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With college hoops season tipping off, we're going to pick up where we left off last year with the Home Game: College Hoops Edition series of posts, with some modifications. We're going to stick to the Big 5 schools plus Drexel this year, and we're going to keep it to men's basketball—not because we have anything against women's hoops, but because our brains can only handle so much at any one time. So with the season getting underway, what's the outlook for Philadelphia's teams? Here's what we think.
Drexel: The 2007-08 season was one that Drexel fans would like to forget. The team that took the floor last year and went 12-20 was a far cry from the 06-07 Dragons, who had made a little bit of noise and were one of the last teams left out of the NCAA Tournament (and the case can be made that it was a snub of the first degree). The Drexel faithful were optimistic then. Not so much now, and this season looks like it could be another rough one for Drexel. Defensively, the Dragons should be okay, but the big question mark for the them is, can they get any offense whatsoever going? Are they once again going to be forced to launch 3-balls because of a complete ineptitude on interior? If so, it's going to be a long and painful season for Drexel.
La Salle: La Salle is the team that, frankly, we know the least about and will probably watch the least closely this season. (Aside from the Villanova game, we don't even think La Salle will have any televised games.) After wallowing in mediocrity in the A-10 last year, we don't expect much to change in the '08-'09 campaign, especially with the graduation of last year's scoring leader, Darnell Harris. We'd like to think that the Explorers can improve on their 15-17 (8-8) record of last year, but their schedule is absolutely brutal, including UConn tomorrow night at the Paradise Jam (and the rest of the Paradise Jam field includes Wisconsin, Miami, and San Diego, so La Salle could have their rears handed to them a few times over the next couple days, depending on how other games in the tournament shake out); defending Ivy League champions Cornell; defending Northeast Conference champions Mount St. Mary's, and the always-difficult Big 5 matchups.
Penn: Everyone under the sun expects Cornell to repeat as Ivy League champs, but we don't think Penn should be counted out as far as making a dark horse run at the conference crown goes. Take away last night's loss at the hands of #1 North Carolina (by only, and yes we do mean only, 15 points—so something positive can be taken away from that) and the Big 5 matchups, and the schedule doesn't look too bad for the Quakers, who should be improved this year thanks to another year of experience for the core of the team, who wasn't hit too badly by graduations. Our outlook for Penn is cautiously optimistic.
St. Joe's: The Hawks dropped a tough overtime game to Holy Cross the other night, and that could very well be a portend of things to come for St. Joe's—being competitive, but just not able to get on the right side of the win/loss column. Pat Calathes was an absolute beast for the team last year, and with him now gone, there's really nothing to stop opposing defenses from locking down on Ahmad Nivins and daring someone, anyone else on the Hawks to win the game for them. There's very little room for error in the A-10, where no one is absolutely fantastic, but there are only a couple of really dreadful teams, so we don't see this being a tournament year for St. Joe's.
Temple: We like Temple quite a bit, and how could we not after last season. It was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Owls, and they came out and posted 21 wins, finished second in the A-10 in the regular season, and then won the A-10 tournament. They lost to Clemson in the final of the Charleston Classic, but Clemson is a very solid team, and the Owls will likely improve as the season wears on. Leading scorer Dionte Christmas is back (and other teams won't be able to hold him scoreless for an entire half, as Clemson did), and if Sergio Olmos and Lavoy Allen can improve just a bit over their solid numbers last year and establish themselves as viable inside options, Christmas and Ryan Brooks should have plenty of perimeter scoring opportunities, and the Owls will have a very good shot at the A-10 title.
Villanova: The Wildcats had a nice little run to the Sweet 16 last year, and with the team returning absolutely everyone from last year's squad, there's no reason to think they can't do it again, with a little bit of luck—as they certainly got some in last year's tournament thanks to some serious chokage on Clemson and Vanderbilt's parts, which handed the Wildcats a second-round match-up with Siena. The Big East is, as usual, absolutely stacked this year, and 'nova will have tough out-of-conference games with Temple and Texas. If Villanova didn't have everyone back this year, we'd really, really hate their schedule, but this team has now been there, done that last year. We don't expect the Wildcats to win the Big East—there's just too much talent on rosters like UConn and Louisville—but Villanova will certainly be in the mix along with those teams, Notre Dame, and Pitt. And with that tough schedule all season long, when (and we do mean when) Villanova gets to the NCAA Tournament, they're going to be one of those teams that no one wants to see in the first or second round.
Image Credit: Flickr user Lauren Murphy.
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i never got into basketball, much less college basketball... how come drexel got left out of the big 5?
Historically, Drexel wasn't included in the Big Five when it was originally formed because, at the time (mid-1950s) it didn't have a Division I basketball team. I believe they were Division II at the time, though they may not have had a team at all.
Recently, their "exclusion" from the Big Five has been criticized (especially during that really good 2006-07 season). Some would say it's snobbery, some would say it's just a mere formality and it's only a matter of time before the Big Five becomes the Big Six. But before that can happen, Drexel really needs to commit to playing all of the other Philadelphia teams every year. This year, they're only playing Penn and St. Joe's. I honestly don't know if that's Drexel's fault, the other schools', or a bit of both.