Think the Big 5 going 0-for-6 on NCAA Tournament bids is bad? This year might be the first 0-for-12.

WASHINGTON — As Philadelphia college basketball fans stare down the barrel of another bleak March, the only Big 5 team that did make an NCAA Tournament last season took the court Friday afternoon.

That’s Drexel’s women, if you didn’t know. When the Dragons won last year’s Coastal Athletic Association tournament as the No. 7 seed, it didn’t matter for a moment that they drew a No. 16 seed in the Big Dance and lost by 40 points against mighty No. 1 seed Texas. It only mattered that they got there.

So it was time to visit this year’s squad, which finished fourth in the conference this season. Drexel faced No. 5 Monmouth in the quarterfinals and tipped off knowing No. 1 North Carolina A&T had been upset by No. 9 William & Mary a few minutes before.

With the St. Joe’s men facing a big climb in the A-10 tournament and Penn’s women losing in the Ivy League tournament on Friday, perhaps the Dragons had the best chance to save the city again.

They kept that chance alive by the narrowest of margins: a 70-67 overtime win over No. 5 Monmouth that went all the way down to an open three off the rim at the buzzer.

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“I feel like that’s been the story of our season this year: playing close games, executing down the stretch,” Drexel guard Cara McCormack said after scoring a game-high 26 points, on a day when star backcourt partner Amaris Baker shot just 5-for-18. “I feel like our whole team is levelheaded, because we’ve done it so much in practice and in our past games.”

The whole Big 5 could do with some levelheadedness right now. Perhaps you’ve heard that 2024 and 2023 marked the first times since 1977 that all the city’s Division I men’s teams failed to make the NCAA tournament. But you might not know that since the NCAA launched its women’s tournament in 1982, the city has never gone a full 0-for-12 across the men’s and women’s brackets.

Before Drexel saved the city’s blushes last year, Maddy Siegrist’s Villanova did so in 2023 with a Sweet 16 run that catapulted her to the WNBA.

Nor was Philadelphia fully shut out in the AIAW era, which ran from 1972 to 1982. That’s thanks to Immaculata’s dynasty: a final four every year from 1972 to 1977 and titles in the first three.

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If no local teams win their conference tournaments this year, the last hope will be the St. Joe’s women. The Hawks are the second team out in ESPN’s women’s Bracketology, after upsetting No. 1 Richmond in the A-10 semifinals but losing the final to No. 2 George Mason.

But that is a slim hook to hang a hat on, with the ACC’s Virginia Tech one spot ahead and the Ivy League angling for three bids at its conference tournament this weekend.

There are many causes for the Big 5′s fall from prominence, and fans at all the schools spent plenty of time complaining about them.

The transfer portal makes it impossible to enjoy watching players from year to year, even though coaches have long been able to jump wherever they want.

Players want to get paid for their labor, even though finding a place that will pay the most is sometimes called a free market. (But don’t call it an employer, of course, because then players might try again to unionize.)

» READ MORE: A salute to La Salle’s Fran Dunphy after a win that keeps his coaching career alive for another day

There seem to be fewer complaints about the billions of dollars of broadcast and sponsorship deals out there, especially when the money comes from a familiar TV channel. Never mind that if the money doesn’t go to the people fans tune in to watch, it goes to the athletic director, the football and men’s basketball coach, and their legions of assistants and quality control analysts.

Still, have at it if you want. Or, if you have a moment, listen to Fran Dunphy’s words from his final postgame news conference as a coach.

“I’m OK with guys making money,” he said after La Salle’s loss to St. Joe’s in the Atlantic 10 men’s tournament on Thursday.

Those words are as plain as all the other wisdom he has offered in his 33 years of coaching. That doesn’t mean the existing system works right, but they make the point that needs making.

“We’re in an interesting time, and you can complain about it if you want or you can do something about it,” Dunphy said. “You can try to be the best that you can with what you have, where you are. That’s the only thing you can do.”

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Is that enough to send a message many people around town don’t want to hear: that you have to give money to create wins, not give money after wins are created? They get it in some quarters, but not enough. So it’s good that Dunphy does.

It will obviously help when the House v. NCAA settlement takes effect next academic year at schools that have opted in. Most of the region’s programs are on board with paying players. Temple became the latest when it opted in, and it deserves credit for doing so loudly.

What better way could there be for the Owls to return to prominence than by marketing themselves as a destination for city high school players to get paid to play? It would only be right at the program where John Chaney fought the NCAA’s grandees for years, while sending Gratz’s Mardy Collins and Aaron McKie, Roman’s Marc Jackson, and South Philadelphia’s Nate Blackwell to the NBA.

By the way, if you’re wondering about “most”: Penn won’t because the Ivy League thundered from above that the idea of universities paying athletes for their labor is unconscionable. Never mind that nonathletes often get paid for their labor on campus and that one of the league’s foundational principles is that athletes and nonathletes should be treated equally.

» READ MORE: Temple opts into House v. NCAA settlement, setting the stage for revenue sharing on North Broad

But that’s for another day. For now, let’s get back to the present and praise Drexel for keeping the city’s hopes alive. Head coach Amy Mallon knows the position she’s in and knows she’ll hear that from her colleagues around town.

“It’s one of those things that’s great about being in the city of Philadelphia, and how competitive we are as a group,” the former Rosemont, St. Joe’s, and Villanova assistant said. “I haven’t checked my phone, to be honest, but I’m sure I’ll have some [messages]. Once we’re finished playing each other, we’re always cheering each other on and hoping the best for each team.”

This weekend, they’re all cheering for her.