12 Philadelphia College Basketball Games You’ll Want to See in Person

Clockwise from top left: St. Joe’s coach Cindy Griffin (Matt Cashore); Temple coach Tonya Cardoza talks with center Safiya Martin (David Butler II); St. Joe’s DeAndre Bembry (Bill Streicher); Villanova’s Daniel Ochefu (Geoff Burke); Temple’s Erica Covile (David Butler II); Drexel’s Tavon Allen (Chris Humphreys); Villanova coach Jay Wright (Charles LeClaire); and St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli (Bill Streicher). All photos USA Today Sports

Philly is a basketball city, especially this Eagles season. With the Sixers still rebuilding, we can at least cling to our historic identity as a college basketball city — home to the Big Five and the shrine that is the Palestra, campus playground for Scottie Reynolds, Jim Lynam, Elena Della Donne, Pepe Sanchez, Theresa Shank, Wali Jones, Jameer Nelson … The local college hoops scene kicks off this Friday. Here are a dozen Philadelphia college basketball games that look to be major matchups in the months to come.

MEN: Drexel vs. St. Joe’s

7 p.m. on November 13th at St. Joe’s

St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli, now in his 21st season, lost only one starter and returns junior forward DeAndré Bembry, an All Big 5 and All Atlantic 10 first-teamer and the A 10’s leading scorer last season. The Hawks (13-18 overall last season, 7-11 in-conference) are projected to finish seventh in the 14-team Atlantic 10. They last went to the NCAA tournament in 2014, losing in the second round, in overtime, to Connecticut, which won the championship. The Drexel Dragons (11-19, 9-9) had an injury-ridden 2014-’15, but their veteran coach, Bruiser Flint, has the school record for career coaching wins and our favorite name in basketball. Returning fifth-year senior and leading scorer Tavon Allen is 157 points short of a career 1,000.

WOMEN: Penn vs. Duke

8 p.m. November 13th at the Palestra

Our local Ivy dives right in with this season’s women’s opener. Penn (21-9, 11-3) tied for the Big Five title (with ’Nova and St. Joe’s) and went to the WNIT last spring, beating Hofstra before losing to Temple. Duke (23-11, 11-5) went three rounds into the NCAA women’s tourney in March and has the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class this season. It also has six players on the roster who are six-foot-three or over. Penn has two. But height isn’t everything, and Penn has three starters returning.

MEN: Alvernia vs. Delaware Valley

7 p.m. on November 13th at Alvernia

The Alvernia Crusaders (18-10, 10-6) won the MAC’s Commonwealth Conference crown last season, beating top-ranked Lycoming by 22 points along the way. Guard Charles Cooper, who scored 34 points in that game, returns for his senior season, though tourney MVP Lamont Clark has graduated. (The Crusaders lost in the first round of the NCAA playoffs to Catholic U.) Del Val (16-11, 10-4) is ranked second in the MAC’s Freedom Conference coaches’ preseason poll (behind DeSales) and played in the FC’s championship game last season. Senior Chris Moran is 200 points shy of a career-total 1,000. Rams coach Casey Stitzel has chalked up three FC championship appearances, two championships and two NCAA berths in the past five years.

MEN: West Chester vs. Gwynedd Mercy

8 p.m. on November 14th at West Chester

West Chester (16-3, 13-8) is projected to tie for second place in the PSAC East (with Kutztown, behind East Stroudsburg); sixth-year head coach Damien Blair, WCU’s second-all-time-highest scorer, has nine starters returning, including senior Matt Wiseley, who was named to the preseason All-Conference Team. Gwynedd Mercy head coach John Baron has taken his team (17-10, 11-7) to the conference playoffs in every one of his 13 seasons. This year he’ll have senior Darnell Artis, an All CSAC first-teamer, and sophomore second-team All CSAC’er Cedric Elleby leading the Griffins.

WOMEN: Temple vs. Villanova

5 p.m. on December 2nd at Temple

Temple (21-17, 12-6) is a preseason pick for third place in the AAC, behind UConn and USF; last year the team went to the WNIT semifinals. Star players Erica Covile, Alliya Butts and Tanaya Atkinson all return. Head coach Tanya Cardoza, in her eighth season, is a three-time Big 5 Coach of the Year. Villanova (22-14, 12-6), which lost in the quarterfinals of the WNIT, is a preseason third-place pick in the Big East; outstanding guard Caroline Coyer (her twin sister Katherine also plays for the Wildcats; brother Chris was a QB for Temple) made the first-team All-Big East preseason squad. This is ’Nova coach Harry Perretta’s 38th year at the helm.

MEN: Penn vs. Temple

7 p.m. on December 9th at the Palestra

Penn (9-19, 4-10) had a dismal last season, which saw the dismissal of embattled head coach Jerome Allen. New head coach Steve Donahue is hoping for a reversal of fortune. But frequently suspended team captain Tony Hicks chose not to play this season, and the Quakers rank a next-to-last-place seventh in the preseason Ivy League coaches’ poll. The Temple men (26-11, 13-5) had an impressive post-season, losing in the NIT semifinals at the buzzer. Star Will Cummings graduated, but former Penn coach Fran Dunphy, now in his 10th season with the Owls, still has four returning seniors, including AAC rebound leader Jaylen Bond and three-point threat Quenton DeCosey, plus sophomore defensive force Obi Enechionyia, who led the team in blocked shots.

MEN: La Salle vs. Villanova

5 p.m. on December 13th at Villanova

The Explorers (17-16, 8-10) score a nationally televised game against the Wildcats (33-3, 16-2), and they’ll have an uphill battle. Top-seeded Villanova broke local hearts by losing to N.C. State in the third round of the NCAA tournament last March; a lot of folks who don’t even live here picked Jay Wright’s squad to go all the way. This year’s preseason AP poll pegs the Wildcats in 11th place overall, and they’re projected to finish first in the Big East. Returning players include vowel-endowed guard Ryan Arcidiacono, the Big East co-player of the year; big man Daniel Ochefu, one of the top rebounders in the nation; and Big Five Rookie of the Year Phil Booth. Six-foot-seven Syracuse forward B.J. Johnson has transferred to La Salle, his dad’s alma mater, but must sit out this season; All Big Five first-teamer Jordan Price will lead the Explorers under 12-year head coach John Giannini.

WOMEN: Drexel vs. St. Joe’s

2 p.m. on December 13th at St. Joe’s

The Dragons (20-11, 14-4) placed second in the CAA last season and went to the CAA and WNIT tournaments, though they lost both first-round matchups. Starter Meghan Creighton, a member of the local Creighton sports dynasty, is back after a knee injury last season, along with fellow Archbishop Carroll alums Sarah Curran and Rachel Pearson. St. Joe’s head coach Cindy Griffin is only the eighth coach in D-1 history to lead an alma mater to the NCAA tournament as both a player and a coach. The Hawks (13-17, 8-8) lost a mere two seniors and have 11 letter-winners returning, including All Big 5 first-team guard Ciara Andrews.

WOMEN: Immaculata vs. Cabrini

6:30 p.m. on January 5th at Cabrini

This is a replay of last year’s CSAC championship game, which saw the Cabrini Cavaliers (24-4, 16-0) win their third consecutive title and notch a first-ever Top 25 ranking on their way to the NCAA tournament. Seventh-year head coach Kate Pearson (her mom used to coach women’s soccer at Cabrini) was CSAC Coach of the Year for the second time, and rising senior Kristina Startare was the championship game MVP. The Mighty Macs (17-10, 13-3) lost that CSAC matchup but had a sterling season. The brand-new Mighty Macs head coach, 2013 Immaculata grad Chrissy Esbensen, was the CSAC Rookie of the Year back in 2009-’10. She welcomes a slew of returning players, albeit no starters, with Sara Smith leading the pack.

ALERT: MEN’S BIG FIVE DOUBLE-HEADER

January 20th at the Palestra

Catch La Salle vs. Temple at 7 p.m. and St. Joe’s vs. Penn at 9:30 inside the storied Cathedral of College Basketball. It’s the first single-ticket men’s hoops doubleheader here since 2005.

MEN: Ursinus vs. Franklin & Marshall

6 p.m. on February 10th

The Bears (10-15, 7-11) got creamed last year by archrival F&M, losing 64 to 49 and then a humiliating 91-38 in their two Centennial Conference matchups, so 15-year Ursinus head coach Kevin Small has his work cut out for him. But he’s the school’s all-time leader in wins, and he has six-foot-seven sophomore Remi Janicot, six-nine frosh Paul Cottam and star senior guard Malik Draper on his side. On December 1st, the Bears will play at F&M (20-6, 13-5), whose team this year boasts CC Rookie of the Year and All-CC first-teamer Brandon Federici, who just happened to be the nation’s top-scoring freshman in all divisions last year. But the hot ticket in Collegeville will be this home-court grudge match against the Diplomats in February.

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