Reunited Big Five has fans cheering

by Brian O'Connell

sports editor One of the first games this season featured Temple and Villanova. The game was held at the Apollo of Temple.

Now that the college basketball season is well underway, basketball fans from all over are being treated to some great games such as Dayton's upset win over national power Kentucky. Then there was LaSalle's improbable blowout over Xavier by 31 points. That game marked the Musketeers worst loss at Cincinnati Gardens.

However, the greatest tradition in college basketball was finally reunited last April when Villanova agreed to rejoin Temple, Penn, LaSalle and St. Joseph's to play the full round-robin of the Big Five. These games were the best basketball games to see anywhere. All of the games were played at the Palestra on Penn's campus. The agreement took a downfall for nearly a decade.

Since returning to its full format, the Big Five has brought back memories of the past. Not all of the games have been total blowouts. They have all been relatively close, which adds to the excitement of the games. However, they are not as exciting as one would hope due to the fact that none of the school's would agree to play all of the games at the Palestra where they belong.

It seemed that Temple was well on their way to a victory holding a double digit lead. Temple escapes early, right? Wrong. Villanova came right back and before anyone would know it, it was a close game and a nailbiter. Vt.1lanova's superb three-point shooting put a big scare into the Owls, but Temple escaped with the victory in the closing seconds.

The next game featured ViJlanova taking a trip to the Palestra to face Penn. The Palestra was sold-out with the place going crazy with all of the hyped up fans. The game was very close throughout. The fans were enjoying it so much. But, when it came down to crunch time Penn tied the game and it was Villanova's tum to show some heroics in the final seconds. Senior center, Malik Allen, hit an unbelievable jump shot with less than three seconds to go to stun Penn and give Vt.llanova the victory. This was a perfect game to watch and understand why the Big Five has always been the best basketball anywhere. Penn faced LaSalle at the Tom Gola arena this season with yet another nailbiter. It was a close game, but LaSalle managed to pull it out at the end.

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Just recently, St. Joseph's traveled to the Palestra to face Penn. Penn gave the Hawks all they had and came away with the win. The Hawks were better to some fans, but when you get two Big Five teams together, throw out the records and the statistics. They do not matter. The bottom line is to play the game and see what happens.

This game went down to the final five seconds with Penn holding a five point edge. Game over, right? Not quite. Tim Brown of St. Joe's drained a three pointer bringing the Hawks to within two points. The fans knew this game was not over yet. Penn inbounded the ball and turned it over with 3.1 seconds to go. The Hawks got the ball back but turned it over erasing any hopes of a victory. There are still some other games that are scheduled for the latter part of the season. They include, St. Joe's versus LaSalle and Temple. Both games are at the Palestra. But the biggest game is on Feb. 17 when St. Joe's faces Villanova at Villanova. This game has been labeled as the "holy war" due to the fact that it is the biggest basketball rivalry in the city which dates back to 1955 when the Hawks won the first Big 5 game against the Wildcats. This is a tradition that no sports fan should miss.

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