The new Big 5 Classic made some new memories. Will it continue in the future?

This version of the Big 5, Drexel finally included and a tournament-style competition culminating Saturday with a tripleheader at the Wells Fargo Center, was very much a “let’s try something different and see how it goes” kind of thing, Wells Fargo Center general manager Mike Sulkes said.

The city’s men’s college hoops series needed a shot in the arm, most stakeholders said, and the Big 5 Classic was designed to be that.

It played out Wednesday night in Radnor and on North Broad. In the suburbs, it was St. Joseph’s snapping an 11-game losing streak to Villanova behind an impressive three-point shooting display. In the city, it was La Salle’s Jhamir Brickus setting a Big 5 scoring record and nearly giving his coach, Fran Dunphy, the former Temple coach, a sweet victory. But it was Temple outlasting its neighbor in three overtimes.

» READ MORE: Behind three-point barrage and three-guard magic, St. Joe’s gets its statement win over Villanova

Organizers wanted something new, and they got it.

Perennial Big 5 champion Villanova, which had its hands on at least a share of the City Series title in all but three of the last 18 seasons, will play in the fifth-place game vs. newcomer Drexel at the Wells Fargo Center.Dunphy’s Explorers meet Penn in the third-place game. And then St. Joe’s and Temple, former Atlantic 10 combatants, will duke it out in the final. The tripleheader begins at 2 p.m.

Storylines, there are many, maybe none bigger than former Temple great Lynn Greer Jr., now the program’s chief of staff under coach Adam Fisher, being on the opposite bench of his son, Lynn III, who scored 15 points and had seven assists in the first St. Joe’s win at Villanova’s Pavilion since 2004. There’s Dunphy against one of the two other Big 5 teams he formerly coached in the third-place game.

It all starts, though, with Drexel taking on No. 18 Villanova. That in itself is at least a bit of a shocker. Villanova lost twice in its pod as a double-digit favorite, once to Penn at the Palestra and then again Wednesday night on its home floor.

But that 2 p.m. game is worth dialing in on a bit more as it pertains to this Big 5 Classic as a whole.

As of Thursday morning, the majority of upper-level tickets for Saturday remained unsold, and there were also plenty of first-level tickets still for sale. How the inaugural event will be judged will be based on how Saturday goes, and part of that equation is in ticket sales. The six schools and the building are dividing the pot seven ways. Fans can see all three games for one ticket.

No one was ignorant to the challenge entering this new format. Last year, a doubleheader featuring Temple vs. La Salle and Penn vs. St. Joe’s didn’t come close to selling out the Palestra, which has less than 50% the seating capacity at the Wells Fargo Center. The obvious factor, in addition to it being on a weeknight, was that there was no Villanova, easily the biggest brand in Philly college basketball.

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

In that case, Wells Fargo Center executives and Big 5 administrators, minus those on Hawk Hill, had to be rooting for Villanova on Wednesday night. The Wildcats playing at 2 p.m. would likely impact ticket sales — especially premium packages — on any day, but Saturday specifically is a tough one. Villanova’s football team hosts a playoff game on campus at noon. There are quite a few overlapping season-ticket holders, and beyond that there could be little motivation for a casual Villanova hoops fan to go to a Villanova-Drexel game in South Philly.

Fans of the other five schools can read that and think boo-hoo. Sure, but the financial considerations will be what keep the event going or kill it.

“We’re hoping this builds over time,” Sulkes said. “I don’t think we were expecting 21,000 people in the building Saturday. I think we could get upwards of 15,000.”

That came before Wednesday’s games had played out. Now? Maybe the expectations have adjusted.

Don’t get it twisted, there are still plenty of reasons for basketball fans to be excited about Saturday’s finale. St. Joe’s is likely favored, and is probably the better team, but Fisher’s Owls are showing some fight so far. Dunphy is Mr. Big 5, having just secured his 600th win Sunday. And Villanova-Drexel is a rarely-seen matchup in the city — the teams haven’t met since 2009.

What does all of this mean for the future? That’s still not clear.

The Big 5 Classic is a one-year deal between the schools and the arena. Sulkes said there was optimism the event would continue in the future, and there are hopes to add a women’s component, too. But a lot of that depends on how things go. Money always talks. Sponsorship sales, Sulkes said, went beyond what executives originally thought, and each school sold its entire ticket allotment. Sulkes said success will be judged by individual ticket sales, those sponsorships, and “creating a world-class event for all the schools and everyone involved.”

“If that happens, everything else just falls into place,” he said.

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The idea for all of this dates back about seven years, when former Penn athletic director and Big 5 Hall of Famer Steve Bilsky came to Wells Fargo Center officials with the idea. They all kicked the tires and it eventually sat on a desk before being revived during last year’s basketball season. Sulkes credited Ashwin Puri, La Salle’s athletic director, with being a key leader in making this all happen when the topic was revisited.

“I just think the appetite for change wasn’t there,” Sulkes said when asked what stalled plans seven years ago.

This time around, there was. A date is being held on the calendar for next year for it. Time will tell if all the paperwork gets signed.