Soft Pretzel Logic

Now that the Barbaro stuff has settled a little bit, I have time to take a few minutes to read some of the mail I've received (yes, I have fan mail, and I'm very happy about it).

I've been going back and forth with Penn fan Will Weiss about the future of the Big 5. I'm going to condense what he wrote a little bit because his original email was really, really long, but here are the main parts. Oh, and if you want your thoughts on here, please feel free to post a comment or send me an email.

Will wrote:

I am curious as to what you think is the future of the Big 5. I think you can look at the Penn-Temple game and say, that's what Big 5 basketball is all about. The media coverage was incredible, and if only for a night, it was amazing to have the Big 5, and more selfishly Penn in the local spotlight.

Although the atmosphere was at its best, it's hard to ignore the 2,000 plus tickets that went unsold for the game. Then again, it was a cold Wednesday night and this weekend's battle is entirely sold-out. Perhaps more uplifting is the fact that the St Joe's game is sold-out without the additional storyline. It is simply the Big 5 at its best, on a Saturday at the Palestra.

When I try to look into the future I see mixed signals. The rise of big-money conference basketball has undoubtedly hurt the Big 5, although it has made it even more unique. I wonder if 'Nova even "needs" the Big 5.

My reply is this: I do think the Big 5 survives, and I think the number one reason for that is Jay Wright. Whether or not Villanova 'needs' it, Wright really does appreciate the history and tradition. And with Penn and Drexel being at the levels that they are, it allows him to say that his team plays a good non-conference schedule instead of the absolute creampuff stuff you see at Syracuse, UConn and Pitt.

As I'm sure you know well, Syracuse and UConn don't cross state lines until February unless there's a big bag of money down the highway, and it's not like there are that many great teams to play in their own states. Boeheim can claim that the games at the Garden are against good teams, which they are, but 'Nova gets out of its gym and plays genuine road games in genuine road atmospheres.

I'm also very much in favor of including Drexel officially in the Big 5. I understand that teams don't necessarily have the scheduling space to fit Drexel in. Given how large the A-10 and Big East are now, that is clear. But it is certainly worth remembering in the years to come that only La Salle couldn't fit Drexel in this season, not Temple or 'Nova. John Chaney's Owls wouldn't play Drexel, but Fran Dunphy is willing to do it, so hopefully that will stand.

At the very least, there are two easy things to do to include Drexel even if the round-robin can't be expanded. They deserve a flag in the Palestra rafters, and their players should be considered for what the Big 5 calls the "All-City Team." As the point was made to me recently, include Drexel and call it the All-City team or exclude them and call it the All-Big 5 team.

Above all, though, the Big Ten has 11 teams and the Atlantic 10 has 14. So there is no good reason why the Big 5 can't have six.

Will's reply and my response to the reply after the jump.