By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) - CityOfBasketballLove.com

Demetrius Lilley was in the right spot at the right time. 

The La Salle junior big man was positioned on the right block as teammate Corey McKeithan collected his own miss, spun around and drove baseline, delivering a pass perfectly into Lilley’s hands. Lilley hesitated, allowing a couple Drexel defenders to leap in anticipation, then calmly banked it up and off the backboard and in.

“In practice we work on finding the ball,” Lilley said, “so for Corey to find me right then and there, [those are] things we’ve worked on already — it just happened to be that way on the last play.”

McKeithan’s game-winning offensive rebound and assist to Lilley lifted La Salle past Drexel, 71-68 on Saturday afternoon at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. The game-winner, which came with about 20 seconds remaining, capped off a career game for Lilley, the Lower Merion product finishing with an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double — both his new career best in scoring as well as his first collegiate double-double.

“Thankful to my teammates for passing me the ball, for giving me those looks, giving me those opportunities,” he said. “Just thankful for Coach [Fran Dunphy] for allowing me and trusting me to be out there. It feels great, feels great.”

Lilley was one of three Explorers in double figures. Jahlil White led the way for La Salle (4-0, 1-0 Big 5) with 19 points, adding six rebounds and three blocks, one of which was one of the game’s biggest defensive plays; he also added a layup at the buzzer following a Drexel turnover with three seconds left for the final margin. McKeithan added 17 of his own along with six assists as the grad transfer from Rider continued his strong start to the year (18.0 ppg)

“That goes off to my team, they gave me the confidence to be able to shoot the ball how I’m shooting it,” he said. “Even though I’m surrounded by these guys that are just as talented or even more talented than I am, they still believe in me, they’re confident in me shooting the ball.”

Despite replacing four starters from a year ago and with the team’s top three scorers — White (Temple), McKeithan (Rider) and Lilley (Penn State) all arriving this offseason — the Explorers have looked strong over the first couple weeks of the season.

“Since Day one, [we’ve had] great chemistry, since day one, since the first day I came on campus,” Lilley said. “There was nothing but love, nothing but joy, nothing but great vibes. I’m very excited, I think our destiny and our future is very bright.”

La Salle’s win sets up a Big 5 showdown with Temple on Sat., Nov. 30, though the Explorers first have three games in Daytona Beach (Fla.) for the inaugural Boardwalk Battle (Nov. 21-23). Both teams already beat Drexel this season to go to 1-0 in pod play, a second win for either guarantees them a spot in the Big 5 Classic championship game on Dec. 7 at Wells Fargo, where St. Joe’s awaits. 

“We had such a great game against Temple last year, losing in triple overtime, and we’ll think about that in our preparation,” said Dunphy, who was Temple’s head coach from 2006 to 2019. “But I like their team, I like how they’re playing, I like their depth, I think they’re a really good team, this is going to be a helluva game for us.”

Though the DAC, Drexel’s 2,500-seat arena at 34th and Market, has only hosted Big 5 games for one season, it’s starting to develop a reputation for some good ones. A year and two days after Drexel and Temple played to a 66-64 win, the DAC once again saw its seats packed for another dramatic, back-and-forth contest.

La Salle controlled the action early, the Explorers threatening to run away from the Dragons as they opened up a 23-8 lead within the game’s first eight minutes. Drexel cut that down to six a pair of times before the break, but La Salle scored the final six points of the opening half to take a 43-31 lead at intermission. 

The Dragons wasted no time making it a game out of the locker rooms. A 3-pointer by Jason Drake opened a 13-2 spurt capped by a Victor Panov triple, making it a two-point game before the first media timeout of the second half. La Salle didn’t give up its lead so easily, but the margin stayed below five all the way until Drake tied it at 65 with a 3-pointer from the left corner with 3:25 remaining. 

Drexel had a chance to take its first lead of the game when junior big man Cole Hargrove — who compiled a 10-point, 15-rebound double-double — came up with an offensive rebound right under the bucket with two minutes to play, but White came flying in to block the shot. Lilley scooped up the loose ball and fed it ahead to Daeshon Shepherd, who put La Salle back up by two with an easy two-handed dunk.

(That wasn’t Shepherd’s best dunk of the afternoon — that belonged to a flying one-handed poster dunk in the first half, the highlight of his nine-point afternoon and certainly the Big 5 season thus far.)

Kobe MaGee finally put the Dragons up 68-67 with 1:25 remaining on a second-chance 3-pointer from just about straightaway, giving the DAC crowd reason for its loudest roar yet. But Drexel didn’t score again, turning it over on its final two possessions.

~~~~

Still promise for the Dragons

While the Dragons may have fallen to both of their Big 5 pod opponents this week, losing to Temple 69-61 on Tuesday, there’s still been good signs that point towards a promising opportunity in Coastal Athletic Association play, especially considering it’s an almost entirely new group from a year ago.

All five starters finished in double figures against La Salle. Leading the scorers was Drake, who ended with 18 points and shot 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. Hargrove recorded his second career double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Panov recorded 15 while MaGee and Butler both ended the night with 10. 

Drexel was overall dominant in the paint, scoring 46 points around the rim; all of the Dragons’ points came at the bucket, from the 3-point arc (6-of-19) or at the foul line, where they went just 4-of-11. As a group, they only turned it over nine times and shot 45.3% overall despite a below-average night from 3-point range (6-of-19, 31.6%). 

The free throws were one area Spiker brought up afterwards as why his team came oh-so-close once again after trailing Temple by just four points with two minutes remaining earlier in the week.

“I think it would be unfair to point to the final minute and talk about how a turnover made a play or a missed shot — certainly there were things that could have impacted the outcome, but meaningless two foul shots in the first half out of a timeout are worth just as many points,” Spiker said. “Two foul shots with 15 minutes to play in the second half are worth just as many points. It’s a lesson sometimes as teams, as players, and sometimes even coaches you’ve got to relearn.”

The Dragons have nine games before CAA play begins and eight before an opportunity against Penn State at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 21, starting with a game at Fordham next Tuesday and then a trip to Forhdam on Nov. 22. Spiker hopes his team has a short memory, something he’s been training them on all offseason.

“We talk to our guys about trying to be the national champions of getting to the next play,” he said.

~~~

La Salle’s analytics point up

It’s the second year in a row that La Salle’s opened the season 4-0, but the numbers point to this year being an improvement nonetheless.

Last season — after beating Drexel, Northeastern, Bucknell and Southern Indiana — La Salle was ranked No. 193 according to basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy’s models. The Explorers finished the non-conference portion of the schedule 9-4, but only beat one team ranked in the top 150 on KenPom, then lost 10 of their first 12 Atlantic 10 games to stumble to a 16-17 (6-12) finish. 

This year’s group, after beating Drexel, is No. 124 nationally. A large part of that improvement is on the strength of the defense, which last year held opponents to 1.088 points per possession (230rd), and this year so far is at 1.013 ppp (103rd). They’re in the top 30 in defensive rebounding rate, 57th in 3-point defense and 35th in free-throw rate, doing a good job of keeping teams off the line. 

Dunphy’s assembled a squad that seems to have the right pieces in the right places. He’s got quality guard play in McKeithan and Andres Marrero, effective size in Lilley, a couple versatile wings in White and Shepherd, and quality depth in the form of sophomore Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi and freshman Deuce Jones. 

The 33rd-year Big 5 coach didn’t want to engage too much with the premise — but he wasn’t denying it, either. He’s also awaiting on the eligibility of sophomore guard Eric Acker, who will be available at the end of the fall semester. 

“I think you’re asking me to think about something I haven't given any consideration to at all,” he said. “But I hope we’re a little bit ahead, and we have another addition coming in Eric Acker [...] you’ve got to find a way to get him his minutes and who do you take away from? Those are the interesting things coaches have to face in keeping everybody a little bit engaged and happy. But I like where we are right now. And again, this was a really good win for us today.”

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) - CityOfBasketballLove.com

Derek Simpson picked Rutgers over Saint Joseph’s out of Lenape (N.J.) high school. 

It’s looking like City Ave. is where he belonged all along. 

The former Scarlet Knight, a 6-foot-3 guard from Lenape High (N.J.), has looked like he’s settled in to his new digs this week. He’s played well in a pair of Big 5 wins, including a 15-point, five-rebound outing on Friday night as St. Joe’s raced past Penn, 86-69 at the Palestra. 

“Everything is a humbling experience,” Simpson said. “I’m just glad I made it to Hawk Hill. I’m happy to be here, competing with my guys.”

Simpson spent the last two years at Rutgers, where he played in 66 games with 31 starts in two seasons. He averaged 8.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg and 2.9 apg as a sophomore, though his shooting splits — 30.5% overall, 28.2% from 3-point range — left much to be desired. 

Through four games on Hawk Hill, he’s been much more comfortable with the ball in his hands. His effort against Penn was his third straight in double figures, following a season-high 16 points against Villanova on Tuesday night. Through four games, he’s averaging 11.8 ppg and 4.0 rpg while hitting 44.4% (16-of-36) of his shots and 46.7% (7-of-15) from 3-point range, as well as 8-of-10 from the line. 

Playing alongside established St. Joe’s standouts Xzayvier Brown and Erik Reynolds II, Simpson is playing every bit like the guard Billy Lange needed him to be after Lynn Greer III departed for Temple. An assertive ball-handler, Simpson can get his own shot and create for others at the speed Lange wants out of his players, and he’s getting more familiar with the talent around him. 

“He brings energy, aggressiveness, and is just a dog of a competitor,” Reynolds said. “We can be threats in a lot of different ways.”

Simpson’s offensive output was part of a quite balanced one for St. Joe’s (3-1, 2-0 Big 5), which captured its pod and a spot in the BIg 5 championship game on Dec. 7 at Wells Fargo Center. It'll play either Drexel, La Salle or Temple, depending on the results of Saturday's La Salle/Drexel game and Temple/La Salle on Nov. 30.

The Hawks had five in double figures: Simpson, Reynolds and junior forward Rasheer Fleming all had 15, Brown and freshman Steven Solano with 11 apiece.

St. Joe’s never trailed, breaking the game’s final tie (9-9) less than five minutes in, opening up its first double-digit lead thanks to an 11-0 run before the midpoint of the first half. A 13-point lead hit 20 two minutes after the break, and then 32 with 11:30 remaining after the second of consecutive Brown 3-pointers. 

Lange’s group was clearly feeling good coming off the Holy War win, Hawk bodies flying everywhere after missed shots, generally imposing their will on both ends of the court for large portions of the game. 

“What I’m most proud of was the pitbull attitude that we played with coming out of halftime,” Lange said. “That’s the thing I’ll leave here tonight most impressed with. We’re going to have to do it again moving forward.”

Quakers go small, Gerhart starts

For the first three games of the season, Donahue had started two posts in senior Nick Spinoso and sophomore Augustus Gerhart. But he changed it up for the St. Joe’s game, with Gerhart in the starting lineup and Spinoso serving as the team’s top reserve. Instead, it was senior wing George Smith in the lineup, his first start of the season and 31st of his career.

“Just kind of trying to see if we can get some better flow to our offense, guys were struggling with that, and just thought we would give that a look with four guards,” Donahue said. “Unfortunately I thought the difference in the game tonight was turnovers and offensive rebounds for us, they were killers.”’

Indeed, St. Joe’s won the rebound battle 43-26, with 20 offensive rebounds — two fewer than it had in its first three games in total — and forced 13 turnovers, nine more than it committed.

Gerhart played only 12 minutes, contributing four points and two rebounds. Spinoso — who had started all but four games since the start of the 2022-23 season — was much more productive with 14 points, three rebounds, and two assists in 19 minutes on 7-of-10 from the floor. Smith added six points and three assists in 24 minutes. 

When Penn made its late push to close the gap from 32 down to its final 17, it was freshman Michaelangelo Oberti (Morris Catholic, N.J.), a 6-10, 230-pound center, who contributed four points and two rebounds in nine minutes. 

“We’re not done with figuring out if we can play two of these bigger guys, including Michelangelo Oberti, we think he’s developed a lot already,” Donahue said, “and we’re trying to figure out what’s the best for us going forward — maybe some with two bigs, and maybe four guards at times.”

Here comes the Sol(ano)

Coming into the season, it seemed like Harvard grad transfer Justice Ajogbor would be the addition the Hawks needed to man the ‘5’ spot. And while Ajogbor’s had his moments, it’s freshman center Steven Solano who seems to be picking up momentum early in his college career. 

The young center from the Bronx, who graduated from prep powerhouse La Lumiere (Ind.), put together his best game yet against Penn, going for 11 points and four rebounds in 13 minutes of play — all new bests. 

At 7-feet-tall and 260-pounds, he’s a well-proportioned, athletic big man with good length and mobility, with room to add muscle to his frame though by no means a stick figure who gets pushed around. And at 4.3 ppg and 2.0 rpg thus far, his numbers are about the same as Ajogbor’s (4.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg), in less than half the minutes (7.3/game compared to 17.3/game). 

“He is unreasonably confident, and I love that about him,” Lange said. “And when you’re young, that’s what you need, and I say that with affection. He’s like cool, I know I’m going to make a million mistakes, I know you’re going to coach me through them. It’ll just add up. He gives these guys great energy, gives them great swag, He’s had a heckuva week. To play in two Big 5 games like he had is promising.”

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) - CityOfBasketballLove.com

Call them “Philly-nova.”

That might upset some folks around the city, but there’s no doubt the Main Line portion of the Big 5 is as locally-focused as its been in decades. 

Jhamir 'Jig' Brickus comes to Nova after four years at La Salle. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Four Philly-area natives — Eric Dixon (Abington), Jordan Longino (Germantown Academy), Nisine ‘Wooga’ Poplar (Math, Civics & Sciences) and Jhamir ‘Jig’ Brickus (Coatesville) — will not just suit up for head coach Kyle Neptune, but will form the core of a group that’s got its eyes on getting ‘Nova back to prominence after a couple years below the program’s standard.

“It’s amazing,” Longino said at the team’s media day on Halloween. “I think just being four local guys, being at the helm, leading the team, it’s great. It would be amazing if we had four local guys, who grew up around the same area, to lead this team to success in the postseason.”

It's not the first time Villanova's had four local players in recent memory. The 2021-22 team actually had five, led by Collin Gillespie, though only two in the six-man rotation that played the majority of the minutes. The 2015-16 national champions started locals Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu, with Mikal Bridges and Darryl Reynolds coming off the bench.

In terms of starts and minutes played from the local contingent, this year's group should surpass both.

Longino, a 6-foot-5 senior guard and the team’s likely starter at the ‘3,’ is one of two local holdovers, along with Dixon, the 6-8 sixth-year forward who’s gone from redshirt to backup to two-time All-Big East selection, as well as the team’s only returning starter.

This offseason, the 5-11 Brickus (La Salle) and 6-5 Poplar (UMIami) both hit the transfer portal after successful runs at their previous schools, both electing to come wear the Blue & White to close out their college careers. Between the two, they have played in 219 Division I games and started 169 of those, scoring a combined 2,024 points. 

The two started in Villanova’s exhibition win over Robert Morris last weekend, and seem in line to start at the ‘1’ and ‘2’ when the regular season opens against Lafayette on Monday. Both are excited about the opportunity to play for a program that’s been one of college basketball’s modern blue bloods for as long as they’ve been paying attention. 

“Growing up you’re watching Villanova, it’s always on TV, you’re like ‘dang, I want to play there,’” Brickus said. “Being here is so surreal.”

Brickus’ senior year at La Salle saw him average 13.9 points, 4.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game on .433/.400/.857 splits. Poplar, as a junior at Miami, put up 13.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting .426/.385/.864.

“Jig, despite his stature, you look at him like just a basketball player, a guy that can literally do everything out on the floor,” Neptune said, “from using a pick and roll to iso to catch-and-shoot to even posting up, he’s just a guy that literally does everything out there.”

As for Poplar: “I knew he was a high-level athlete, but you see him in person and he does some things each day that really jump off the page.”

Not surprisingly, there are connections between the quartet that go back well before this offseason. Dixon and Brickus both played for WeR1 on the Under Armour circuit — not teammates, Dixon a year older than Brickus, but the program’s oldest teams traveled together to tournaments around the country. Longino, who played for Philly Pride, said he matched up with both Brickus and Poplar (K-Low Elite) in various grassroots and summer events. 

Brickus’ Coatesville squad matched up with Poplar’s MCS one during the 2018-19 season, a 76-70 Coatesville win; Poplar got Brickus back in college, Miami beating La Salle 84-77 last year. 

Brickus had the easiest transition to the program, having played his first two years at La Salle under Ashley Howard, who was a Villanova assistant from 2013-18 and rejoined the Wildcats bench as an assistant last year. 

“Definitely, the fact that he played for a Villanova guy, I think he was ahead of the curve in terms of understanding terminology, different plays, different sets, presses, defenses,” Neptune said.

Poplar’s got the craziest journey of the group, only picking up organized basketball as a sophomore at MCS, then becoming a high-major recruit in a short period of time. He’s happy to be back in Philly, eager to show off how much his game has matured since leaving three years ago.

“This is my hometown,” he said. “I just feel like, I’m already comfortable here because this is where I grew up, but just getting to see all the players that I grew up around, it’s good.”

Though Villanova’s just three years removed from a Final Four appearance, its fourth such trip under now-retired Jay Wright, it’s only gone 35-33 (20-20 Big East) during the last two years combined. The Wildcats went to the NIT both years, losing in the first round each time. 

Justin Moore (9.8 ppg) is done after five seasons at ‘Nova, wrapping up his career with 1,665 points. Just about the rest of the rotation is gone as well: One-year transfers TJ Bamba (10.1 ppg) and Tyler Burton (7.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg); Mark Armstrong (8.4 ppg), who declared for the NBA Draft after his sophomore year and went undrafted; Hakim Hart (6.3 ppg), Brendan Hausen (6.2 ppg) and Lance Ware (1.2 ppg); plus Chris Arcidiacono, who started 20 games in 2022-23 but only played 66 minutes last season. 

Other than the four locals, this year’s Wildcats will start 6-11 Fresno State transfer Enoch Boakye at the ‘5,’ with sophomore guard Tyler Perkins, a Penn transfer, likely the first option off the bench. Several freshmen, including redshirt freshman/Alabama transfer Kris Parker (6-9) as well as true freshmen Josiah Moseley (6-6), will fill out the bottom part of the rotation.

Neptune set up his schedule with three home games the Wildcats should handle easily against Lafayette, Columbia and NJIT, setting up the Holy War at St. Joe’s on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Three days after that is a game against Virginia in Baltimore; Maryland (Nov. 24) and Cincinnati (Dec. 3) also highlight the non-con, as does the Big 5 Classic on Dec. 7 at the Wells Fargo Center.

The 20-game Big East slate begins Tues., Dec. 17 with a home game against Seton Hall. 

“I think we’re a work in progress in all areas, but I think we can get better in all areas,” Neptune said. “I don’t know if there’s anything where it’s like ‘oooh, we’re holding our hat on that right now.’ We want to get better each practice, each day, each film session. I don’t know if there’s anything I’m like, oh yeah, this is what we’re [really well] doing right now.”

With an almost entirely new rotation to work with, nobody at Villanova is expecting perfection from Game One. But another season around .500, and those national titles in 2016 and 2018 get further and further over the horizon.

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) - CityOfBasketballLove.com

New year, new digs, new La Salle. 

Other than the presence of the venerable Fran Dunphy on the sidelines, and a few holdovers from last year, it’s a fresh start in many ways at 20th and Olney.

Four starters are gone, representing more than 60% of the team’s scoring output on the season, including two All-Atlantic 10 guards in Khalil Brantley and Jhamir Brickus. But an influx of seasoned veterans, playing in some fresh digs, are determined to get La Salle back in contention in the A-10.

“We’re excited,” junior guard Andrés Marrero said. “It’s a completely new team. The last three years, I was so used to Khalil and Jig, so right now, both of them being gone, it’s an adjustment, for sure. But we’re excited, we love playing with each other, we love competing, we’re ready to go.”

Marrero, a 6-foot-3 Venezuelan guard, is in his fourth year at La Salle, staying through the coaching change from Ashley Howard to Dunphy after his redshirt year. The Explorers’ leading returning scorer (7.9 ppg), he came off the bench in all but one of his 26 appearances a year ago.

Brantley (15.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.1 apg) is off at Oklahoma State and Brickus (13.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.8 apg) is at Villanova, taking away two uber-talented if undersized guards who combined for more than 2,400 points in Explorers uniforms. Wing Anwar Gill (9.3 ppg) is spending his final season at Howard; junior center Rokas Jocius (8.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg) is at Central Florida. 

Only senior wing and Archbishop Wood grad Daeshon Shepherd (10.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg), who entered the transfer portal but ultimately decided to stay, returns as a full-time starter from a team that finished 16-17 overall, 6-12 in the Atlantic 10. Forward Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi (6.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg), a 6-8 Swedish wing, started 18 of 33 games; third-year sophomore forward Ryan Zan (3.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg) is the only other member of the rotation back.

To supplement, Dunphy and his staff brought in four impact transfers, all of whom are in at least their third year of college basketball. That includes some familiar names to local fans in former Temple wing Jahlil White, a 6-7 fifth-year wing forward from Wildwood Catholic (N.J.) who averaged 10.1 ppg and 5.5 rpg last season, and Demetrius Lilley, a 6-9 junior forward from Lower Merion who averaged 2.8 ppg and 2.7 rpg in 20 appearances at Penn State last year. 

Two others are new to the city. Grad student Corey McKeithan, a 5-10 guard from Windsor (Conn.), averaged 8.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg and 3.3 apg while hitting 35% of his 3s as a full-time starter at Rider last year. And 6-9 forward Mac Etienne brings another big, athletic body, having spent the last four years at UCLA (2020-23) and DePaul (2023-24), playing in 67 career games. 

It’s a group that came in already understanding the college basketball lifestyle; Marrero, Lilley and McKeithan all agreed that the upperclassmen gelled quickly, the newcomers not messing around when they arrived on campus in June.

“We’re all roommates — me, Andres, Jahlil and Corey, we live in a house together,” Lilley said. “It’s just great, it’s fun playing on the floor with those guys. Everything is just fun and business, can’t get any better than that.”

Marreo, meanwhile, got to help the newcomers get used to Dunphy. The 1970 La Salle alum is now in his third year as the Explorers’ head coach, his 33rd overall between his time at Penn and Temple, this fall marking 35 years since that first season at the Quakers’ helm. And while he might have softened somewhat over the years, he’s very much kept his standards and his wit.

“Fran is an unbelievable coach, we’re blessed to have him as our coach, and he’s old-style,” Marrero said. “I just say, don’t take things personally, he wants to get the best out of you all the time, and he’s going to demand the best out of you all the time. It’s not something that you can bring once a week, twice a week. He wants you to bring the same energy, 100 percent, all the time, on and off the court. 

“That’s basically what I say to them, and they have learned — and they love Fran, we all love Fran.”

With the versatile Lilley — who’s been a quality outside shooter and passer since his high school days — at the ‘5’ and without a clear star in the lineup, the Explorers are hoping to be more offensively versatile than they’ve been in a few years. Hopes are also high for freshman guard Deuce Jones, a Trenton (N.J.) native who comes from a basketball family.

“Deuce is a good player,” McKeithan said. “The only thing that’s stopping Deuce right now is him being younger and not experienced, but you know, it starts Monday, and all it takes is one game to be experienced.”

La Salle’s season opener on November 4 against American will also be the debut of the refurbished gymnasium on La Salle’s campus, formerly the Tom Gola Arena, now the John Glaser Arena. The former 3,400-seat gym, which only had seating on the sidelines and was one of the worst in the A-10, is now a more conventionally-oriented arena with seating on all four sides, thanks to a more than $12 million renovation of the space. 

The Explorers have spent the offseason practicing mostly across the river at PCOM as well as at the new Sixth Man Center, with one practice at Chestnut Hill College. They moved into Glaser Arena just a few weeks in advance of the season starting, the arena flip done in the course of one offseason.

“It’s looking awesome,” Marrero said. “It’s going to be a completely different atmosphere.”

The Explorers play their first four games in Philly, including a Big 5 contest at Drexel (Nov. 16), before heading down to Daytona Beach (Fl.) for three games in the Boardwalk Battle. The biggest date to circle on the non-league slate is Dec. 14 at North Carolina; Atlantic 10 play starts Dec. 31 at Dayton.

Nobody expects a Sweet 16 run like the one that came in 2013. But a new team means new possibilities, and going into the season a total wild card with no external expectations can have its benefits.

“There’s ups and downs in a season, so I’m waiting to see how we move when we get a game where we aren’t shooting the best, and how do we bounce back from that,” McKeithan said. “That’s going to be big for us, learning to bounce back from things.”

If these Explorers can learn to bounce back quickly, this season of new beginnings could be a surprising one, as well.

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) - CityOfBasketballLove.com

If there was a sign that Xzayvier Brown had come a ways since his Roman Catholic days, it was crystal clear on Monday, September 23 in South Philadelphia. 

With the Philadelphia Phillies at the height of the pennant race, there strode the 6-foot-3 point St. Joe’s point guard, out to the mound at Citizens Bank Park, Phillies announcer Dan Baker calling his name over the PA system. Brown’s pitch to the Phanatic was maybe a little bit off the plate, but that wasn’t going to stop him from beaming as he posed for a picture with the venerable mascot.

He got the call just a few days prior, keeping it under wraps so as not to jinx the appearance. 

“It was very cool,” Brown said during a video press conference in late September. “I wasn’t trying to tell a lot of people (beforehand), I just wanted to make sure it happened [...] but it was a super-cool, super-dope experience, got to tour the whole Citizens Bank [Park], it was cool.”

If the 6-foot-2, 175-pound guard continues on his current trajectory, that won’t be the last time he’s similarly honored. 

The Cahillite product and Hawks’ sophomore is a quickly-rising star in the college basketball world after a stellar rookie campaign, and a major reason why St. Joe’s hopes are the highest they’ve been yet in Billy Lange’s sixth season as head coach.

Coming off a 21-14 season (9-9 Atlantic 10) and an appearance in the A-10 semifinals, with three starters returning along with some impact transfers, the Hawks are ready to make some noise. 

“There’s been expectations around this program since the first time I stepped on Hawk Hill,” Lange said. “They just might be more realistic now because of the continuity and the development of our guys and the talent, but we’ve always had expectations.”

Brown’s freshman year numbers on their own are impressive: 12.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game, making 46% of his shots and 40.4% (60-of-171) from the 3-point arc. He was even better during Atlantic 10 play, averaging 14.9 ppg and 3.5 apg during the 18-game league slate, earning A-10 Rookie of the Year honors. 

Just like he was as a freshman at Roman, where he knocked down clutch foul shots to help his team clinch a big showcase win in the first few weeks of his high school career, Brown played like a veteran from the get-go. He scored 21 points with five rebounds and four assists against Stonehill in his third collegiate game, a number he matched or beat four more times that season. 

A triple-double at some point in his career wouldn’t be out of the question: he came closest last year with a 13-point, 10-assist, six-rebound effort against Seton Hall in the NIT. 

Brown’s fantastic freshman year put him on some NBA watchlists and future draft boards, scouts at the next level taking notice, if not for the 2025 draft, potentially one or two after that. A video of him working out with Sixers guard Kyle Lowry this summer turned some heads as well.

Nobody around him is concerned about it inflating his ego.

“I’m not concerned about anything getting to that guy’s head, at all,” Lange said. “If anything, I need to elevate him to believe that he’s as good as I believe that he is, and as we believe that he is.

“If there was a guy that you were like, this guy can handle additional expectations, it’s X. Brown.”

Of course, Brown is not the Hawks’ only reason for optimism. 

Senior guard Erik Reynolds II, who averaged 17.3 ppg as a junior, has 1,616 career points and is well within striking range of Jameer Nelson’s 2,094, on pace to surpass the Hawk legend if he keeps up his career average of 16.5 ppg. Junior forward Rasheer Fleming, who nearly doubled his output from his freshman year to average 10.7 ppg and 7.4 rpg as a sophomore while hitting 32% from deep, gives them size and versatility at 6-9.

From the transfer portal, Lange added former Rutgers guard Derek Simpson (8.3 ppg, 2.9 apg) and former Harvard big man Justice Ajogbor (8.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg), who will help make up for the graduation of Cameron Brown (11.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and transfer of sophomore center Christ Essandoko (8.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg) to Providence. 

“You get to playing and you see them do a few things, and you’re like, these guys have legitimate game experience,” Lange said. “Derek is dynamic, he can play the point, he can score off the ball, he can score off the dribble. He’s a very good defensive player, he’s been that way since high school. Justice comes from a program that we admire in Harvard [...] he’s a great fit, he brings us shot-blocking, he brings us lob-catching. Both of these guys are competitive, and they’re ready, and they’re mature, and they’re experienced.”

Reynolds, Fleming, Simpson and Ajogbor are the only scholarship upperclassmen on the team.

That leaves the Hawks’ other underclassmen responsible for the team’s depth this year. Sophomores Anthony Finkley (2.3 ppg, 1.7 rpg) and Shawn Simmons (1.4 ppg) got a decent amount of experience as freshmen, the two local products both able to slot in at multiple positions. Camden grad Dasear Haskins, a 6-8 wing, redshirted as a true freshman last season and has perhaps the highest upside on the team.

“I’ve been around a lot of redshirts [...]  Dasear ranks amongst the best guys that I’ve seen take full advantage of this time sitting out,” Lange said. “His mind expanded, his body’s expanded, he’s had a heck of a preseason. He needs game experience but we’re very  high on what he can bring.”

Four freshmen also join the fold: 6-5 guard Mekai Johnson (Bishop Ireton, Md.), 7-0 center Steven Solano (La Lumiere, Ind.), 6-7 wing Kevin Kearney (South Shore, N.Y.) and 5-10 Neumann-Goretti guard Khaafiq Myers, who’s still working his way back from an ACL tear he suffered as a senior in high school.

Expect Lange to experiment with that group early and settle into his primary rotation by the start of Atlantic 10 play, which starts Dec. 31 at home against Massachusetts. That’ll come after a non-conference schedule that includes games against Texas Tech (Nov. 21), Princeton (Dec. 3), Charleston (Dec. 10) and Virginia Tech (Dec. 21), in addition to the Big 5 slate and a few other less-foreboding opponents. 

The Hawks, picked third in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, certainly have what it takes to get back to the big dance, breaking a nine-year drought without an NCAA Tournament appearance. There’s a lot of basketball to be played between November and March, 30 games to see how it comes together, and they can’t wait to get started.

“I think this season is going to turn a lot of heads and we’re going to make some noise this year,” Reynolds said. “I’m looking forward to that.”

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) - CityOfBasketballLove.com

For the second year in a row, Temple’s men’s basketball program is a giant question mark entering the season. 

The Owls saw their top three scorers from last year all hit the transfer portal, have nine new faces who weren’t on the roster last year, all from a team that finished four games under-.500 last year and on a program that has only one winning season in the last five.

But unlike a year ago, when Adam Fisher and his staff were going into their inaugural season, this year’s unknown has an optimistic slant to it. 

Yes, there are a lot of new pieces, with last year’s top three scorers all gone while more than half the roster turned over. But the players that Fisher brought in have some real numbers on their resumé: Jamal Mashburn Jr. averaged 17.3 ppg in three years at New Mexico; Lynn Greer III averaged 11.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 3.9 apg in two years as a starter at St. Joe’s; Elijah Gray averaged 8.4 ppg and 3.7 rpg as a sophomore at Fordham.

(Ed. Note: Greer was suspended on Oct. 24 for the first nine games of the season due to NCAA rule violations from his time at Saint Joseph's)

And the cupboard wasn’t bare to begin with. Steve Settle III (8.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg), Shane Dezonie (7.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg), Matteo Picarelli (7.0 ppg, 36.8 3PT%) and Zion Stanford (6.6 ppg, 2.3 rpg) were all in Fisher’s top seven a year ago; throw in Quante Berry (2.6 ppg) and walk-on Connor Gal, and there’s already more continuity back in the fold than the previous year. 

The final reason for optimism is what happened at the end of the 2023-24 season. The Owls were just 8-17 overall, 1-11 in the American Athletic Conference on February 15 after a 12-point loss to Florida Atlantic. They proceeded to win eight of their next 10 games, including four straight in the AAC Tournament, making it all the way to the league championship game before falling short to UAB, 85-69, their fifth contest in five days.

That 16-20 (5-13) record also featured nine losses of seven points or fewer, another in overtime. 

“It’s not like all of a sudden we changed that much,” Picarelli said. “We figured out how to win. We were always in games, we just figured out how to win, we got over that hump, and once we did that, we managed to win — and win a lot.”

The league’s coaches noticed. They picked Temple to finish sixth this year despite the turnover, after picking them 12th a year ago. 

It helps having some proven talent in the mix, starting with Mashburn. The preseason First Team All-League selection, who started his college career at Minnesota, averaged as many as 19.1 ppg during the 2022-23 season, the Lobos’ offense more balanced a year ago as he averaged 14.1 ppg while taking four fewer shots per contest than the year before.

The son of 12-year NBA pro and former All-Star Jamal Mashburn, Mashburn Jr. enters his final year of college basketball with more than 3,600 minutes of Division I hoops under his belt, making him the most experienced player as a roster. The expectation has been for him to come in right away and lead, and it’s a role he said he’s jumped right into.

“These guys are so easy to connect with and they allow me to be my authentic self and be a leader, vocally, on and off the court,” he told CoBL. “It’s been a smooth transition.”

The backcourt should be the focal point of this group, with Mashburn, Picarelli and Greer III leading the way. They also brought in 6-4 Westtown grad Jameel Brown, who averaged 4.0 ppg in 27 appearances at Penn State last year, and 6-5 freshman Aiden Tobaiason (St. Elizabeth’, Del.) is the rare under-the-radar recruit who could impress early on. 

The evolution of Stanford, the 6-6 West Catholic product, will be important on the wing. Up front, 6-8 freshman Dillion Battie, the son of Temple product Derrick Battie, will battle for minutes in a group that includes the 6-10 Settle, 6-8 Gray, 7-1 junior and Tulsa transfer Mohamed Keita.

“I think we’re talented offensively,” PIcarelli said. “I think once we start playing more against other opponents, we’ll be able to tell what our identity is, but we have a lot of talent on this team and we’re all excited to start this season.”

Fisher set his team up with a schedule that gives them a few early opportunities to learn how to win: home games against Sacred Heart and Drexel along with a neutral-court game against Monmouth set them up for a trip to Boston College (Nov. 15), followed by two games at Mohegan Sun against Florida State and UMass (Nov. 22-23). League play begins on Jan. 3 with a visit from Wichita State. 

The AAC should be good enough to get a couple teams into March Madness, but for Temple to put itself in at-large consideration will take a near-perfect non-league portion and then a strong push through conference play. A finish high in the league would at least prevent them from needing to win five games in five days to lift a trophy, a tough ask for any team.

The NCAA Tournament used to be a regular stop for the Owls, but they’ve gone six years without a trip, and have only been twice since 2013, the last of six straight trips under Fran Dunphy. 

Though the current roster were young kids the last time Temple was in the AP Top 25 (2011-12), they understand the history on North Broad. The changing culture of college basketball might mean that Temple never again reaches the heights it had under John Chaney, but this group of Owls knows that the recent history of .500 seasons isn’t nearly sufficient.

“All the transfers, we came here with a goal to uproot and uplift this program, be culture-shifters and culture-changers, and I believe that we will do that,” Mashburn said. “I’ll only be here for a year but I know after I’m done I’ll want to be here for two or three years, just because of how much I love it. 

“This year’s going to show a lot about us as people, as a team, but I believe we’re going to be a really good team. I believe it’s going to be a process, there’s going to be ups and downs, but I think we’re going to have the strength to get through that.”

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) - CityOfBasketballLove.com

Zach Spiker’s first eight years at Drexel have been marked by slow-but-steady progress. 

Whether it’s win totals or analytical numbers, there’s no doubt there’s been an improvement over the near-decade that the former Army coach has been running the Dragons’ program. Now as the next era of Spiker’s tenure begins, there’s more question marks than there have been at 34th and Market in some time — most notably, can the Dragons keep it rolling?

Spiker’s first Drexel season saw the Dragons finish 9-23 overall, 3-15 in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA). They built around the combination of Camren Wynter and James Butler to ultimately win a CAA title during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, and have had winning records the three years since: 15-14 (10-8), then 17-15 (10-8), and then a 20-12 (13-5) finish last year, the most wins by the Drexel men in 12 years. 

The season ended with the No. 2 seed going down in a double overtime loss to No. 7 Stony Brook in the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament. Their highest finish in the CAA since the 2011-12 season (29-7, 16-2) 

“I think that’s the beauty of college athletics,” Spiker said. “You go with a group, do some really really good things, and you start it with another group, and you try to figure it out. We’re not going to be the same as last year, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be as good.”

This offseason was not a kind one to the Dragons, for a variety of reasons. 

Three starters — Luke House (9.2 ppg), Lucas Monroe (6.7 ppg) and Mate Okros (6.4 ppg) — exhausted their eligibility. Starting center Amari Williams, thrice the CAA Defensive Player of the Year, took his 7-foot frame to Kentucky for his final year of eligibility, an expected move for one of the best bigs in mid-major hoops. Key reserves Jamie Bergens (Fairfield) and Lamar Oden Jr. (Charleston Southern) also chose to finish their college careers at different spots.

Less expected was the final departure, junior point guard Justin Moore (12.4 ppg), who hit the transfer portal after the season and wound up in the Atlantic 10 at Loyola Chicago.

That left Spiker and his staff without their entire starting lineup from last season, their top five leading scorers. More than three-quarters of the team’s scoring, rebounding and assists are all gone. 

Key reserves Kobe MaGee (6.3 ppg) and Yame Butler (6.1 ppg) lead the returners, with previously-little-used junior Cole Hargrove, sophomore Shane Blakeney and redshirt freshman Horace Simmons Jr. back as well. Senior forward Garfield Turner, who averaged 5.1 ppg and 4.6 rpg in a key reserve role a year ago, will miss the season with a knee injury, a big blow for the frontcourt.

Without Williams and Turner, Spiker will have to rely on a mostly-green group of bigs including Hargrove, 7-1 freshman Ralph Akuta, 6-9 freshman Clemson Edomwonyin and 6-7 junior college transfer Victor Panov, who averaged 13.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg as as a sophomore at Daytona State (Fl.) last year.

“Yeah, Amari left and he was something good for us on defense, but everybody is stepping up,” Butler said. “We still have Cole Hargrove down there,.we have good new big men like Ralph and Clemson[...] they’re very good post defenders, too.”

Turner’s injury hasn’t been the only one this preseason; sophomore guard Kevon Vanderhorst broke his wrist during the preseason, and could miss the early part of the regular season. That leaves junior Jason ‘Deuce’ Drake, a transfer from Butler Community College, and freshman Josh Reed (Archbishop Wood) as the two point guards battling for minutes at the ‘1’. 

Where the Dragons have good numbers is on the wings. Butler (6-5), Magee (6-6), Simmons (6-6) and Blakeney (6-5) all have good size at the ‘3,’ and 6-8 sophomore Villiam Garcia Adsten — a late addition from Sweden — has intriguing upside as well. 

“I think we’ve recruited well to size and athleticism and length,” Spiker said. “We’ve got to continue to develop our skill and play to our strengths, that’s what I would say. I thought we played to our strengths last year. I think we need to really make sure guys are getting the ball where they can attack.”

All-in-all, it’s a group that might not have a star, and that’s something they’re okay with.

“I think it’s just five people playing basketball,” MaGee said. “I don’t think there's a leading scorer, I think we’re all going to contribute [...] some people are going to have really good games, some aren’t, but if.we all stick together we’ll come out with the win, hopefully.”

The Dragons’ season begins on Nov. 4 with a home game against D-II Georgian Court (N.J.); a much stiffer test comes five days later when four-time defending Patriot League champ Colgate comes to the DAC.

Outside of scheduled Big 5 contests against Temple (Nov. 12) and La Salle (Nov. 16) plus the second-ever Big 5 Classic (Dec. 7), Drexel’s non-con is full of winnable games (Fairfield, Purdue-Ft. Wayne, Bryant, Albany, Howard) leading into a game against Penn State at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 21.

CAA play starts January 2 with a trip to Buies Creek (N.C.) to play Campbell, with a visit to North Carolina A&T two days later. 

The Dragons don’t have to win the league to continue the momentum that has built up in University City. Being in the top half of the CAA on an annual basis, with regular challenges inside the top three, would be a solid benchmark, about in line with the largely-successful Bruiser Flint era from 2001-16. 

Right now, last year is the high-water mark. They’ll keep trying to set a new one.

“(Spiker) definitely brings it up as, like, something for us to compete with,” Butler said. “Not saying that we’re trying to compare ourselves, but he definitely brings it up like, we have a tradition, and we’re not going to be bottom of the barrel, we’re going to keep pushing to be No. 1 in the league every year.”

Today, Toyota was announced as the title sponsor of the Big 5 Classic for the next three years. Toyota will headline both the Women’s Classic at Villanova University on December 6 and the Men’s Classic at Wells Fargo Center on December 7. 

“The Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association is incredibly proud to partner with the iconic Big 5 Classic, an event that holds a special place in Philadelphia’s rich sports history,” said President of the Tri-State Toyota Dealers Association Paul Muller. “Toyota has always been committed to supporting community-driven events that bring people together, and we see college sports as a key part of that vision. By sponsoring both the Men’s and Women’s Classics, we’re not only celebrating the spirit of competition but also helping elevate these incredible athletes and institutions on a national stage.”  

With this announcement, tickets for the second annual Toyota Men’s Big 5 Classic are now officially on sale. Tickets for the tripleheader start at just $30 and are good for all three matchups. Group and premium ticket options are also available at big5classic.com. 

Last year, Saint Joseph’s claimed the coveted Big 5 title, defeating Temple 74-65 in the championship game with hopes to defend its title at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, December 7. Details on the 2024 men’s Big 5 pod schedule can be found at big5classic.com.  

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Toyota to elevate the tradition of Big 5 basketball in Philadelphia and beyond,” said Comcast Spectacor Chairman & CEO and Big 5 Ambassador Dan Hilferty. “After a successful inaugural year with the Men’s Classic, we are thrilled to have the women’s teams be part of the excitement this year. We are looking forward to welcoming students, alumni and fans back to the Wells Fargo Center this December.” 

This past June, the Philadelphia Big 5 Athletic Directors officially welcomed Drexel University as part of the women’s basketball Big 5 and revealed details of the inaugural Toyota Women’s Big 5 Classic which will be held at the Finneran Pavilion on the campus of Villanova University on Friday, December 6. This event will also feature a tripleheader determined by pod play. 

“The Big 5 Classic is a unique opportunity for the city of Philadelphia to add to the continued growth of women's basketball, and Toyota's commitment is emblematic of the excitement surrounding the sport,” said Villanova University Interim Director of Athletics Lynn Tighe. “I am thrilled to welcome them as our partner in this only-in-Philadelphia special event.” 

Tickets for the Toyota Women’s Big 5 Classic are on sale at Villanova.com. 

The schedule is set as a new era continues in Big 5 men’s basketball for the 2024-25 season. For the second straight year, all six of the city’s NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs have been split into two pods of three teams. Each team will play the others in their pod at on-campus sites in a round-robin format. From those games, the schedule will be set for a tripleheader at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, Dec. 7 with the first seed in each pod competing for the Big 5 championship, the second-place teams in each pod competing for third place, and the third seeds competing for fifth place.

For the 2024-25 season, Pod 1 once again features Drexel, La Salle and Temple while Pod 2 features Penn, Saint Joseph’s and Villanova.

Group sales are available now by calling 215-389-9543 or emailing here. Luxury Suites are available now and can be booked online at wellsfargocentersuites.com. General tickets are scheduled to go on sale in September at Big5Classic.com.

2024-25 Philadelphia Big 5 Men’s Basketball Schedule

(All game times TBA by host school)

Pod 1

Tuesday, Nov. 12 – Drexel at Temple

Saturday, Nov. 16 – La Salle at Drexel

Saturday, Nov. 30 – Temple at La Salle

Pod 2

Tuesday, Nov. 12 – Villanova at Saint Joseph’s

Friday, Nov. 15 – Saint Joseph’s at Penn

Tuesday, Nov. 19 – Penn at Villanova

Men’s Big 5 Classic

Saturday, Dec. 7 at Wells Fargo Center, game times TBA

PHILADELPHIA (June 6, 2024) - Today, the Philadelphia Big 5 Athletic Directors officially welcomed Drexel University as part of the women’s basketball Big 5 and revealed details of a new series format where the champion will be determined during a same-day, Big 5 tripleheader. The inaugural Women’s Big 5 Classic will be held at the Finneran Pavilion on the campus of Villanova University on Friday, December 6, 2024. The Villanova Athletic Ticket Office is currently accepting deposits for the Women’s Big 5 Classic at https://villanova.evenue.net/events/WB5. Tickets will officially go on sale on June 17.

The 2024-25 season will be the 44th year of Big 5 women’s basketball. The five-team round robin format began in 1979-80 and has been in existence every year with the exception of 2020-21 due to Covid.

The Big 5 also announced that the Men’s Big 5 Classic will return to Wells Fargo Center for the next three seasons with this year’s event scheduled for Saturday, December 7. Comcast Spectacor will continue to oversee the operational and promotional aspects of the men’s tripleheader. Group sales are available now by calling 215-389-9543 or emailing wfc-groupevents@comcastspectacor.com. Luxury Suites are available now and can be booked online at wellsfargocentersuites.com. General tickets are scheduled to go on sale in September at Big5Classic.com.

“Drexel University is honored for our women’s basketball program to officially join the Philadelphia Big 5,” said Drexel Director of Athletics Maisha Kelly. “The support, collaboration, and uniqueness of the Philadelphia Big 5 are unmatched. Aligning with our five fellow institutions only strengthens the visibility of women’s basketball in this city.  We are eager to participate in an official capacity this upcoming season having competed with many of these institutions in non-conference play regularly. This inclusion is another step towards advancing our brand, when coupled with the sustained success the program has had, both regionally and nationally.”

In addition to adding the Drexel women into the Big 5 women’s basketball format, the Big 5 bolstered its leadership team by naming Dan Hilferty as the Ambassador of the Big 5. Hilferty, a Saint Joseph’s alumnus and current chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast Spectacor and Governor of the Philadelphia Flyers, will serve as a lead ambassador to the Big 5.

“After a great response from the inaugural year of the new men’s format, I am thrilled to see that the success of the reinvigorated Big 5 is extending to women’s basketball,” said Hilferty. “As a lifelong basketball fan and Big 5 alumna, I am really excited to be working with the six universities to keep traditions alive and champion the future of the Big 5.”

For the new women’s format, the six schools will be separated into three-team pods: Pod 1: Temple, La Salle, and Drexel; Pod 2: Villanova, Saint Joseph's, and Penn. Each team will play the other two teams from their pod at their individual on-campus arenas. All teams will participate in the tripleheader at the Finneran Pavilion on December 6, with the first seed in each pod competing for the Big 5 championship, as well as respective games with the second seeds and third seeds.

Following the 2024 Big 5 Classic, the pods for the men and women will remain synchronized and rotate every two years. The site of the Women’s Big 5 Classic will also rotate on a yearly basis to other sites that will be determined at a later date.

"As our sport continues to grow in national exposure, we are all excited to welcome a new member into the Big 5 in Drexel, and capitalize on the excitement in women's basketball in a new, more intentional championship format,” said Saint Joseph’s head women’s basketball coach Cindy Griffin. “Paired with a rich tradition and history, the Big 5 is long known for the quality of student-athletes and coaches, and we are looking forward to continuing to showcase Philadelphia basketball at the highest level."