Soft Pretzel Logic

Well, we've got a real buzz in the building for the first time this tournament. It's a Big 5 showdown between 2-seed Temple and 7-seed La Salle, and the crowd is without question the biggest yet this year at Boardwalk Hall.

As I said in the previous post, Temple's got a big student section tonight:

La Salle's is also pretty strong, and it's growing as I write this:

Here are the starting lineups:

La Salle

F Fr 20 Jerrell Williams
F Jr 31 Paul Johnson
C So 20 Yves Mekongo Mbala
G So 10 Rodney Green
G Sr 11 Darnell Harris

Temple

F Sr 13 Mark Tyndale
F Fr 24 Lavoy Allen
C Jr 41 Sergio Olmos
G So 10 Luis Guzman
G Jr 22 Dionte Christmas

The game's on Comcast SportsNet, so watch it and leave your thoughts here on the blog.

Away we go...

Postgame audio

Temple: Fran Dunphy, Chris Clark and Mark Tyndale
La Salle: John Giannini and Darnell Harris

Even by John Giannini's own admission, the game was pretty well over at halftime.

Yes, La Salle got within 12 points with 6:28 left in the game, but the hole was just too big to climb out of.

In the end, Temple left the Explorers' dreams of a Big 5 championship in shreds, walking out of Tom Gola Arena with an 85-66 win. It clinched second place in the Atlantic 10 for the Owls -- and took that same City Series title down Broad Street from Olney to Cecil B. Moore.

Temple shot 32-for-66 from the field (48.5%), including 11-for-24 from three-point range (45.8%) and 21-for-42 from two-point range (50.0%), and 10-for-14 from the free throw line (71.4%). Fifteen offensive rebounds, 23 defensive rebounds, 20 assists, seven turnovers, six blocks, five steals and 19 fouls committed.

That adds up to 65 possessions and 1.314 points per possession.

La Salle shot 27-for-61 from the field (44.3%), including 6-for-21 from three-point range (28.6%) and 21-for-40 from two-point range (52.5%), and 6-for-11 from the free throw line (54.5%). Fourteen offensive rebounds, 22 defensive rebounds, 13 assists 12, turnovers, six blocks, one steal and 16 fouls committed.

That adds up to 64 possessions and 1.028 points per possession.

The adage has long been that If you live by the three, you also may well die from it. Darnell Harris led all scorers with 26 points -- 18 in the second half -- but he shot only 4-for-11 from the arc, and 11-for-21 overall.

Harris' first made trey of night made him the top three-point shooter in Atlantic 10 history; his last was the last shot of the game -- and his last ever at Gola -- with 4.8 seconds left.

So the line of the game goes to a guy who has really stepped up in the last few games to become Temple's third scoring option, Chris Clark. And fitting, perhaps, that he did this on the same floor where he also played his last high school game with St. Joe's Prep:

It's Temple's first Big 5 title since 2004-05, when -- like this year -- they tied Villanova for first place at 3-1.

It's also Fran Dunphy's fifth career City Series championship; he won outright in 1994 (2-0) and 2002 (4-0), and in 1992 and 1998 everyone split at 1-1.

We also got two rollouts in the second half. The first came from La Salle's students right at center court of section E3, with 15:41 to play in the 2nd half: "It's OK we like Dr. G better."

And with just over two minutes left in the game, the Temple students at the top of section E1 unfurled one that read "BIG 5 CHAMPS," with an accompanying chant of the same words.

It's always better to have some rollouts than none.

Greetings from a sold-out Tom Gola arena, where we're actually a bit into the second half but I couldn't post until now because my laptop battery was dead. But having found a power outlet, here are the first-half stats after Temple took a commanding 50-26 lead over La Salle into intermission.

The Owls' offense was going full throttle. Temple shot 18-for-31 from the field (58.1%), including 5-for-8 from three-point range (62.5%) and 13-for-23 from two-point range (56.5%), and 9-for-13 from the free throw line. Seven offensive rebounds, 12 defensive rebounds, nine assists, three turnovers five blocks, three steals and nine fouls committed.

That adds up to 33 possessions and 1.507 points per possession.

Chris Clark has the hot hand, leading all scorers with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting -- including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. He's still making big shots as I type, and more on that to come after the game.

La Salle kept things close for a while, but a 12-1 Temple run midway through the half broke things open.

For the half, the Explorers shot 11-for-32 from the field (34.4%), including 3-for-12 from three-point range (25.0%) and 8-for-20 from two-point range (40.0%), and 1-for-3 from the free throw line (33.3%), Ten offensive rebounds, nine defensive rebounds, eight assists, nine turnovers, two blocks, no steals and 10 fouls committed.

That adds up to 32 possessions and 0.802 points per possession.

Darnell Harris is only 2-for-6 from beyond the arc and 3-for-9 overall; his eight total points led La Salle at halftime.

The pregame ceremony included a nice touch for the Explorers' other senior, Sherman Diaz: a playing of the Trinidad and Tobago national anthem for the Diego Martin native.

Come back later for press conference audio and full game stats.

Ray Parrillo
Jeff McLane
Bob Ford
Dick Jerardi
Rich Hofmann

Inquirer photographer Jerry Lodriguss' gallery

(and Dick Jerardi's usual Monday column)

(and Joe Juliano and Mike Kern's reports from Villanova's loss at Louisville)

Philadelphia Will Do has video highlights from the last few minutes.

I'm editing the College HoopsCast right now and will have it posted later this afternoon.

Temple's Mark Tyndale drives for the winning basket. (Jerry Lodriguss/Inquirer)

Postgame audio

Temple: Fran Dunphy, Mark Tyndale and Chris Clark
St. Joseph's: Phil Martelli

Inquirer staff writer Ray Parrillo's early recap

Mark Tyndale admitted after the game that he felt Temple deserved some sort of revenge for the Owls' controversial loss to St. Joe's earlier in the season.

Tonight, he got it.

Tyndale delivered the game-winning basket with 22 seconds left, and 9-6 Temple now sits alone in second place in the Atlantic 10 after its 57-56 win over St. Joe's. The Hawks fell to fourth place in the conference below Massachusetts, and are even with the Minutemen, Richmond and La Salle at 8-6.

The Owls shot 21-for-50 from the field (42.0%), including 7-for-20 from three-point range (35.0%) and 14-for-30 from two-point range (46.7%), and 8-for-11 from the free throw line (72.7%). Eight offensive rebounds, 23 defensive rebounds, 12 assists, 11 turnovers, four blocks, five steals and 13 fouls committed.

That adds up to 59 possessions and 0.962 points per possession.

St. Joe's shot 20-for-52 from the field (38.5%), including a frigid 2-for-16 from three-point range (12.5%) and 18-for-36 from two-point range (50.0%), and 14-for-16 from the free throw line (87.5%). Ten offensive rebounds, 22 defensive rebounds, six assists, nine turnovers, seven blocks and five steals.

That adds up to 58 possessions and 0.972 points per possession.

Just as significantly, after scoring 24 points in the paint in the first half, the Hawks only scored six from there in the second half. At the other end of the floor, Temple scored six points in the paint in the first half and 20 in the second.

Line of the Game goes to the guy who took the thing on his back in the second half and carried the Owls to the win:

So as I head off to sleep, I leave you with this question:

What does finishing second in the Atlantic 10 get you this year?

Honestly, I have no idea.

Off we go from the Palestra at what is simply a monstrous game for St. Joe's if the Hawks are to have any chance of making the NCAA Tournament.

But the Owls surely have that crushing last-second loss to St. Joe's at the Liacouras Center front and center in their memories, and will be out for revenge tonight.

This game counts as the Big 5 game for the season, in addition to its impact on the Atlantic 10 standings and which teams will get byes in Atlantic City.

It's a full house and then some, with the corners jammed well before tipoff. The St. Joe's student section is surprisingly small, though -- just section 120, and maybe a few rows of 220. It's certainly not the wall of crimson we're used to when the Hawks play on 33rd Street.

The Temple students and band are together in section 108. The brass players in the band have little cutouts of Phil Martelli's head in full scream attached to their music holders. Nice tough.

As always, check back here for all the rollouts, chants and so forth. The game is on CSN, so feel free to post comments as you watch.

The starting lineups:

Temple

F Fr 24 Lavoy Allen
C Jr 41 Sergio Olmos
G Sr 13 Mark Tyndale
G Jr 22 Dionte Christmas
G So 10 Luis Guzman

St. Joseph's

F Sr 52 Rob Ferguson
F Sr 12 Pat Calathes
C Jr 34 Ahmad Nivins
G So 13 Darrin Govens
G Jr 0 Tasheed Carr

15:57 1st, 6-4 St. Joe's: The first rollout of the night comes from Temple: "YOU HAVE ONE OF OUR ROLLOUTS."

Well now. Seeing as how the St. Joe's students snuck a "THE HAWK WILL NEVER DIE" rollout into the Villanova section at the Holy War (yes, that's my admission that I completely missed it during the game), let's see where that goes.

And here it is, as the Temple students chant "That's our rollout!" : "YOU CAN'T SPELL DIONTE W/O NIT"

I maintain, as I've been saying on the College HoopsCast for a while now, that an NIT bid would be a pretty nice accomplishment for Temple.

And if St. Joe's isn't careful, they might end up there too.

11:58 1st, 17-13 St. Joe's: I thought I just saw a Temple rollout coming, but it fell over. Oh, it was upside down. Here it is: "NBA SCOUTS TO CALATHES ... YAWN"

7:29 1st, 22-16 St. Joe's: Another Temple rollout: "FLAP YOUR WINGS IF YOU SUCK"

At the St. Joe's end, there's one unfurling slowly. Now it's just sitting there held up behind a row of students, and I can't tell if they're going to lift it. They finally do: "STUDENTS @ TU... TYPICAL UNDERACHIEVERS" The Temple students chant "Boring, boring..."

3:51 1st, 27-22 St. Joe's: Another Temple rollout, and I'm starting to wonder why they've got more than St. Joe's by some distance: "OUR FOOTBALL TEAM WON HOMECOMING... DID BC'S?"

Oh wow. Can I please take some credit for that? Seriously, I had the BC-St. Joe's football thing on here way before anyone else in the Philly media did. So I'm going to take credit for insipring that rollout, thank you very much.

HALFTIME, 31-27 St. Joe's Whereas the Liacouras Center game was an up-and-down, frenetic affair, this game has been much more deliberate and methodical.

I'm not too surprised, to be honest; it's the time of year where you don't want to make too many mistakes, and it's also the time of year when legs get a little weary as the regular season nears its end.

Here, then are the numbers.

For Temple: 9-for-25 from the field (36.0%), including 5-for-14 from three-point range (35.7%) and 4-for-11 from two-point range (36.4%), and 4-for-6 from the free throw line (66.7%). Four offensive rebounds, 11 defensive rebounds, eight assists, seven turnovers, two blocks, two steals and six fouls committed.

That adds up to 31 possessions and 0.875 points per possession.

For St. Joe's: 12-for-26 from the field (46.2%), and all the made baskets were inside the arc -- the Hawks were 0-for-8 from three-point range. They also shot 7-for-8 from the line (87.5%). Four offensive rebounds, 12 defensive rebounds, two assists, six turnovers, five blocks, three steals and six fouls committed.

That adds up to 32 possessions and 0.975 points per possession.

And it's not just that all the made baskets were from two-point range. St. Joe's scored all of their 24 points from the field in the paint. A lot of them came from driving guards, but Ahmad Nivins has stepped up with nine points on 4-for-5 shooting.

Dionte Christmas leads Temple with 10 points on 3-for-7 shooting, including 2-for-5 from three-point range.

Okay, time for the second half.

15:41 2nd, 41-29 St. Joe's: The Hawks jump out on a 10-2 run to start the half, five of the points coming from Tasheed Carr. A Temple rollout: "ST. JOE'S HAWK: FAILED 2ND GRADE ART PROJECT"

15:00 2nd, 43-29 St. Joe's: As Rob Ferguson hits a short jumper, the St. Joe's students unfurl a rollout during the run of play" ¡HOLA OLMOS! DONDE ESTA EL "POST GAME"? A few people behind me laughed, for what it's worth.

11:18 2nd, 49-38 St. Joe's: Another Temple rollout: "SJU BBALL ENDS IN 2 WEEKS X-MAS IS ALL YEAR LONG"

While I was reading the rollout, they had that contest where two students have to run down the floor and make a layup dressed in Dunkin' Donuts coffee cup costumes. Apparently the Temple student in the contest did something illegal, so the St. Joe's student won.

Public address man Brian Startare announced that the winner got "a great prize pack from Dunkin' Donuts because Temple didn't follow the rules." That drew one of the louder cheers on the night.

6:45 2nd, 52-42 St. Joe's: As the game just sort of rolls on, the atmosphere pretty muted by Big 5 standards, at least we get a Temple rollout with a little spice to it: "PHIL'S NEXT BOOK: HOW TO SET A MOVING PICK"

And I thought we were almost past that. I guess not.

5:08 2nd, 52-49 St. Joe's: Serves me right again. Chris Clark hits an open three at the left corner and Phil Martelli quite angrily calls a timeout. We have a game again.

3:59 2nd, 52-51 St. Joe's: Mark Tyndale almost coast-to-coast for a slam to bring the Owls within one point, but Lavoy Allen has picked up a pair of fouls in literally the last 10 seconds. After the media timeout, Pat Calathes will go to the line to shoot two free throws.

Another Temple rollout: "THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: GET ONE"

1:44 2nd, 54-53 St. Joe's: With Pat Calathes trapped against the far baseline, Phil Martelli saves him by calling a timeout. The St. Joe's students bring down the "THE HAWK WILL NEVER DIE" rollout.

1:35 2nd, 56-53 St. Joe's: With a second on the shot clock, Calathes twists and turns his way for a tough bank shot in the lane.

1:24 2nd, 56-55 St. Joe's: Ahmad Nivins goaltends a Mark Tyndale runner.

0:44.6 2nd, 56-55 St. Joe's: After Calathes misses a long stepback two from the left corner, Temple gets the rebound and Fran Dunphy calls timeout after the ball crosses midcourt.

0:23 2nd, 57-56 Temple: With two on the shot clock, Tyndale turns on the jets for a nifty layup to give the Owls the lead. The Temple fans go nuts, including an a capella rendition of "Rock N' Roll Part II." Wow.

(And it's nice to hear the Hey Song at the Palestra again. It's been a while.

FINAL: TEMPLE 57, ST. JOE'S 56: Unbelievably, the Owls pull off the win and all but surely eliminate the entire Big 5 from NCAA Tournament contention for the first time since 1977.

The Hawks had the ball at the end, but Calathes, Carr and Ferguson all missed chances to win the game from close range.

The Temple students rush the floor, and after the security guards force them back to the sidelines they all start jumping up and down chanting "I believe the Hawk is dead!"

Meanwhile, most of the St. Joe's students are still here, and are standing around in one giant mass of stunned disbelief.

Back later with final stats and the press conferences.

Postgame audio

La Salle: John Giannini, Rodney Green and Darnell Harris
St. Joseph's: Phil Martelli

Inquirer recap by Ray Parrillo
Daily News recap by Bob Cooney

Inquirer photo gallery by Ron Cortes

It was a lot like the St. Joe's-Temple game. Except this time, the Hawks didn't win... and this time, the end of the game was even crazier.

With nine seconds left and La Salle up, 90-89, Darnell Harris clanked the front end of a one-and-one off the back rim. Tasheed Carr brought the rebound down the floor and was driving to the basket, but lost the handle trying to get the ball to Rob Ferguson. Rodney Green got into the scrum, got the ball and called timeout.

Paul Johnson threw a football inbounds pass to Green, who caught it halfway over the midcourt line and was bear-hugged by Carr. Green missed the free throw, but somehow managed to commit a lane violation before the second free throw.

Rob Ferguson launched the ensuing inbounds pass down the floor and it was batted down by Johnson. Tasheed Carr got the loose ball and threw it up, but he was too late -- and the ball bounced off the rim anyway.

Cue another hailstorm of streamers, a tidal wave of La Salle students rushing the floor, and one of the most stunned Palestra crowds you'll ever see -- in both directions.

This had to be the best Big 5 game not only this year but in quite some time.

La Salle shot 30-for-59 from the field (50.8%), including 16-for-19 from three-point range (55.2%) and 14-for-30 from two-point range (46.7%), and 14-for-21 from the free throw line (66.7%). Fourteen offensive rebounds, 18 defensive rebounds, 22 assists, 12 turnovers, one block, seven steals and 16 fouls committed.

That adds up to 67 possessions and 1.343 points per possession.

St. Joe's shot 34-for-54 from the field (63.0%), including 8-for-16 from three-point range (50.0%) and 26-for-38 from two-point range (68.4%), and 13-for-16 from the free throw line (81.3%). Four offensive rebounds, 17 defensive rebounds, 19 assists, 11 turnovers, seven blocks, three steals and 18 fouls committed.

That adds up to 67 possessions and 1.297 points per possession.

It was an extraordinary display of offensive efficiency by both teams, and even more remarkable because it was in a Big 5 game. Even though a lot of City Series games this year have been high-scoring, there's no denying that the Big 5 has historically been defined by low scores.

Pat Calathes and Darrin Govens tied for game-high scoring honors with 26 points each. Calathes shot 10-for-15, including 3-for-4 from three-point range. Govens was 10-for-14, including 4-for-6 from beyond the arc, and 17 of his points came in the second half.

Honestly, it's so hard to ignore what Calathes did in so many ways tonight that I have to split Line of the Game honors between him and Darnell Harris, who really put the Explorers on his back.

And finally, the second half rollouts:

La Salle

14:38 -- SJ HOSTS TOURNY --> WILL THEY PLAY?
7:56 -- St. Joe's has class... Rivera usually cuts
2:39 -- HOLY CRAP! HOLY CROSS?

St. Joe's

11:39 -- KEEP EXPLORING THE BOTTOM OF THE A10

We also had, with 11:36 to go, the Hatfield Meats pig on the floor shooting hot dogs and t-shirts into the stands. As happens at least one almost every time I see him/her/it, one of the hot dogs exploded all over the floor.

Okay, now I really have to get out of here and go to sleep.

What kind of a Big 5 game is this?

Here we are at halftime, and St. Joe's is up 50-46. That's right, 50-46. La Salle even led a couple times.

Want to know why?

La Salle shot 14-for-30 from the field (46.7%), including 10-for-17 from three-point range (58.8%) and 4-for-13 from two-point range (30.8%), and 8-for-10 from the free throw line (80.0%). Six offensive rebounds, 10 defensive rebounds, 14 assists, 7 turnovers, no blocks, two steals and seven fouls committed.

That adds up to 36 possessions and 1.287 points per possession.

Yves Mekongo Mbala and Darnell Harris have 13 points each, on 3-for-3 and 3-for-5 shooting from the perimeter, respectively.

St. Joe's shot an even better 20-for-30 the field (66.7%), including 4-for-10 from three-point range (40.0%) and 16-for-20 from two-point range (80.0%), and 6-for-7 from the free throw line (85.7%). One offensive rebound, 11 defensive rebounds, 14 assists, four turnovers, four blocks, three steals and eight fouls committed.

That adds up to 36 possessions and 1.376 points per possession. Whoa.

Pat Calathes already has 20 points, having shot 7-for-9 from the field -- including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.

And these were the rollouts:

La Salle

12:34 -- "La Salle has rollouts?!"
7:22 -- "SJU is an armpit"
3:30 -- "RECORD □"

St. Joseph's

12:55 -- "HAWKS SALUTE LA SALLE FANS (BOTH OF THEM)
3:27 -- "EVEN DR. G CAN'T CURE LA SALLE"

Greetings from the Palestra, where La Salle and St. Joe's have just tipped off in a Big 5 clash. The place is not full, but the crowd is still pretty healthy -- probably 7,000 -- and the split is about 60-40 for St. Joe's.

In other words, there's a quite healthy contingent of Explorers blue and gold in the house. The St. Joe's student section fills sections 120 and 220, but not much more; the La Salle student section fills sections 108 and 109.

As I've been feeling a bit under the weather the last couple days, I don't really have the energy to do a full liveblog as I have for other Big 5 games this year.

But here are the starting lineups:

La Salle

F 12 Yves Mekongo Mbala
F 20 Jerrell Williams
F 31 Paul Johnson
G 10 Rodney Green
G 11 Darnell Harris

St. Joseph's

F 52 Rob Ferguson
F 12 Pat Calathes
C 34 Ahmad Nivins
G 12 Darrin Govens
G 0 Tasheed Carr

I can also tell you that while the Hawks got out to an early 6-0 lead, prompting John Giannini to call timeout, Darnell Harris hit a three on the ensuing possession and the Explorers students threw blue and gold streamers backwards from the front row. That was awesome.

I don't know if there will be a photo in any of the papers tomorrow, but I wish that could happen more often.

Finally, this week's College HoopsCast is now online; you can listen to it here. This week, Mike Jensen joins me to discuss:

-- How high Temple will finish in the Atlantic 10
-- Whether Villanova will make the Big East Tournament
-- Monday night's game between St. Joseph's and La Salle
-- And a look at the week's big national stories, including the Kelvin Sampson controversy at Indiana and Saturday's big game between Tennessee and Memphis.

I'll be back at halftime with stats and a recap of rollouts, and again after the game.

I invite you to prove me wrong, but looking at tonight's schedule of games only makes today more miserable than it was already going to be for me.

So in order to distract myself from the fact that I'm single and working a very long shift today, I turn to blogging -- and to something else I've been thinking about a lot lately.

I am sure that many of you are, like me, fans of ESPN's College GameDay. Well, we know that the show has been to Cameron Indoor Stadium, Allen Fieldhouse, the Carrier Dome, Rupp Arena, the Dean Smith Center, Freedom Hall, and now this year Pauley Pavillion. They've even been to mid-majors Gonzaga and Southern Illinois.

Well, I say that we need to make Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps and company come to the Palestra next year. With St. Joe's playing all its games on 33rd Street next season, there won't be a better time to bring that kind of national attention to the Big 5 for quite a while.

You wouldn't have to just focus on the Hawks, though. I bet that with some coordination between the schools, you could get fans of all six teams in the building for the morning show. It would be like nothing College GameDay has ever seen -- possibly including their wild football trips.

How about this for a February Saturday of hoops:

11 a.m., ESPN: Morning show with fans of all six schools

12 p.m., ESPN2 or ESNU: Cornell at Penn (it will definitely be the best Ivy game next season, and possibly for a few years to come)

2 p.m., ESPN2 or ESPNU (or CSTV): Any A-10 team at La Salle

4 p.m., ESPNU: Any CAA team vs. Drexel

6 p.m., ESPN: Syracuse or Georgetown vs. Villanova at the Wachovia Center

8 p.m., ESPN: Night show

9 p.m., ESPN: Temple at St. Joe's

It would take a level of cooperation perhaps never before seen between the schools, the Big 5, the Ivy League, the Atlantic 10 and the Big East.

The first step would be to get the Penn game moved from 7 p.m. to noon, which would be an issue because of the short turnaround from the night before for both teams. Princeton is close enough to Philadelphia that it might not be too bad for the Big Red, but the Ivy League sticks pretty tightly to the 7 p.m. tipoff schedule.

The second step would be to get all the home games lined up on the same day, which would mainly fall on the Atlantic 10 because of the number of teams involved. I would think the Big East and CAA would have the least work to do.

The third step, and perhaps the biggest, would be to give ESPN the space it needs. The morning show will be fine on the floor, but the Palestra's close quarters won't make it too easy to set up a studio for the evening show.

Then again, the UCLA show used a few directors' chairs and a mounted logo in the middle and that didn't seem to take up too much space. The balcony behind the west basket should be big enough for that.

It's all just a daydream for now, of course. I've floated this idea to a few people I know in the region and at ESPN, but none of them really have the pull to get it done.

I haven't got anything better to do today, though, so I throw it out there for you to discuss among yourselves.

-- Photo gallery by the Inquirer's Ron Cortes
-- Video highlights of Phil Martelli and Jay Wright's postgame remarks
-- Audio of Phil Martelli's full press conference
-- Audio of Jay Wright, Dante Cunningham and Scottie Reynolds

When it was over, Phil Martelli said that "the team with the best players always wins," and that Villanova has "guys on that team that are better players than I have."

Yet it was Martelli's team that not only came out on top, but did so in as convincing a fashion as you could possibly come up with.

The final score was 77-55, and as I wrote during the game, it barely seemed even that close. Just as importantly, it wasn't an upset.

The margin of victory was a surprise, but the fact that St. Joe's won the game was not at all. I get emails from midmajority.com whenever an "upset" occurs, a function that is defined almost entirely by how much money a conference has to throw around.

But I bet that even the text-messaging machine paused for just a moment and wondered whether it was really worth the effort this time around.

Because the real reason why St. Joe's won tonight was the exact opposite of what Phil Martelli said: they were the better team.

The Hawks played better defense, committed fewer turnovers, dished seven more assists and generally made life miserable for a Villanova team that seemed out of sorts for large chunks of the game.

The final stats were as follows.

For Villanova: 21-for-51 from the field (41.2%), including 4-for-17 from three-point range (23.5%) and 17-for-34 (50.0%) from two-point range, and 9-for-15 from the free throw line. Fourteen offensive rebounds, 16 defensive rebounds, seven assists, 17 turnovers, three blocks, five steals and 20 fouls committed.

That adds up to 61 possessions and 0.900 points per possession.

For St. Joe's: 23-for-47 from the field (48.9%), including 11-for-23 from three-point range (47.8%) and 12-for-24 (50.0%) from two-point range, and 20-for-25 from the line. Ten offensive rebounds, 20 defensive rebounds, 14 assists, 11 turnovers, eight assists, six steals and 13 fouls committed.

That adds up to 59 possessions and 1.316 points per possession, and thanks to Eric for noting that I forgot to post those numbers initially.

We pull out assists and turnovers as the key stats: 7 and 17 for Villanova, 8 and 6 for St. Joe's.

Individually, this was a night where Garrett Williamson took no shots whatsoever but still had a huge impact on the game: four rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals in 29 minutes.

It was a night where Pat Calathes' 20 points, nine rebounds and three blocks stood out, and only bolstered his growing case for Big 5 Player of the Year.

(I would still vote for Dionte Christmas, but let's see what happens when the two meet at the end of this month.)

But the line of the game goes to the one guy who I felt coming in could truly decide the game for the Hawks. If I was on the other side, the guy who would scare me the most is Rob Ferguson, because if you don't put the clamps on him he's capable at any time of uncorking a performance as remarkably efficient as what he did tonight:

Scottie Reynolds had his moments from beyond the arc, but he finished the night 3-for-12 from the field. Corey Fisher's Palestra debut included five turnovers and a 2-for-7 shooting night.

It is no stretch to say that when those two next play on 33rd Street they will almost surely do better. But for tonight, they lost to the better team, and when last I checked, that's how basketball usually works.

With that, I'm off to sleep. I've been up since 5 a.m. working, and I'd rather not make it the full 24 hours. I'll be back early in the evening with a new edition of the College HoopsCast, and if you're into politics be sure to check out Philly.com's extensive Super Tuesday coverage. I have a bit of a hand in that as well.

If nothing else, we know Phil Martelli will be paying attention.

Note: Latest updates are at the bottom.

Preamble: Greetings from the rafters of an absolutely sweltering Palestra, which is already rocking in anticipation of the 65th Holy War game between Villanova and Saint Joseph's.

There's still well over half an hour to go before tip as I start writing this, and it's as hot in here as it's ever been. The only saving grace is that my seat in the upper press row is not right in front of one of the heaters.

I am, however, right under a bag weight that helps support the loudspeaker apparatus over the court, and I've hit my head on the thing twice three four times already when standing up.

(I've also been up since 5 this morning working, so if you see any errors in the post, please feel free to email me.)

Those of you who've seen me at games before know that I always wear short sleeves when covering games here because of how hot it gets, even on night when the place is 2/3 empty.

Well, because this game is such an occasion, I decided to show up in long sleeves and a sportjacket.

Big mistake.

The jacket has been consigned to sitting on the back of my chair for the rest of the night, and the sleeves have been rolled up. I really should have known better.

Anyway, as is the custom here on the blog, I'll be bringing you all the highlights of the atmosphere: the rollouts, chants, and whatever else comes along. The game is on CSTV, and while I know a lot of you don't have it at least someone's broadcasting it. You could also listen to the radio, which I know for sure because Villanova analyst Whitey Rigsby is sitting right next to me.

I'm going to head back downstairs and get a few extra bottles of water, and I'll rejoin you again in a bit.

Preamble, part 2: If you needed any further proof of what kind of a basketball town this is, consider the fact that the buzz in the building right now has next to nothing to do with tonight's game. Bobby Knight has resigned as head coach of Texas Tech, and all of a sudden that's what everybody is talking about.

None of the media here seem to know why. And that might actually be saying something, considering that in the house tonight are ex-Villanova coach and CSTV analyst Steve Lappas, St. Joe's color analyst and ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi, and Dana O'Neil, formerly of the Daily News and now with ESPN.com.

Preamble, part 3: Seven minutes to go and already the St. Joe's students have unfurled two rollouts. The first one said "FREE LEE!" and was rather discreet. The second one was much more for public consumption, and read, "CAUSE OF NOVA VIRUS: CAFE FOOD OR RU LOSS," with the "RU" in appropriate red.

By the way, even though I usually sit courtside, I actually quite like sitting up high, especially when the building is sold out. It's great to be able to look over the whole scene, with th ecorners full and everyone looking straight down at the court. On nights like this, the place becomes a theater as much as it does a sporting venue.

Preamble, part 4: Paging Father Lannon? Yet another St. Joe's rollout, and this one gets caught by the old shot clock pole in the stands and has to get torn up before it hits the lower level: "WE'RE SORRY YOUR MASCOT IS A PUSSY."

Just reporting what I see, folks.

The starting lineups:

... and hasn't a lot already happened even before the game starts.

Villanova

C So 5 Casiem Drummond
F Jr 33 Dante Cunningham
G So 1 Scottie Reynolds
G Fr 10 Corey Fisher
G So 15 Reggie Redding

St. Joseph's

F Sr 52 Rob Ferguson
F Sr 12 Pat Calathes
C Jr 34 Ahmad Nivins
G So 13 Darrin Govens
G Jr 0 Tasheed Carr

15:40 1st, 10-4 St. Joe's: We knew the crowd was going to be overwhelmingly in the Hawks' favor, but the place is really roaring at the first media timeout. St. Joe's is 4-for-5 from the field to Villanova's 2-for-5, with the loudest shot so far a three by Pat Calathes just now. Tasheed Carr also had a nice jumper from the right corner just inside the arc with a man pretty well in his face.

Here comes a St. Joe's rollout with a not too surprising theme: "EVEN TIM DONAGHY BET ON SJU"

For or against?

8:30 1st, 24-18 St. Joe's: A rollout during play, which isn't something you see every day: "ST. JOE'S INVADES NOVA NATION!"

I have a hunch there's more too that.

... And there is: "BIG 5: PENN TEMPLE LA SALLE ST. JOE'S DREXEL"

Given the numbers of people on the Main Line over the years who would agree with that, I'm not so sure how good an idea it is to put that on a rollout. But that's just me.

A bit about the game, by the way: 'Nova had cut the Hawks' lead to 19-18 with a three from Corey Fisher, but Darrin Govens answered with a three of his own at the other and and that was as close as the Wildcats have come.

4:07 1st, 35-20 St. Joe's: A classic Rob Ferguson three from the top of the arc, and Jay Wright has seen enough of that. Timeout Villanova, and it's all one way traffic on the floor and in the stands.

3:46 1st, 35-20 St. Joe's: A media timeout, and a St. Joe's rollout: "HAWK D [in red] WRAPS REYNOLDS [in black]." For the record, Reynolds is 2-for-8 and 2-for-4 from three, with seven points total.

2:36 1st, 42-22 St. Joe's: Another Villanova timeout, this one caused after Pat Calathes grabs a Wildcats turnover and races away for a deafening slam. This thing is getting out of hand in a hurry.

HALFTIME, 42-26 St. Joe's: What a half for the Hawks, capped off by a ridiculous off-balance heave by Darrin Govens for a shot clock-beating three with a few seconds left. I thought St. Joe's would be winning, but not by this much. I'll report the full stats in a bit, but let's start with 11 Villanova turnovers and St. Joe's shooting 15-for-19 from the free throw line.

Okay, here are the numbers.

For Villanova: 10-for-26 from the field (38.5%), including 2-for-8 from three-point range (25.0%) and 8-for-16 from two-point range (50.0%). Seven offensive rebounds, eight defensive rebounds, three assists, 11 turnovers (how's that for a ratio), two blocks, three steals and 13 fouls committed.

That adds up to 33 possessions and 0.780 points per possession.

For St. Joe's: 12-for-22 from the field (54.5%), including 6-for-12 from three-point range (50.0%) and 6-for-10 from two-point range (60.0%). Four offensive rebounds, 11 defensive rebounds, eight assists, six turnovers, five blocks (wow), six steals and seven fouls committed.

That adds up to 33 possessions and 1.363 points per possession. Almost double Villanova's. Wow.

Off we go in the second half.

16:22 2nd, 53-29 St. Joe's: Whoa. Rob Ferguson ball fakes Shane Clark at the top of the arc, Clark goes sailing by him and Ferguson easily drains a three.

15:51 2nd, 53-29 St. Joe's: A media timeout after Shane Clark is whistled for his first foul. A rollout: "2 COREY'S DON'T MAKE A WRIGHT"

14:36 2nd, 56-31 St. Joe's: This is the kind of night it's been for Villanova: St. Joe's tries to trap Scottie Reynolds at the perimeter with under ten seconds on the shot clock. Reynolds drives a bit, but can't get too far because Ahmad Nivins is in his way. He finds Dante Cunningham underneath with two seconds left, Cunningham just gets the layup off, it goes in the basket -- and he's called for a charge. On top of that, it's Cunningham's fourth foul.

11:42 2nd, 58-35 St. Joe's: It wouldn't quite be right to say that the atmosphere has gone flat, but there's a definite sense that this game is pretty close to being done.

A rollout: "nOVA DIET... NO MSG." Fair enough. I would like to know why the first n is lowercase, if any St. Joe's students see this.

9:24 2nd, 61-40 St. Joe's: Dwayne Anderson pokes the ball free at the arc, and as it bounces away he goes chasing after it. Anderson can't run fast enough to get to the ball, so upon crossing the foul line he basically pulls a Slip N' Slide move on the well-polished hardwood and goes sailing all the way from there into the photographers behind the basket. Applause from both ends of the floor.

7:30 2nd, 65-42 St. Joe's: A few Villanova fans are starting to leave. Not that there were many to begin with, but in all fairness most of them are staying. Lest you Hawks fans try to start something.

5:59 2nd, 70-42 St. Joe's: Garrett Williamson soars to block a Scottie Reynolds three. He dishes it up the court to D.J. Rivera, who can't quite get the fastbreak layp to go, but Pat Calathes puts it back. Jay Wright calls timeout. This is getting a bit ridiculous.

A rollout: "HOW DOES VU GET TO B.E. TOURNEY?"

The answer follows: "CALL TICKET MASTER"

3:56 2nd, 70-44 St. Joe's: The last media timeout. Commemorated by my hitting the sandbag above me for the sixth time tonight. Joe Lunardi bet the over when I told him I had already hit it three times, which just goes to prove once again how smart he is.

No rollouts during that timeout, though. I figure there's one left.

3:23 2nd, 73-44 St. Joe's: My goodness. The Hawks beat the shot clock yet again, this time on an NBA-range three from the top of the arc by Rob Ferguson that went in off the backboard.

2:20 2nd, 75-44 St. Joe's: Okay, enough with the shot clock-beating already. This time, Ferguson at the arc feeds Pat Calathes, who drives a step or so with a second left and lays it in off the glass. Timeout Villanova.

The St. Joe's fans start chanting "This is our house!" and the Villanova fans who two years ago chanted "This is Penn's house!" don't even bother doing anything.

A rollout: "WHAT THE BIG 5 MEANS ON THE MAIN LINE..."

and part two: "5 STRAIGHT LOSSES"

0:57 2nd, 75-48 St. Joe's: Phil Martelli points to the Hawks fans and pumps his fist. A few seconds later, a rollout comes down from the top of the St. Joe's student section that says "REDRUM." Explain that one?

FINAL, 77-55 St. Joe's: It's over, finally. Some St. Joe's fans rush the court and mug for the TV cameras. I have a hunch that they didn't have to, but they did stop Villanova's record Big 5 win streak.

Now to get through the throng and down to the press room, and who knows how long that will take.

Back with stats and more later.

Okay, it's time to move on from Penn for a while. Yes, the discussion about the state of the Quakers generated more comments on this blog than any other subject in its history, and you're welcome to continue that discussion below. But Penn is off for a week, and tomorrow the big boys take center stage.

You heard me right. Villanova, St. Joe's and Temple are the marquee programs in the city right now, as they have been historically. They all play big games on Broad Street tomorrow, the former against Notre Dame at the Wachovia Center and the latter two against each other at the Liacouras Center.

I'll be at both, hopefully doing at least some liveblogging. Whether or not I end up doing any in-game writing, I'll post the press conferences from both games here when they're done and offer some analysis as well.

Yes, that means I won't make it to Saint Louis-La Salle. It is a game I would otherwise be interested in, given how much the Billikens have been in the headlines lately -- both for their historic loss at George Washington and Rick Majerus' recent controversial step into the political arena.

Still, I hope a few of you all will be joining me for tomorrow's doubleheader. A quick check of the web shows that both games still have tickets available, reminding us that there's no better city in the country for watching multiple college basketball games in person in the same day.

It was a better effort from Penn than their blowout loss to St. Joe's on Saturday, but like that game the Quakers fell into a big hole early and never recovered. The final score was 80-64; it was 41-22 at halftime, in large part because the Owls shot 8-for-12 from three in the first half.

For those of you wondering why I didn't liveblog the game, I didn't have a power outlet at my seat and my laptop battery wasn't going to make it through the whole game.

I have to get to sleep, but I'll have a lot more to say about this game tomorrow -- as well as the big win for St. Joe's over Massachusetts, and Villanova's ugly loss at Rutgers.

For now, here are the Penn and Temple postgame press conferences. There's also a good photo gallery from the Inquirer's Jerry Lodriguss.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Apologies for writing a new post and thus knocking down perhaps the most commented-upon post in this blog's history, but I need to bring something to your attention.

ESPN.com columnist Pat Forde's weekly Forde Minutes column that came out today contains a Bucket List of things the Kentucky resident would like to experience before he leaves this earth.

7. Feeling the brotherly love at a Big Five game in The Palestra (12).

Let this blog post stand as an official invitation to Mr. Forde to pay us a visit. As the only Big 5 games left at the Palestra this season involve St. Joe's, can I get some help from the Hawks fans to make sure he gets in and out of New Deck Tavern with enough time left before tipoff to take a walk around the concourse?

Much appreciated.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the University of Pennsylvania Palestra, college basketball's most historic gym. Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky and his staff* welcome you to tonight's matchup, a Philadelphia Big 5 city series game featuring the Saint Joseph's University Hawks and the University of Pennsylvania Quakers.

* -- It is their home game.

I think that's how it goes, right? Anyway, welcome to live coverage of tonight's Big 5 Hall of Fame Game between the Hawks and the Quakers. The game is being televised on CN8, so I'll be doing the same thing I usually do for Big 5 games: bringing you highlights of the atmosphere. All the rollouts, chants, and stuff like that.

First, a bit of injury news: both teams' top point guards, Tasheed Carr and Harrison Gaines, aren't dressed tonight.

And a crowd count: Within the official sellout of 8,722, the Hawks' student section is at least twice the size of the Quakers', if not more. Penn's fills sections 119 and 20, while St. Joe's goes from 109 to the back of 209 and across to 208. The big drum is in the third row on the aisle between sections 108 and 109.

With that, let's get this thing started.

Some hijinks from the Penn band before the game starts. First, they forgot to play "Also Sprach Zarathustra" with a minute left on the pregame clock, as they usually do. Then, they played the national anthem in their traditional up-tempo style, completely throwing off the St. Joe's student section's traditional singing of the last verse.

Time now to meet the starting lineups. First, for the Hawks of Saint Joseph's University:

-- At one forward, a freshman, six feet, eight inches tall, from Noblesville, Ind., number 24, Jack Eggleston.
-- At the center spot, a junior, six feet, eight inches tall, from Washington, D.C., number 33, Cameron Lewis.
-- At one guard, a freshman, six feet, six inches tall, from Carlsbad, Calif., number 3, Tyler Bernadini.
-- At another guard, a junior, six feet, three inches tall, from Ridley Park, Pa., number 15, Kevin Egee.
-- And at the other guard, a senior, six feet, four inches tall, from Media, Pa., number 21, Brian Grandieri.

16:28 1st, 13-3 St. Joe's: As the Hawks fans chant "Why so quiet?" the answer is fairly obvious: the Hawks are dominating this game from the outset. Darrin Govens has two threes, Rob Ferguson has one, and Penn has already committed a few turnovers.

The St. Joe's student section unfurls perhaps the longest rollout I've ever seen in terms of the amount of paper used, honoring Rob Ferguson's 1,000 career points achieved at Charlotte on Wednesday: "FERG's 1,000... QUINTESSENTIAL SCORING: CONGRATS!"

15:44 1st, 13-3 St. Joe's: A media timeout, and Penn's first rollout: "Your Rollouts Suck." Uh, no they don't. Round one to St. Joe's by far.

10:57 1st, 21-3 St. Joe's: Garrett Williamson is whistled for his second foul of the game, which is the only bad thing to have happened to the Hawks thus far. They're 5-for-6 from three-point range, while Penn is 1-for-11 from the field and those 10 haven't been open.

10:45 1st, 21-5 St. Joe's: Penn's Jack Eggleston puts back a missed three from the right corner by Remy Cofield, drawing as much applause from the St. Joe's fans as from Penn.

7:21 1st, 21-5 St. Joe's: A media timeout. I have to say, if Savannah State hadn't already broken Penn's record for fewest points in a half, I'd be getting worried.

A St. Joe's rollout, this one on red paper: "3 + 3 = PENN'S 1ST HALF vs. FLORIDA GULF COAST." Maybe they should have waited another point?

5:46 1st, 30-7 St. Joe's: A third-chance putback by Brian Grandieri puts Penn over its total against FGCU. At the other end, Tyler Bernardini fouls D.J. Rivera missing a three. Rivera makes all the free throws.

Bob Weinhauer, who coached Penn to the Final Four in 1979, is sitting in the front row at center court. I wonder what he's thinking.

5:07 1st, 32-8 St. Joe's: Ahmad Nivins picks up his third foul. Not that it matters, but it did happen.

4:23 1st, 32-12 St. Joe's: Rockwell Moody misses the front end of a one-and-one and Penn's Dan Monckton gets the rebound, He fires a 3/4-court pass to Brian Grandieri who makes a layup without having to take a dribble. Phil Martelli calls a timeout. Leading by 20 points.

HALFTIME, 38-14 St. Joe's: A Brian Grandieri three rims out at the buzzer to close things. During the last few seconds, the St. Joe's student sections started unfurling a rollout that takes two pieces of paper to fully display: "CONGRATS, RAP, NEWEST HAWK IN BIG 5 HALL of FAME"

St. Joe's shot 13-for-25 from the field, including 6-for-9 from three-point range, and 6-for-10 from the free throw line. Three offensive rebounds, 14 defensive rebounds, 9 assists, 7 turnovers, 3 blocks, 7 steals and 7 fouls committed. That adds up to 34 possessions and 1.126 points per possession.

Penn shot 6-for-29 from the field, including 1-for-12 from three, and 1-for-2 from the line. Eight offensive rebounds, 12 defensive rebounds, three assists, 12 turnovers, three blocks, three steals and nine fouls committed. That also adds up to 34 possessions, and 0.412 points per possession.

At the end of halftime, the St. Joe's students quickly unfurled and refurled a rollout that said "FREE QUINT." I gather this has something to do with the Hawk Hoop Club message board, but that's just something I overheard. It does put the earlier Ferguson rollout in some context though.

16:00 2nd, 49-19 St. Joe's: A long two-pointer by Ahmad Nivins leads to the "Up by 30" chant from the St. Joe's students.

15:40 2nd, 49-19 St. Joe's: Another media timeout, another St. Joe's rollout: "THE SMARTEST PERSON TO EVER LEAVE PENN WAS FRAN." That's good. The Penn fans respond by chanting " 'Nova Rejects," and the St. Joe's fans chant "Nerds! Nerds! Nerds!"

10:37 2nd, 59-25 St. Joe's: The Hawks student section is so bored that they're trying to get a wave going from front to back. It isn't working.

7:51 2nd, 64-30 St. Joe's: A Penn rollout for the first time in a while: " 'Nova's still better." I can't tell if the boos from the St. Joe' s students are for the rollout or the Penn dance team. It seems to be the latter. St. Joe's has another rollout, in two parts that descend separately: "HEY PENN, LOAN FREE AID IS COMING... / BUT GOOD BASKETBALL IS GONE!"

4:26 2nd, 71-40 St. Joe's: Glen Miller calls timeout, the St. Joe's students start chanting "Put in C.J. [Brown]," and fans at both ends are heading for the exits.

3:29 2nd, 73-40 St. Joe's: Just before the final timeout, the St. Joe's students start chanting "This is our house!" And nine months or so from now, they'll finally be right.

2:19 2nd, 76-40 St. Joe's: Phil Martelli yells, "C.J.!" and the predictable response comes from the fans.

1:42 2nd, 78-40 St. Joe's: Phil Martelli calls timeout to get Brown on the floor.

0:00 2nd, 82-42 St. Joe's: A Jack Eggleston backdoor layup closes out a St. Joe's rout -- on the court and in the stands.

Final stats: St. Joe's shot 32-for-56 from the field, including 9-for-16 from three-point range, and 9-for-14 from the free throw line. Seven offensive rebounds, 27 defensive rebounds, 27 assists (!), 10 turnovers, five blocks, 12 steals and 10 fouls committed. That adds up to 66 possessions and 1.249 points per possession.

Penn shot 16-for-59 from the field -- 27.1 percent -- including 5-for-27 from three... and yes, that's almost half their field goal attempts, and 5-for-6 from the line. 15 offensive rebounds, 21 defensive rebounds, 12 assists, 19 turnovers, 4 blocks, 4 steals and 15 fouls committed. That also adds up to 66 possessions, but 0.638 points per possession.

That wraps it up for now; I'll post the press conferences later.

A maintenance worker hangs posters of this year's Big 5 Hall of Famers.

Greetings from the Palestra. As I mentioned on Thursday, this is my second annual attempt to get here before the St. Joe's student section arrives for their game against Penn.

I arrived at 3:52 p.m., and on my way down I expected the doors to be locked and the place to be pretty quiet. But much to my surprise, the building was full of activity.

It turned out there was a JV game going on between Penn and Northfield Mount Hermon, a high school in Mount Hermon, Mass., that has sent a number of players to the Ivy League in recent years. It is also the alma mater of La Salle's Terrell and Jerrell Williams.

Admission to the game was free, so I grabbed the first door handle I came across and walked right in. But as far as I could tell, there were no St. Joe's fans in the building.

I had actually expected some to be here by now, or at least for my project to be noted in some form on the Hawk Hoop Club message board. But maybe they were still trying to park over by New Deck Tavern for their pregame festivities (and they have good taste in pregame establishments, I must say).

So I did a quick lap around the concourse, then went outside to sit and wait.

The newly decorated St. Joe's display case on the Palestra concourse.

At 4:10, St. Joe's athletic director Don DiJulia arrived. He said that "probably by about 6-ish we'll see some bodies," because that's when the school-chartered buses are leaving campus.

So mission accomplished, I guess. But it does leave me with a lot of time to kill. Check back for updates; I'll start a new liveblogging post at game time.

I've been called out many times in my life for incorrectly using the word "irony," but I think I've come up with a correct case in which to use the word.

Commenter louis wrote this on Thursday night:

i forgot more about the big five then you will ever know,you stink.

Aside from the fact that I had just come out of the shower when I saw the comment, he makes a somewhat interesting point. I freely admit that there are a lot of people out there who have forgotten more about the Big 5 than I will never know, and I was reminded of that again today.

One of the reasons why I love the City Series as an institution is that it treasures its history unlike almost anything else I've ever seen in sports in this country. That ethic was on display this afternoon at the Palestra for the annual Big 5 Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

There's no way I can know as much about the Big 5 as James "Booney" Salters, Rap Curry, Claudrena Harold and Donnie Carr (pictured above from left to right), because they played in it and I didn't.

There's no way I can know as much about the Big 5 as Salters' old coach, Bob Weinhauer, who was in the house today, or Phil Martelli or Fran Dunphy, because they've coached in the Big 5 and I haven't.

There's no way I can know as much about the Big 5 as Jack Scheuer of the AP, because he has written about college basketball in this town since the first ever Holy War and I haven't even been alive for half the Big 5's existence.

It is for those very reasons that I treasure being at events like the Hall of Fame ceremony, because I get to connect to the Big 5's past in a way that isn't really possible with most other sports.

This video of highlights from today's induction speeches is just a small part of what it's like to be in a space with so many people that are so closely connected with each other not only in the past but in the present as well.

Baseball comes closest, but there's something a lot more personal in the connection between fan and player at a college than there is in a pro stadium. Maybe it's the proximity to the floor, maybe it's the ethos of playing for whoever will pay the most money. But there is definitely a difference.

So feel free to tell me that you know more about the Big 5 than I do. But don't be surprised if I come back at you wanting to learn something that you know.

I just realized that I missed the one-year anniversary of this here blog. It is, if I may say so, a rather big accomplishment.

I had no idea when I started out where this thing would go, or how many people would read it. I just had a hunch that college sports fans in this region wanted more than they were getting, and that I could do something to add a new angle to what we get in the Inquirer and Daily News.

I hope I've done that. And as always, I want to know what you think of this thing. My biggest goals for the coming year are to get more traffic and more commenters, and that's entirely in your hands.

So with that said, here's a little look back at...

-- The opening post
-- The first Line of the Day
-- The first Crunchy Numbers
-- Some early riffs on statistics, Philadelphia sports fans and the CAA (and talk about a measuring stick for that conference...)
-- And finally, my attempt to beat the St. Joe's fans to the Palestra ahead of their game against Penn last year. In honor of the anniversary, I'm going to try again this year.

See you all Saturday.

Penn: Glen Miller and Brian Grandieri

La Salle: John Giannini, Yves Mekongo Mbala and Rodney Green.

Alright, I'm going to sleep. But before that, here's an early-edition recap of the game, and a slideshow of tonight's action from Inquirer photographer Ron Cortes.

The game is over, but you can relive La Salle's first win at the Palestra in 13 tries right here on the blog. The post reads from top to bottom chronologically.

Pregame: The visitors turn the ball over on 24.1 percent of their possessions; the home team gives it up 25.5 of the time. But either La Salle or Penn will walk out of the Palestra tonight with a Big 5 win.

La Salle starts:

F So 12 Yves Mekongo Mbala
F Jr 31 Paul Johnson
C Fr 20 Jerrell Williams
G So 10 Rodney Green
G Sr 11 Darnell Harris

Penn starts:

F Fr 24 Jack Eggleston
F Jr 33 Cameron Lewis
G Fr 3 Tyler Bernardini
G Jr 4 Aron Cohen
G Sr 21 Brian Grandieri

Will anything really interesting happen in this game? Who knows. But I'm here, and I'll let you know.

15:56 1st, 2-0 La Salle: Okay, I figured this game would be ugly, but this is quite something. Both of the Explorers' points came on free throws by Rodney Green, and the two teams have combined to miss all 15 field goal attempts so far.

(Credit for that number goes to Neil Geoghegan of the West Chester Daily Local, who did the math himself.)

15:20 1st, 4-2 La Salle: A layup by Penn's Justin Reilly gets us off the schneid; La Salle's Kimmani Barrett answers with a layup of his own to make it 4-2.

7:44 1st, 17-10 Penn: Wow, some points on the board. After a Jerrell Williams slam tied the game at 10-10, a Tyler Bernardini three-pointer (yes, really) has forced John Giannini to call a timeout to stop a 7-0 Quakers run.

2:48 1st, 26-22 Penn: La Salle's big contingent of fans here wakes up after the Explorers hit two threes in a row.

After Jerrell Williams sank one from the left side, Penn tried to push a fastbreak but missed a putback layup. At the other end, Darnell Harris hit nothing but net from the right side to make it 23-22.

On the ensuing possession, Bernardini was fouled going up by Jerrell Williams but managed to get an off-balance layup to bounce off the rim twice and go in. He converted the free throw.

HALFTIME, 29-24 Penn: La Salle holds for the last shot but Darnell Harris turns it over with four seconds left; Penn's Aron Cohen heaves up a three from a few steps outside the arc and it bounces off the rim.

La Salle shot 7-for-29 from the field, including 2-for-6 from three, as well as a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Seven offensive rebounds, 14 defensive rebounds, six assists, seven turnovers, four blocks, four steals and seven fouls committed.

That adds up to 33 possessions, 0.731 points per possession and -- the big stat of the night, as noted above -- a turnover percentage of 21.3.

Penn shot 13-for-34 from the field, also including 2-for-6 from three, but only 1-for-4 from the line. Eight offensive rebounds, 15 defensive rebounds, nine assists, six turnovers, five blocks, three steals and seven fouls committed.

That adds up to 35 possessions, 0.832 points per possession and a turnover percentage of 17.2.

So both teams are reasonably below their season averages, at least thus far.

13:03 2nd, 41-35 La Salle: After a Cameron Lewis backdoor pass to Aron Cohen gave Penn a 35-30 lead, the Explorers have launched an 11-0 run. Darryl Pardin capped it with a fastbreak layup, forcing Glen Miller to call a timeout.

7:36 2nd, 50-44 La Salle: The Explorers have done a good job protecting their lead. If they end up winning, the biggest reason why will probably be their performance from the free throw line. After going 8-for-8 in the first half, they are 9-for-10 so far in the second half.

Penn, meanwhile, is 3-for-7 in the game and has only taken three attempts this half.

3:36 2nd, 53-50 La Salle: Penn is still breathing, thanks to a Tyler Bernardini three and a La Salle turnover that led to Rodney Green fouling Brian Grandieri on a drive. But Grandieri only made the second free throw.

1:35 2nd, 59-54 La Salle: After a Jack Eggleston layup cut La Salle's lead to 56-54, Darnell Harris found Rodney Green for a shot clock-beating slam to make it 58-54. At the other end, Tyler Bernardini missed a three and Cameron Lewis fouled Harris. That was Lewis' fifth. Harris made the first free throw but missed the 2nd.

FINAL SCORE: 62-58 La Salle: After a Brian Grandieri layup cut La Salle's lead to 59-58 with 31 seconds left, Yves Mekongo Mbala made three of four free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.

Not a bad game in the end, to be honest, and it snaps a 13-game losing streak at the Palestra for the Explorers.

La Salle shot 17-for-55 from the field, including 3-for-11 from three-point range, and a whopping 25-for-30 in the game -- 17-for-22 in the second half. Fifteen offensive rebounds, 25 defensive rebounds, 11 assists, 14 turnovers, five blocks, 12 steals and 19 fouls committed.

That adds up to 68.25 possessions, 0.908 points per possession and a turnover percentage of 20.5 -- well below the season average.

Penn shot 22-for-57 from the field, including 4-for-15 from three-point range, and 10-for-15 from the line. Eleven offensive rebounds, 26 defensive rebounds, 16 assists, 17 turnovers, nine blocks, six steals and 22 fouls committed.

That adds up to 70 possessions, 0.827 points per possession and a turnover percentage of 24.2.

Press conference audio to come later.

Oh dear.

I was just checking my iTunes now and realized that the podcast version of the PhillyFeed didn't get posted until today. It was recorded and posted to Phillyfeed.com on schedule this past Thursday.

Chalk it up to a clerical error by a few people, but if you've come here looking for the trivia contest I did in conjunction with Sports Spotlight it's already done.

Sorry. But I'm sure there will be another contest one of these days, so be sure to come on back.

We had three correct entries in the Soft Pretzel Logic-Philly Feed trivia contest.

It was indeed the 2005-06 season, when Miami, Maryland and Duke played Temple.

In the name of transparency, here's how I did the drawing: I wrote down the three names, put the rolled up pieces of paper in Philly.com's official cheap plastic Halloween pumpkin trick-or-treating container (we use it all year), shook the thing, and asked my colleague Kristen Graham to pull a name out.

As we don't have some fancy official audit firm the way the lottery does, that's the best I could come up with.

Congratulations to Max, who wins a free soft pretzel at the game of his choosing that we both attend.

1. A Big 5 game on a Sunday night. According to former Big 5 Executive Secretary Paul Rubincam, this was the first time two city series teams met at that point in the week.

2. A Big 5 game with 194 combined points. We got that tonight too, as Villanova used a 23-7 run early in the second half to pull away from Temple for a 101-93 win in front of 7,720 at the Liacouras Center.

It was 42-39 'Nova at the half, as Temple shot 8-for-16 from three in the first 20 minutes but only 4-for-12 from outside thereafter. The Wildcats made 11 of their 10 attempts from beyond the arc for the game: 6 of 11 in the first half and 5 of 9 in the second.

Dionte Christmas had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds -- he was one of three Temple players to score 20 or more points -- but the line of the night goes to Scottie Reynolds. He's been quiet the last few games, but he exploded for 20 second-half points as part of this total:

3. A Big 5 team that wins 13 City Series games in a row, because until tonight no team had ever done that before. So congratulations to Villanova for setting that record.

Jay Wright and Fran Dunphy both talked about that bit of history after the game. Click here to listen to Villanova's postgame press conference and here to listen to Temple's.

I'll let you all debate the fact that the game wasn't sold out, mainly because I have to work at 6 a.m. and I can't really say I'm looking forward to it...

First of all, a special welcome to the blog for all you who've come here by way of the Daily News' Philly Feed podcast. For everything you need to know about the trivia contest that was mentioned on this week's show, click here.

The question is: when was the last season three ACC teams played in Philadelphia? The winner will be randomly selected from all the right answers submitted in the comments.

The prize is, of course, a free soft pretzel at a game that both I and the winner are attending. Rest assured that I get to all the schools' games over the course of the season, so we'll work it out.

Which brings me, not coincidentally, to the ruffled feathers among the St. Joe's fans over my ranking the Wachovia Center above the Fieldhouse in my favorite places to watch a game.

First, thanks to the poster on the Hawk Hoop Club club message board for linking to the blog, because I need all the traffic I can get.

Second, I really wasn't trying to knock the Fieldhouse. I like it just as much as everyone else, believe me. If I was ranking on terms of atmosphere alone, I would have been right there with the commenter who put it second to the Palestra. I might even have split the Palestra between when it's full and when Dartmouth's in town, and put the Fieldhouse in between.

Here's the thing, though. To me, the Wachovia Center is like the really nice set of dishes my mother got out for family dinners when I was growing up. Because we didn't use them often, it gave the meal a special sense of occasion. If we'd used the plastic plates I usually ate dinner off of, it wouldn't have been the same.

Now that doesn't mean those plates are bad. In fact, I brought some of them with me when I moved here because I liked them so much.

If Villanova played all its games at the Wachovia Center, it wouldn't be as important. Georgetown doesn't make a big deal out of playing at the NBA arena in D.C. because the Hoyas play almost all their games there, so it's not as special. The same goes for Seton Hall and, to a lesser degree, St. John's (which is now so bad that they're playing more games on campus than they used to).

So we draw a distinction between the Pavilion and the Wachovia Center for Villanova games -- and to some degree, we draw a distinction between the Fieldhouse and the Palestra for St. Joe's games.

The Hawks play their Big 5 games and their big out-of-conference games on 33rd Street, which in most years ends up being about the same number of games the Wildcats play at the Wachovia Center.

I hope that makes sense.

It's been a while since I did a trivia contest on the blog. Time for a new one.

This one comes to you in cooperation with Daily News assistant managing editor Pat McLoone, a college hoops junkie better know to many of you as the co-host of the Philly Feed podcast's Sports Spotlight.

It's an apt one given the discussion on here over the last few days about BCS conference teams playing non-conference road games. Despite my complaints over the last few days, three ACC squads visit Philadelphia this year: Virginia for the Philly Classic, North Carolina last night and Duke next month to play Temple.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell me and Pat when the last time was that three ACC teams played in Philadelphia during the regular season. So that excludes the NCAA Tournament and NIT, but not early-season exempt tournaments that might have the word "preseason" in them.

UPDATE: I forgot to set two really simple rules and I'm sorry for not doing this at the start. First, to be eligible to win, you have to post your answer in the comments. Some people have emailed me their answers and I want people to see the answers out there.

Also, since I want a lot of people to enter this thing, I'm not going to give the prize to the first person who answers. I'm going to draw the name randomly from all the people who get it right.

Yeah, that changes the rules of the game after it started, and yeah, it's on me for doing something like that. But it's also a polite way of admitting that someone already emailed me the right answer and I don't really want the contest to be done before this week's podcast gets recorded, which it hasn't been yet.

Sorry about that. But fear not, because there will be a prize for the winner. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but there will definitely be something material. I might even have someone else do the drawing just to make sure the whole process is squeaky clean.

I'll close the contest when I get to the Liacouras Center on Sunday for the Temple-Villanova game.

Also, here's a hint. The teams had to be in the ACC at the time, and here's a reminder of when the conference's newer members joined up:

2005: Boston College
2004: Virginia Tech and Miami
1991: Florida State
1979: Georgia Tech

The conference was founded in 1953, with charter members North Carolina, Duke, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Maryland, Clemson and and South Carolina. Virginia also joined in 1953, but not as a charter member. South Carolina left for the SEC in 1971.

I got exclusive interviews with all of the Big 5 coaches at a luncheon held for the media at the Palestra this afternoon. I was a bit surprised that Drexel wasn't there, but this was a Big 5 event and for better or worse, those were the schools present.

Anyway, we have:

-- Introductory remarks from all of the men's coaches and women's coaches Pat Knapp (Penn) and Dawn Staley (Temple). The master of ceremonies was Brian Seltzer, who reports for WPEN 950-AM and also is the radio play-by-play voice of Penn basketball.

(Sorry for the less-than-stellar audio quality on that one. I couldn't get the microphone close enough to the podium.)

-- Phil Martelli
-- Jay Wright
-- Fran Dunphy
-- Glen Miller
-- John Giannini

"Macadams fan" writes

Shame Shame Shame on Frank Fitzpatrick for failing to mention the legendary John MacAdams, who for years was THE voice of the building.

Booo

His simple way of saying "Villanova basket by #45 John Pinone" or "Temple basket by #12 Mark Macon" still rings in my ears.

I couldn't agree more. Way back when this blog first launched, I wrote about my interactions with John (except it's McAdams, not MacAdams) when he was inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame.

I bet, though, that McAdams wouldn't have wanted to be included on a list like that. What made him so great was the very understatement you refer to, how he tried to not make himself part of the action. Yet in the end, he was -- and still is -- right there in the middle of all our memories.

The column said: "All those coaches like Al Maguire and Gary Thompson who complained that they would never come back or go there in the first place weren't all wrong"

Who is Gary Thompson?

I may be pre-dating myself but that name doesnt ring a bell

I know of Gary Williams.
I know of John Thompson and sons.

What gives?

I haven't heard of him either, to be honest. But I'm not that old myself, and I only know Al McGuire from old highlight tape. Anyone who wants to chime in is welcome.

I do know that the movie critic for the Daily News is named Gary Thompson, but I doubt that's who Frank is referring to...

Mike Kern and Kevin Tatum recap the game. And here's postgame audio from Drexel and Penn.

Brian Grandieri led all scorers with 23 of the quietest points you'll ever see in a noisy Palestra. He shot 8-of-14 from the field, a somewhat surprising 0-of-1 from three-point range, and only 7-of-12 from the free throw line -- which he admitted wasn't good enough.

For Drexel, Tramayne Hawthorne (6-of-12 fg, 4-of-10 3pt) and Gerald Colds (6-of-11 fg, 6-of-9 3pt) tied for top scorer with 18 points. But look at the breakdown by halves: