5 big questions about Big 5 men’s basketball teams this season

Another year went by without a Big 5 men’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament, marking two straight tournament-less seasons for the local teams — one of which had qualified in 44 straight iterations since 1978. Will the trend continue in 2024-25?

Here are some key questions facing Big 5 men’s teams with the start of the college basketball season right around the corner.

Erik Reynolds II is back and might be the Atlantic 10 player of the year. The A-10′s best freshman, Xzayvier Brown is back, too, and so is versatile forward Rasheer Fleming. St. Joseph’s welcomed Rutgers transfer Derek Simpson and Harvard transfer Justice Ajogbor. The Hawks have a talented and experienced starting five and some exciting young players off their bench.

Billy Lange has his best roster, and in turn is entering his sixth season with real expectations for the first time. St. Joe’s was picked third in the conference’s preseason poll, and the Hawks are a trendy pick to have some at-large consideration come March. Hagan Arena has the potential to be a really fun place to watch college hoops this season, and St. Joe’s has a real chance to be back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.

Villanova was left out of the NCAA Tournament in each of Kyle Neptune’s first two seasons after taking over for Jay Wright. And when Villanova was bounced in the first round of the NIT for the second straight year, it was fair to wonder if Neptune would get a third season.

But Neptune was immediately backed by athletic director Mark Jackson the day after Neptune was booed off the court following a home loss to Virginia Commonwealth. That dynamic, however, has changed. Jackson is now the AD at Northwestern, and Villanova is in search of its next department leader. ADs tend to like to hire their own people, and that might mean Villanova needs to, at the very least, make the NCAA Tournament for Neptune to earn his fourth season.

There’s enough talent to do it. But Villanova was picked seventh in the Big East, and it needs to play above that expectation.

» READ MORE: Villanova’s Kyle Neptune and Eric Dixon embody the pressure and promise of modern college hoops

Temple closed the 2023-24 season on a high note. The Owls won just five conference games during the season but rolled all the way to the American Athletic Conference championship game, finishing one game shy of an improbable NCAA Tournament berth.

But it was also a weird note. Irregular gambling activity surrounding a few Temple games caused a watchdog organization to raise red flags, and an investigation followed. Former Owls guard Hysier Miller was recently released from Virginia Tech, where he had transferred, “due to circumstances prior to his enrollment” and it’s unclear if there’s more fallout on the horizon. In separate and unrelated NCAA suspensions, the Owls will be without St. Joe’s transfer Lynn Greer III and assistant coach Chris Clark for the first nine games.

But lost in all of the darkness was a pretty bright offseason for Adam Fisher and his staff. The Owls retooled their backcourt and should take the next step. It’s on Fisher and his staff to help the team ride the wave and keep things moving forward.

Nothing against the old Tom Gola Arena gym, but it had grown stale. La Salle’s renovated gym, now called John Glaser Arena, has brought the program into the modern era of college basketball. There are chair backs, a state-of-the-art sound system, new video screens, a suite area, upgraded locker rooms, and so much more.

While the arena will look quite nice, how the on-court product looks remains to be seen. The Explorers were picked last among the A-10′s 15 teams. They lost their one-two backcourt punch of Jhamir Brickus and Khalil Brantley, who transferred to Villanova and Oklahoma State, respectively. The portal took four of La Salle’s top five scorers, although it also brought in Penn State transfer Demetrius Lilley and Temple’s Jahlil White.

Fran Dunphy doesn’t finish last, so it’s hard to imagine that preseason prediction comes to fruition, especially not with a little more juice at home games.

» READ MORE: ‘Dramatic’ La Salle basketball renovation project is nearing its completion. Here’s a look inside.

Drexel coach Zach Spiker, maybe half-joking, recently called his team the Drexel Zagons. “We zag while everyone else zigs, and we’re going to continue to do it,” he said. Like La Salle, his team was raided by the transfer portal. And without much NIL support to speak of, Spiker focused his roster retooling on lightly recruited players from junior colleges.

Spiker has long gotten more out of his team than expected, and his ability to identify and develop talent has led to jumps in the win column in recent seasons. This, however, may be his toughest task yet, especially with big man Garfield Turner out for the season.