Thoughts on the new structure of the Big 5 tournament? 👍

Some thoughts on Tuesday’s Big 5 historical reconfiguring: Love it, most of it.

A new tournament does a smart job of addressing an urgent need to breathe life into a Philadelphia civic treasure.

When the last game of the 2023 Big 5 Classic tripleheader is played on Dec. 2 at the Wells Fargo Center, there will be one local champion. There will be six meaningful group-play basketball games to determine who gets to play for that title.

Why not the Big 6? It was noted Tuesday that the Big Ten has more than 10 schools, that the Atlantic 10 now adds up to 15 schools. There is no such thing as a Big 6. Branding matters. Keep the Big 5.

If Nebraska and Maryland can be in the Big Ten, Drexel can be in the Big 5.

Maybe it was the tail wagging the dog that gets Drexel fully into this mix — a need for a clean tournament format, which works way better with six schools than five — but that’s all good, too.

» READ MORE: A 2021 suggestion comes to fruition

You question whether the Dragons belong? Sorry, not lately. They were fifth of the six locals in this year’s final KenPom.com rankings, after finishing third of six the previous two seasons.

Even 20 years ago, Drexel would not have warranted full Big 5 membership, since there was real value put in by the other schools. But that value has kept waning, so here we are.

“If someone else announced this today,” La Salle coach Fran Dunphy said, meaning if any other city announced this kind of tournament, “it would be national news.”

He’s right. No other city has ever gotten all its top hoops schools together. The only national comparison to offer is maybe the Beanpot, another civic treasure, in Boston, just in college hockey. (If the comparison is valid — the tournament up there at the Garden works better than a round-robin.)

Is this new thing perfect? It is not. A final game on the first Saturday of December is far from ideal — it’s a long, long way from March, and attention in college hoops doesn’t really percolate until later in the winter. This is still college football season.

» READ MORE: Drexel becomes full Big 5 member

It was put to me Tuesday at the official unveiling that maybe the Big 5 can build toward later dates. What that means is that if the teams get better, they’ll be more attractive to television partners, which really call the shots. Right now, for instance, would a network rather have say a Villanova-Providence game or this Big 5 title game?

The answer for this moment is obvious. But if say a Villanova-Temple game is a matchup of two powers, that changes the rating math. The bottom line for reviving local college hoops still rests on the teams getting better, period. You can’t market your way into March Madness.

Big 5 Classic pods were set up with several factors in play. Temple will be with La Salle and Drexel; St. Joseph’s will play Villanova and Penn. This takes a historical St. Joe’s objection off the table — there will still be a home-and-home series every year with Villanova, since each school in the group will play the two others, switching home sites year to year.

Why not the Palestra for the final? Because they’re splitting up the pie among six schools. At some point, there has to be revenue to make this all work, and cutting in the Comcast-Spectacor folks makes sense. They’re already in the ticket-selling business.

» READ MORE: The Palestra still has nights when it comes to life thanks to Catholic League basketball

A strong hope is that Penn’s sole home game isn’t the only Palestra date in this tournament, that Drexel, La Salle, and St. Joe’s at least consider using the Palestra for home games, say, every other year.

A big winner in this, I’d argue … Temple. The Owls will historically be favored in their pod more often than not, which should offer the best path to the championship game. Playing for the title should be what this is all about.

The school that maybe has given up the most … I’d go with Penn. The Quakers have long been for this format. Former AD Steve Bilsky once pushed a version of this almost to the finish line. But linking up with Villanova for group play seems to offer the toughest path.

Another winner … Villanova. The Big East going to 20 games means the Wildcats were feeling a scheduling squeeze. This only drops one Big 5 game from the schedule, but even that is helpful. (Don’t be surprised if other leagues add more games, making this format a win-win for more schools.)

If Drexel fully joining gets a women’s tournament into play for 2024-25 as expected, let’s hope that tournament final can be at the Palestra.

Let’s point out that, whatever the win-loss records say, the Big 5 still matters, historically. It clearly meant a great deal to Jordan Dingle that he was named this season’s Big 5 men’s player of the year. It was something special for the five Big 5 Hall of Famers introduced at Monday’s Big 5 banquet at the Palestra.

It meant so much to former La Salle star Rodney Green that he started his Monday in Caracas, Venezuela, where he is playing professionally. Green flew to Panama, then to Miami, then to Philly. He got to the Palestra just as the Hall of Fame speeches already were in progress. He was heading back to South America the next day, the same route. But a Philadelphia-raised ballplayer got back to town because Green understood that, whatever the alignment or format, he is part of Big 5 history now.

“I was out of it,” Green said of the whole journey, and why he made it, how it was all worth it. “What an honor. It’s definitely a big deal.”