 158) Sat. vs. Temple
Penn (276, 285) Fri. vs. Cornell, Sat. vs. Columbia, Tues. at Princeton
In order to get an at-large bid, any of these teams would need to raise its RPI to in the 30s or at least the 40s. That sounds difficult, but there are some positives.
Bracketologist Joe Lunardi (slightly biased toward the Hawks, I will admit - he’s their radio announcer and a frequent guest on the critically-acclaimed show Hawk Talk with Phil Martelli) has St. Joe’s as one of the “next four out” of his projected bracket, meaning there are only 5-8 teams ahead of the Hawks in getting a tourney spot. And with wins over two teams in the RPI’s top 35 to finish the season, St. Joe’s would be right back in the mix. but then again, Xavier has only lost game this calendar year - to Temple. St. Joe’s also has going for it that it is excellent on the road with a 9-5 mark.
In fact, Lunardi’s list of 15 “bubble teams” includes St. Joe’s, Villanova and Temple.
Some other interesting notes: La Salle has the third-worst RPI in the A-10, but is in sixth place out of 14, and could finish as high as third. Villanova is playing better basketball now, slightly recovering from its five-game losing streak.
The Wildcats beat West Virginia and Connecticut at home in the last two weeks, only losing to teams in the top-25 of the RPI (Georgetown, Louisville and Marquette) since falling hard in the Holy War. St. Joe’s, on the other hand, has headed in the opposite direction after drubbing Villanova. After winning 11 of 12 from December to early February, the Hawks have dropped five of their last seven, only beating bottom-dwellers St. Bonaventure and Rhode Island.
Also, you’d have to think that the selection committee will want to admit more than one team from the A-10 - the conference has its highest RPI (flirts with the Mizzouri Valley between seventh and eighth) in the last 10 years, and has often got multiple bids, even last season when the conference RPI was 10th.
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March 6th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Good year for the Big 5, except of course for Penn. I love seeing ‘Nova a bit down (even though I go there now) so that ‘Nova fans can shut up with their “art holy than thou” attitude towards the Big 5. Temple should be REALLY EXCITED about their progress under Dunphy. Last year they looked awful and this year they showed a lot of improvement. St. Joes might be the most disappointing team, given its experience, but Martelli will always have them in the mix. La Salle appears to finally be rebounding from some really tough years (a decade or 15 years even) and heading in the right direction. And, you got to think that Penn won’t be this bad next year and probably back in the Ivy mix next year or in two years. All in all, things are looking good for the Big 5.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:15 am
That’s a pretty sunny view, but the Big 5 is already facing irrelevance outside of the Philadelphia area and up and down seasons like this one for its premier programs can’t help. Old-school Philly folks and Big 5 alums will continue to follow the traditions, but if the Big 5 wants to survive (remember that it has only recently been resurrected). it needs younger fans and more far-reaching media attention.