They held the Big 5 Hall induction luncheon back on Jan. 29, with Chaney, Rollie and Speedy all getting in. We’ve already remarked on Chaney’s and Rollie’s inductions, but we felt it was worth passing along Dick Jerardi’s Daily News story about Speedy Morris, too. Speedy is a Philly Guy through and through, and his early years at La Salle were marked by some of the school’s greatest successes — well, certainly the most recent anyway. It was fascinating to learn about Speedy’s humble basketball background, but even more to to get his thoughts on La Salle’s disastrous move out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which set the program back years:

“Why did we ever leave the MAAC?” Morris said. “I might still be there. We owned the MAAC.”

It’s certainly a question worth pondering, given the Explorers’ struggles ever since it happened. But 10 days ago, it was also worth pondering the collective impact guys like Speedy, Rollie and Chaney had on college basketball in this city. And on that day, anyway, that’s all that mattered.

After the jump, we’ve got video of a portion of Chaney’s all-over-the-place acceptance speech, which Jerardi had written about for the Daily News‘ Philly Hoops Insider blog here.
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From 1991-92 through 1998-99, the Big 5 wasn’t really the Big 5. Instead, during those eight seasons, the spectacle of the city’s five teams all playing one another in a given season was reduced to a lame, round-robin format in which everybody only played one game against two of the others, rather than against all four.

It was a time of great change, really. Conference affiliation was starting to matter. Television was taking over, if it hadn’t already. And financially, it made sense for schools — even Big 5 schools — to play as many home games as possible on campus, rather than at the P, because of the revenue advantages. As far back as the ‘86-87 season, in fact, both Villanova and Temple played their Big 5 “home” games in their own gyms. But with Villanova being in the gauntlet that was (is?) the Big East, the Wildcats — and their coach at the time, Rollie Massimino — did not want to have the bulk of their non-conference schedule loaded with games against city rivals. So they opted out. And for many, the bitterness has lingered ever since. The question, though, is how much of that bitterness was finally put to rest with Rollie’s induction into the Big 5 Hall of Fame last Friday?
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On Friday, former Temple coach John Chaney will go into the Big 5 Hall of Fame with an induction class that includes two of his coaching contemporaries, Rollie Massimino (Villanova) and Speedy Morris (La Salle). And today, the Daily News‘ Mike Kern wrote a feature about Chaney’s induction, the first in a series that will also cover Massimino and Morris. We have to say, however, that Chaney captured the magic of the Palestra in a way no writer in this town really could — by describing, of all things, what it was like when he went to the men’s room. Kern was wise to let Chaney do the talking, and after the jump, we have the quotes.
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OK, gang. Time again to get caught up on a few items and happenings we might have missed in recent weeks. After the jump, we’ll do our best to bring you up to speed.
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Break up the Hawks. Saturday, they got a 60-59 win against Dayton — one of the top teams in the A-10 — thanks (in part) to Garrett Williamson’s terrific defensive play down the stretch. Then, on Monday, they went to the P and dropped Penn, 85-64. Which makes three straight wins, improving them to 8-11 overall, 2-3 A-10, 1-1 Big 5. There’s a long way to go, but there are some signs that things are starting to improve, albeit slowly. At least that’s what Jack McCaffrey of the Delaware County Times thinks, but we’ll just have to wait and see. And Saint Joe’s next game is Wednesday night at the Hagan against UMass. Penn? Well, the Quakers start Ivy play on Friday at Yale with a mark of 1-13. They finished 0-4 in the Big 5. In fact, Penn’s Class of 2010 hasn’t seen a Big 5 win since its freshman year. And now it looks like Tyler Bernardini is out for the remainder of this season.

Links: Saint Joe’s beats Dayton. Seriously. We ain’t kidding [The Inquirer]
Rebuilding on Hawk Hill [Delco Times]
Remember when Penn could win a city game? [Daily Pennsylvanian]
A redshirt for Bernardini? [Daily Pennsylvanian]

It’s not just that the Explorers lost, 84-82, to Charlotte on Saturday at the Gola. Nor is it that they had a chance to win only to — wait for it — turn it over in the closing seconds, only to have a guy whose name really is An’Juan Wilderness beat them with a buzzer-beater. Nope. The Explorers also learned that senior guard Kimmani Barrett will be out six to eight weeks with a fractured bone in his right foot. Anyone else find any irony in the fact that John Giannini coached Saturday’s game in his bare feet for the Samaritan’s Feet project and Haiti relief efforts? Why, yes, Ray Parillo of The Inquirer did in this little dispatch on the injury woes that have pretty much ruined what was supposed to be a pretty good season at 20th and Olney. Oh, well. There’s always next year. Always. Now 10-9, 2-3 A-10, La Salle does play at Fordham on Wednesday. Which ought to be a relief, right? Right?

Links: Barrett out [La Salle University]
Giannini didn’t wear shoes [La Salle University]
A good year has become a hard year at La Salle [The Inquirer]

The Owls shot 28 percent in the first half on Saturday in the Bronx, but c’mon: They were playing Fordham, which has nevereverwonagame won very few games in the Atlantic 10 since joining the league in 1995. Temple’s three-point halftime lead became a 62-45 win because of the Owls’ depth, according to Shawn Pastor’s account in The Inquirer. Lavoy Allen didn’t score, Ryan Brooks was held to nine points and Luis Guzman was dealing with a sore ankle, but the Owls got some solid play from Ramone Moore and Scootie Randall. Heck, even T.J. DiLeo got in on the act. Now 17-3, 5-0 A-10, Temple is off to its best start since 1993-94. Next is a game at Charlotte on Wednesday night. The Owls are also now ranked No. 15 in both polls, and if you get a chance, check out Dan Gelston’s story for the Associated Press on how coach Fran Dunphy has brought the Owls back to glory.

Links: Temple beats Fordham. What else is new? [The Inquirer]
Glory days for Dunphy, Temple [Yahoo.com/Associated Press]

Your Villanova Wildcats didn’t just beat St. John’s, 81-71, at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. It pretty much grinned all the way through it, according to Terry Toohey’s game story for the Delaware County Times. And the good times, they spilleth over. From Toohey’s story:

“It’s like Comedy Central every day, especially on the bus,” [Scottie] Reynolds said. “You never know what someone’s going to say or do.”

The biggest needler of this loose group, according to Reynolds, is junior guard Corey Fisher, followed closely by junior forward Antonio Pena.

“Fish will rip on anyone,” Reynolds said. “It doesn’t matter and he doesn’t care. He’ll rip on three or four guys in a row. ’Tone gets his shots in, too.”

Excuse the cliche, but it’s not all fun and games on the Main Line, of course. The ‘Cats (18-1 overall, 7-0 Big East) have equaled their best start in history overall, and they’ve won their first seven in the Big East for the first time. But take a look at what Reynolds has done thus far against the Big East, according to Joe Juliano’s game story in The Inquirer: 21.4 ppg, 58.7 percent shooting, 52.8 percent shooting from the arc. Yikes. And as Dick Jerardi noted in his Monday roundup for the Daily News, ‘Nova allowed the Johnnies to score 16 straight points at one point … and it never mattered. And the Wildcats’ defense just kept improving as the game wore on. Up next is Notre Dame at the Wacho Center Wednesday night. Oh, and ‘Nova is now ranked No. 3 in the country in both polls. And with Kentucky having lost tonight at South Carolina, ‘Nova could move up to No. 2 with a win since it doesn’t play again until Tuesday.

Links: ‘Nova winning happily [Delco Times]
Another win for Villanova [The Inquirer]
‘Nova getting it done every which way [Daily News]

Chris Fouch his six 3s, was 10-for-15 from the floor (6-for-11 from distance) and finished with 29 points as the Dragons downed Hofstra, 75-62, on Saturday at the DAC. The story here, however, might have been Drexel’s defense, which held Charles Jenkins, the co-preseason player of the year in the CAA, to 13 points — four of which came late in the game. In fact, Jenkins was just 3-for-10. Now 11-10, 6-3 CAA, Drexel is tied with William & Mary for fourth place in the league, two games behind Old Dominion, George Mason and Northeastern, all of whom are 8-1. And the Dragons are at Northeastern on Wednesday night.

The Quakers on Wednesday got a verbal commitment from Fran Dougherty, a 6-8, 225-pound forward from Archbishop Wood, which is located in Warminster, Bucks County, but competes in the Philadelphia Catholic League. Dougherty is expected to play power forward and picked Penn over Princeton, Lafayette and New Hampshire. We wrote about his decision for Our Real Job here.

Dougherty was a second-team All-Catholic League Blue Division selection last year, which is worth noting since the league includes Neumann-Goretti, which has four Division I players (including La Salle-bound guard Tyreek Duren) and Archbishop Carroll, which won a state Class AAA title a year ago. Dougherty is currently sidelined with a stress fracture in his left foot, but he’s optimistic he can return in a few weeks, just in time for the playoffs.

He joins a 2010 Penn recruiting class that includes guards Miles Cartwright of Los Angeles and Steve Rennard of Metuchen, N.J., plus forward Cameron Gunter of Ridley, Delaware County. It is interesting to note that Dougherty said he was told interim Penn coach Jerome Allen would be back as an assistant next season even if the school decides to name someone else as a full-time head coach.

Links: Penn gets power forward [phillyBurbs.com]
Penn’s recruits for the Class of 2010 [scout.com]