Big 5 hoops notebook: Drexel continues hot start in CAA; two ways to start an A-10 season on Hawk Hill

It’s the second weekend in January, which means conference play is well underway in college basketball.

It feels like the basketball season only just started, especially for those who don’t pay much attention until after the college football season ends. But the sprint to March is on, and we’re only eight weeks away from Selection Sunday.

A lot can change in eight weeks. Some of the Big 5 teams are already learning that.

Here’s our weekly Big 5 hoops notebook to get you set for the weekend.

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What’s in the water on the north side of Market Street in University City?

Thursday night, Drexel’s men’s team survived a scare on the road as a big favorite vs. North Carolina A&T behind 15 points and nine rebounds from preseason Coastal Athletic Conference player of the year, Amari Williams. Zach Spiker’s Dragons are now 4-0 in CAA play for the first time since 2007.

The women’s team, meanwhile, will plat at Charleston on Friday after starting 2-0 in CAA play.

The Drexel men were picked third in the conference’s preseason poll, the women seventh.

The men’s team has a winnable road game at Elon before returning home for a Thursday game with Monmouth. It’s more likely than not that the Dragons will host rival Delaware next Saturday at 6-0 in conference play.

The DAC should be rocking.

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Cindy Griffin’s St. Joe’s women’s team is having a great start to the 2023-24 season. The Hawks enter the weekend 14-2 and are 3-1 in Atlantic 10 play. They were picked second in the preseason conference poll and are showing exactly why. Their only losses are vs. nationally-ranked Utah and last Saturday vs. a pretty good Richmond team.

On the men’s side, however... it has not been an ideal start to A-10 play for Billy Lange’s bunch. A non-conference run that included wins over Villanova and Princeton and a near-miss vs. Kentucky had many on Hawk Hill thinking NCAA Tournament.

We talked with ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi last week before the Hawks opened conference play about their at-large bid possibilities, and we’re glad we got that out of the way. The at-large discussion is all but over. Just two games into A-10 play, St. Joe’s is playing for conference tournament seeding after bad losses at Rhode Island and Saint Louis.

It’s a bit unexpected, but winning it all in Brooklyn was most likely going to be the only path anyway. At least now the suspense is gone.

100: Temple women’s basketball coach Diane Richardson notched win No. 100 with the Owls when they blew out Wichita State in Kansas Tuesday, 72-49. Aleah Nelson, meanwhile, is 24 points away from reaching 1,500 points.

1,200: The aforementioned Lunardi will see his 1,200th St. Joe’s game in person Saturday, when the Hawks host Loyola-Chicago at Hagan Arena.

30: We’re talking percent, here. Villanova’s men’s team is 9-1 when it shoots 30% or better from three-point range. After a poor shooting performance last weekend vs. St. John’s the Wildcats fell to 1-4 when they don’t.

It was not a good week to be a highly-ranked men’s college basketball team.

No. 1 Purdue lost. No. 2 Houston lost. No. 3 Kansas lost. No. 5 Tennessee lost. No. 9 Oklahoma lost.

You get the point. It’s possible that No. 4 UConn will move up to No. 1 next week, and the defending champion Huskies will be at the Wells Fargo Center next Saturday to take on Villanova (8 p.m., Fox29).

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The St. Joe’s and La Salle men’s teams meet Monday in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee, but first, they host a pair of A-10 foes Saturday. La Salle and VCU have a 12:30 p.m. (USA Network) tip at Tom Gola. At 4 p.m. (ESPNU), St. Joe’s and Loyola tip off at Hagan. Villanova meanwhile, was set to host lowly DePaul Friday night before heading out to the frigid midwest to take on Marquette on Monday (2:30 p.m., Fox). Drexel’s game at Elon is at 7 p.m. and will air on FloSports. Penn travels to Cornell to continue its Ivy League slate on Monday (2 p.m., ESPN+), and Temple’s two-game trip to Texas starts with a game vs. North Texas on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPNU).

On the women’s side, it’s a double-header at Hagan, where the St. Joe’s women tip at noon vs. Duquesne ahead of the men’s game. Villanova, which is now 3-1 in Big East play, is at Butler on Saturday night. Drexel has a quick turnaround after Friday night’s game. The Dragons are at UNC-Wilmington on Sunday. Temple, meanwhile, hosts Memphis at the Liacouras Center (2 p.m., ESPN+). Penn is at Dartmouth on Saturday (1 p.m., ESPN+) and then back home to host Cornell on Monday (2 p.m., ESPN+). La Salle plays after the men’s game at Gola Saturday vs. UMass (3 p.m., ESPN+) and meets St. Joe’s at noon Monday over at Hagan, the start of a women’s double-header between the schools.