Yo, Philly on the Hardwood

Drexel (2-3, 0-1): Drexel hasn't really given us much to get excited about over the last couple weeks. After getting past Cal State-Northridge in the battle of mediocrity, the Dragons pushed George Mason to the brink, but ended up falling to the Patriots by a point. Maybe because of a hangover from the George Mason game, Drexel was pretty lackluster in a loss to Fairfield. Can the team pull it back together? They've got a tough test on Thursday, hosting a 6-2 Niagra team (tickets) before going on the road to play Bucknell. And when they're done with that, they've got to travel to #17 Memphis. Realistically, the Dragons will probably be 2-6 or 3-5 after this stretch, so we'll be paying more attention to how they look in these games, particularly the Niagra game.

La Salle (4-4, 0-0): The Explorers are .500 and doing pretty much exactly what's been expected of them when you look at them and their opponents on paper. They're beating the teams they're supposed to beat, and losing the games they're supposed to lose. La Salle got wins over Bucknell and Hartford, but dropped their Big 5 matchup against Villanova. We'd like to see La Salle put together a nice little run to carry them into 2009, and the schedule may present that opportunity. They've got Rider at home tomorrow evening (ticket info), and then a trip to Cornell over the weekend.

Penn (1-6, 0-0): Penn may have the smartest basketball players in the city, but certainly not the most talented. It's been ugly and uglier for the Quakers lately, as they've been on the wrong end of four straight double-digit losses. Fortunately, Penn has the next couple weeks off, and hopefully they'll be able to bet their act together and start fresh when they return to action on December 29.

St. Joe's (4-5, 0-0): St. Joe's has gone win-loss-win-loss-win-loss over the last few weeks. But the Hawks are on a layoff until next Monday, and then they'll play three winnable home games in a row, so that may be a good chance for the Hawks to put themselves together. First up, next Monday, St. Joe's will play host to Cornell (tickets).

Temple (5-3, 0-0): We've got to say it: we really don't understand what's up with Temple. They put up some pretty putrid performances against Buffalo and Miami (OH), and then get a nice road win at Penn State before pulling off a big upset over an overrated-but-still-pretty-darn-good Tennessee team. At this point, we have no clue how good Temple is. We know Dionte Christmas is a beast, but the rest of the team is really what dictates whether Temple wins or loses. So c'mon guys, how bout some consistency? We hope the Tennessee win is a catapult for the Owls, who shouldn't start to feel too good about themselves, as two of their next three games are against more ranked opponents, including a big road test at Kansas this weekend.

Villanova (10-1, 0-0): Kind of like La Salle, Villanova has done exactly what's been expected of them. Of course, for the Wildcats, that means a 10-1 record. The lone loss was to their only really strong opponent this year, top-ten ranked Texas. But, of local important, Villanova is one win away from locking up Big 5 bragging rights after dispatching their first three city rivals, Penn, St. Joe's, and La Salle. The Wildcats will have an interesting matchup with Temple in a couple weeks, but their more immediate concern will be an "upset alert" type of game with Navy next Monday.

Image Credit: Flickr user Lauren Murphy.