City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The college basketball season has arrived!

Everything tips off tomorrow with five games around the city, including a doubleheader at Temple. Every Sunday this season, we’ll have a “what to see” weekly preview, starting with this one! It’ll include a little preview of the most important games of the week, as well as a more comprehensive list of important high school and college games going on over the next seven days.

A few Big 5 games of note this week:

• MBB: La Salle vs. Drexel (Tues, 6:30 PM)
  The Explorers and Dragons play the first Big 5 game of the season, which also goes down as the first Big 5 game in Drexel history. The battle to watch here is in the paint, where Drexel’s CAA Preseason Player of the Year Amari Williams goes up against promising La Salle sophomore Rokas Jocius, both of them 6-10 and skilled. 

• WBB: Drexel vs. Norfolk State (6 PM)
  The season opener for the Dragons’ women could be a return home for Norfolk State’s Diamond Johnson. The former Neumann-Goretti standout is applying for an eligibility waiver after starting her career at Rutgers before playing two years at North Carolina State. If available, the 5-5 dynamo will be a challenge for a Dragons’ backcourt that’s playing its first game without Keishana Washington in five years. 

• WBB: Temple vs. Georgetown (Thurs., 7 PM)
  The Temple women begin their season on Tuesday night against Delaware State, but get a much more significant test on Thursday. If Diane Richardson’s Owls are going to take a step forward this year as expected, they should be able to handle a team picked No. 10 in the Big East preseason poll. Temple will have to keep an eye on Georgetown’s Kelsey Ransom, who led the team in scoring (12.6 ppg), rebounds (6.6 rpg), assists (3.3 apg) and steals (2.6 spg) last season.

• MBB: Saint Joseph’s vs. Penn (Fri., 6:30 PM)
  The Hawks have hopes of playing in the inaugural Big 5 Classic championship game, and that means beating the Quakers to start things off. Penn gets a warmup against a D-III team on Monday but this will be their first Division I opponent, and they’ll certainly be aiming to pull the road upset. That means somehow limiting the talented SJU backcourt and having an answer for 7-footer freshman Christ Essandoko. 

Here’s a look at the schedule for the weekend ahead; listed below are all Big 5 games as well as selected home games for area Division II and Division III teams. 

Home team listed first unless indicated with an @ symbol. 

Mon., November 6
WBB: Temple vs. Delaware State (4 PM)
MBB: Penn vs. John Jay (6 PM)
MBB: Saint Joseph’s vs. Lafayette (7 PM)
MBB: Temple vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore (7 PM)
WBB: La Salle @ Coppin State (7:00 PM)
MBB: Villanova vs. American (7:30 PM) 

Tues., November 7
MBB: La Salle vs. Drexel (6:30 PM)
WBB: Saint Joseph’s vs. Rider (7 PM) 

Weds., November 8
WBB: Drexel vs. Norfolk State (6 PM)
MBB: Penn vs. Bucknell (7 PM)

Thurs., November 9
WBB: La Salle vs. Maine (4:30 PM)
WBB: Temple vs. Georgetown (7 PM)
MBB: Arcadia vs. Susquehanna (7 PM)

Fri., November 10
WBB: Drexel @ Delaware State (5:30 PM)
MBB: Saint Joseph’s vs. Penn (6:30 PM)
MBB: Villanova vs. Le Moyne (6:30 PM)
MBB: Temple @ Navy (8:30 PM)
WBB: Villanova @ Portland (9 PM)

Sat., November 11
WBB: Penn vs. Marist (12 PM)
WBB: La Salle vs. American (12 PM)
WBB: Saint Joseph’s @ Yale (12 PM)
MBB: Cabrini vs. Arcadia (3 PM)
MBB: La Salle vs. Northeastern (3:30 PM)
MBB: Drexel @ Winthrop (5:30 PM)
WBB: Temple vs. Bucknell (7 PM)

MBB @ Holy Family
12 PM: Holy Family vs. Franklin Pierce
2 PM: Jefferson vs. American International

Sun., November 12
WBB: Villanova @ Oregon State (5 PM)

MBB @ Holy Family
12 PM: Jefferson vs. Franklin Pierce
2 PM: Holy Family vs. American International