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The new Big 5 has had plenty of drama. Now, there are essentially two semifinals on Nov. 29.

There has been plenty of drama in City Series play so far.

Penn guard Tyler Perkins (right) celebrates with Clark Slajchert after beating Villanova, 76-72, on Monday at the Palestra. The Wildcats' loss to the Quakers, combined with St. Joseph's earlier win over Penn, made the teams' Big 5 pod quite intriguing.
Penn guard Tyler Perkins (right) celebrates with Clark Slajchert after beating Villanova, 76-72, on Monday at the Palestra. The Wildcats' loss to the Quakers, combined with St. Joseph's earlier win over Penn, made the teams' Big 5 pod quite intriguing.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

The idea of the Big 5 Classic was to inject a little life into Philadelphia’s college hoops season.

Memo to the organizers: That mission has been accomplished.

The first set of games featured plenty of drama. Last week, it was La Salle edging Drexel in a seesaw game at Tom Gola Arena. On Monday night, there was a court storm at the Palestra, where Penn knocked off No. 21 Villanova. Then came Tuesday, when Drexel hosted its first Big 5 contest in front of a sellout crowd at the Daskalakis Athletic Center and just missed forcing overtime against Temple in a game that looked like how a Big 5 game is supposed to look.

The loss dropped Drexel to 0-2 in the competition, securing a spot for the Dragons in the fifth-place game in the opener of the Dec. 2 tripleheader at the Wells Fargo Center.

The other five spots? They’re still up for grabs — because more drama is on the way.

» READ MORE: Villanova heads back to the drawing board to ‘get better’ after Big 5 loss to Penn at the Palestra

What’s left essentially are two semifinal games on Nov. 29. Fran Dunphy’s La Salle Explorers head to Dunphy’s old stomping grounds for a game against Temple. Over in Radnor, Villanova hosts St. Joe’s. The winners almost undoubtedly will play for the Big 5 title.

Here’s a look at the two Big 5 pods ahead of the last game day in pod play.

Pod 1: Drexel, La Salle, Temple

  1. Temple: 1-0

  2. La Salle: 1-0

  3. Drexel: 0-2

A Drexel win Tuesday night would have made things interesting. But the math is easy here. The La Salle-Temple winner is in the final; the loser will play for third place.

» READ MORE: Christ Essandoko is finally playing basketball again. What does that mean for St. Joe’s? A lot.

Pod 2: Penn, St. Joseph’s, Villanova

  1. St. Joe’s: 1-0

  2. Penn: 1-1

  3. Villanova: 0-1

For the Hawks, it’s simple. Win and you’re in.

A Villanova win over St. Joe’s, which has happened 11 straight times, probably would move the Wildcats from worst to first in this pod. Some fans won’t like it, but the tiebreaker likely will be NET rankings, the system the NCAA Tournament selection committee uses, or a similar metric. The numbers aren’t yet public this time of year, but there’s no scenario where Villanova is lower in NET than either of the two teams here.

There’s no good way to really break a tie. Villanova would have beaten St. Joe’s but lost to Penn. Penn would have beaten Villanova but lost to St. Joe’s. What gives? Go to the KenPom rankings? Villanova wins there, too.

Should it be decided Texas high school football style with an old-fashioned coin toss?

The real shame is that each of these “semifinals” are on the same night. Villanova-St. Joe’s tips at 6:30 p.m. (FS1) on Nov. 29, Temple-La Salle at 7 (ESPN+).

» READ MORE: Call it Palestra magic, but understand how Penn’s Big 5 upset of Villanova came about