Subdued atmosphere for Palestra doubleheader shows the Big 5 isn’t what it once was

There is the Philadelphia Big 5 as it used to be, and there is the Philadelphia Big 5 as it is. Wednesday night at The Palestra, a doubleheader of La Salle vs. Temple and Penn vs. St. Joseph’s, was an attempt to recapture the former. It ran into the reality of the latter.

After trailing for much of the first 30 minutes, Temple pulled away from La Salle in the night’s opener, 67-51. And if this was the kind of game that once might have been treasured for being just another gritty, dramatic episode in the City Series, it was instead a choppy, ragged display of basketball likely to be quickly forgotten even by the couple of thousand people who witnessed it in person. Every amplified sound — the public-address announcer’s voice, the music played before tip-off and during timeouts, the referees’ whistles — echoed throughout and consumed the building, because there were so few bodies to muffle it.

There was no energy in the place: no chants, no banners, no bands, no streamers, no sense that this game meant anything more than any other game on either team’s schedule. The Palestra filled up a bit more for Penn-St. Joe’s, but it was never close to packed. The announced attendance was less than 3,300.

“I’m disappointed to see those empty seats,” said Bill Bradshaw, who had two stints as La Salle’s athletic director — with a stint as Temple’s AD in between. “The big difference I see from the old days is that no more do people want to see two games. They’ll go to their game, but not the other one.”

» READ MORE: St. Joseph’s 2023 basketball recruiting class has a trio set on making it ‘cool to play in Philadelphia again’

The old days. It was a fitting use of the phrase. The Big 5 now is a fading thing, existing mostly in the memories of those men and women who remember its heyday, who hold on to the healthy hatred and mutual respect that the schools once shared. The factors that once stoked the ferocity of the rivalries either don’t exist or aren’t as strong. Those of us weaned on those rivalries might wish that they retained the same magic and relevance of years gone by, but there was no way to be on hand Wednesday and not notice that the people who cared most about the tradition were the same people who cared most about it 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30.

“Since I played,” said Temple head coach Aaron McKie, who scored 1,650 points during his career with the Owls from 1991-94, “the landscape of college basketball has changed.”

Yes, it has. Here and everywhere. Time was, star high school players from in and around Philadelphia were apt to stay local for college. Their names and games were already familiar to fans who had followed the Philadelphia Public and Catholic Leagues. McKie went from Simon Gratz to Temple. Lionel Simmons, from Southern to La Salle. Those are just two of the most accomplished, memorable examples. High school teammates became competitors in the City Series. High school competitors became teammates. These days, a five-star recruit from the region is as likely, or more likely, to head off to a national program. Just look at La Salle and Temple. There were 30 players listed on the two teams’ rosters. Eight were from the Philly area, 10 if you count Wildwood. Of those 10, three played Wednesday night.

Time was, more students at city schools lived in the homes where they had grown up, and those kids thought nothing of taking bus or subway rides to The Palestra, because they took bus or subway rides to class every day. These days, more students at city schools live on their campuses, and they’re more likely to have their own cars, and if attending a game at any arena that isn’t on their campuses requires them to drive to West Philadelphia and find parking … well, why go to that trouble when they can watch the game on TV or follow it online from the comfort of their dorm rooms? The Temple student section at The Palestra, behind one of the baskets, was all but empty Wednesday.

Time was, the gap between the best Big 5 team and the worst Big 5 team was narrow enough that every game was a dogfight. Time was, John Chaney and Speedy Morris and Phil Martelli and Fran Dunphy had their programs in the NCAA Tournament year after year, and one or more of them might make a run once they got there. These days, Jay Wright just finished a nine-year stretch in which, under his stewardship, Villanova rose to be arguably the best men’s college basketball program in the country. Along the way, the Wildcats won 25 consecutive Big 5 games, creating such distance between themselves and their local rivals that the City Series effectively became The Big 1 and The Other 4. St. Joe’s hasn’t had a winning season in seven years. Temple has qualified for the NCAA Tournament once since 2016; Penn, once since 2007; La Salle, once since 1992.

“We have a unique brand here,” McKie said. “It was just good to play here, to be part of the doubleheader. I’m sure, the more that we do it, the more eyes we’re going to have.”

» READ MORE: Not just Brett Brown’s son, Sam Brown wins big at Lower Merion

That has to be the hope. “I would hate to say,” Bradshaw said, “that we can never get that back.” Another doubleheader next year? They can try moving it to Saturday. What they might need to do is impossible. What they might need to do is move it to 1985.