Philadelphia Big 5

The Big 5 is an informal association of six college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’s collegiate championship.

The Big 5 originally consisted of the University of Pennsylvania, La Salle University, Saint Joseph's University, Temple University, and Villanova University. At the start of the 2023–24 season, the Big 5 expanded to include Drexel University. Drexel, La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph's, and Temple are located in Philadelphia proper and Villanova is in a nearby Main Line suburb. Three of the six schools (La Salle, Saint Joseph's and Villanova) are Catholic while Temple is the only public university in the Big 5.

Big 5 schools represent some of the oldest and most successful men's basketball programs in the nation. Three of the six teams—Temple (6th), Villanova (18th), and Penn (22nd)—are in the top-50 for all-time Division I basketball victories. From 1977 to 2022, at least one team from the Big 5 made it to the NCAA Tournament.

Each year the Herb Good Basketball Club selects All-Big 5 teams, as well as a coach of the year, and the most outstanding player in Big 5 competition receives the Robert V. Geasey Trophy.

The Big 5 creed reads: "They say there's no trophy for winning the Big Five. They must not be from Philadelphia."

Big 5 (1955–2022)


The Big 5 was formed in 1955 a year after La Salle won the 1954 NCAA basketball tournament. The group showcased Philadelphia's basketball talent and helped pay for the upkeep on the Palestra, on the University of Pennsylvania's campus where the games historically took place. Games were scheduled as double or triple-headers. All schools agreed to split ticket and concessions revenues equally once Penn was paid for upkeep costs on the Palestra. The arrangement promoted already intense intra-city collegiate basketball rivalries dating back three decades or more.

During the heyday of the Big 5, many major college programs, especially in the northeastern United States, were independents. As the Big East and Atlantic 10 conferences expanded to cover most of the Northeast (Villanova joined the Big East, while Temple, Saint Joseph's, and La Salle joined the Atlantic 10, Penn is a member of the Ivy League), and as college basketball became increasingly driven by television and its need to appeal to a broad national audience, the local character of the Big 5 was a liability. The round-robin series ended in 1991.

However, in 1999, the Big 5 round-robin series was revived and continued until the 2022-23 season. Some things have changed from the series' heyday: the schools no longer evenly split the proceeds from the games, and La Salle, Temple, Saint Joseph's, and Villanova do not always use the Palestra for their home games in the series.

There are intense rivalries inside the Big 5, most notably the rivalry between Villanova and Saint Joseph's, also known as the Holy War. The Saint Joseph's–Temple rivalry increased in the early 2000s mostly because of the "Goon Gate" incident in 2005 involving former Temple coach John Chaney, who sent in a player to intentionally foul John Bryant. Bryant's arm was fractured. La Salle considers Saint Joseph's to be its biggest rival.

Addition of Drexel and Big 5 Classic (2023–present)
Throughout the Big 5's existence, some suggested adding Drexel. Drexel is a member of the City 6, which is an intra-city intramural competition among the six schools. These talks amplified during the 2006–07 season, as Drexel beat three of the four Big 5 teams it played, but no changes were made.

In December 2022, The Athletic reported that administrators at the Big 5 schools and Drexel were discussing "trying to find a way to resuscitate the Big 5." The meetings came after a sparsely attended Big 5 doubleheader at the Palestra. According to The Athletic, talks about reforms to the Big 5 began prior to the doubleheader as school administrators felt there was a decline in the series due to Villanova's recent dominance and many of the top local recruits opting not to play college basketball in Philadelphia.

The Big 5 announced in January 2023 a new format for Big 5 competition, which would include the addition of Drexel as a member of the series. In the new format, the six teams are split into two three-team pods, who play each other in November. On the first Saturday in December, the "Big 5 Classic", a triple-header showcase event is held with a fifth place, third place and championship game all taking place at the Wells Fargo Center. Some criticized the move as it eliminated the full round-robin nature of the Big 5 and games will no longer be primarily played at the Palestra. In the 2023 Big 5 Classic, Villanova became the first team to ever finish in 6th place in the Big 5.

Men
From 1955 to 1990, and again from 1999 to 2022, all Big 5 men's basketball teams played each other once per season for a total of four games per team. Following the addition of Drexel and the creation of the Big 5 Classic in 2023, the six teams were split into two pods of three, where each team plays the two other teams in their pod. In the Big 5 Classic, each team then plays the team that finished in the same place as they did in the other pod, amounting to a total of three games per team. Since 1956, there have been three instances of a five-way tie among all member schools, which occurred in 1980–81 (2–2 records), 1991–92 (1–1 records), and 1997–98 (1–1 records), though the latter two cases were during the period when there was no round-robin format, so not every team played all four other teams.

Most championships

 * Asterisk (*) denotes shared championship
 * Bold denotes all five schools tied

Women
Through the 2022–23 season, Big 5 women's basketball teams played each other once per season for a total of four games per team. Currently La Salle and Saint Joseph's meet twice per season as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. If two or more Big 5 teams do share a conference, the second matchup between the schools is counted toward the Big 5 standings while the first matchup is not. Before 2023–24, there was no season-ending Big 5 Tournament, so a "champion" of the unofficial athletics group was determined by a round-robin tournament. Since 1979 there have been four instances of a three-way tie among all member schools and four instances of a two-way tie. Due to COVID-19 the complete round robin tournament was not contested in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons.

When Drexel was officially added to the rivalry in 2023, women's basketball formally became part of the Big 5 structure. Unlike the men's version, no women's games will be played at the Wells Fargo Center.

Other uses
Although known primarily of an association of Philadelphia sports teams, students from the Big 5 also coordinate frequent student government meetings. The governments consist of La Salle, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple, Saint Joseph's, and Drexel. Prior to Drexel's admission to the Big 5, the school would be represented instead of Villanova because meetings primarily revolve around Philadelphia issues. Villanova is the only Big 5 college not located in the city.

Explanatory notes
