For the first time since 1999, Philadelphia's Big 5 may not have a five-team round-robin champion.
According to a story first reported by ESPN.com, Temple basketball coach John Chaney is refusing to play Villanova this season due to a scheduling conflict.
Founded on Nov. 23, 1954 at Penn's Houston Hall, the Big 5 -- a Philadelphia basketball conference made up of Penn, Temple, Villanova, Saint Joseph's and La Salle -- is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.
Now, for the first time since a true round-robin resumed in 1999, many are left wondering what will happen to one of college basketball's most historic set of rivalries.
"We're all worried about what's going on here," Penn men's basketball coach Fran Dunphy said. "Hopefully they can get this resolved and make this a win-win for everybody. This is not good for Villanova, Philadelphia or the Big 5."
The feud centers around Villanova suspending 12 players last March for making unauthorized telephone calls with a school access code last year. The NCAA also handed down additional three- to eight-game suspensions to five of these players involved.
Among those punished by the NCAA is starting senior guard Derrick Snowden, who will be forced to miss this season's first three games.
Starting sophomore guard Randy Foye and last year's sixth man Allan Ray were determined to have been involved in the incident, but were not punished by the NCAA because both players charged less than the required $100 for suspension. Sophomore starting center Jason Fraser is eligible to play this season after serving his three-game suspension last year.
The Wildcats were tentatively scheduled to visit the Owls in their Nov. 21 opener, but after the suspensions were handed down, Villanova asked to change the date of the Big 5 game.
According to the ESPN.com article, Chaney perceived that the reason for this switch was to schedule two Division III games against Claremont and Redlands College on Nov. 21 and 22, in an attempt to make several players eligible for the Nov. 24 Maui Invitational Basketball Tournament.
"We don't plan on playing them," Chaney told ESPN.com. "They're going to Maui and scheduled two Division III games on our date. We wrote a note, letters, e-mail and they ignored us completely. They went past us without any kind of respect. So, we're not playing them."
According to the report, Villanova offered a makeup date of Dec. 28, yet Temple found this date unacceptable, because it was during winter break.
Villanova Athletic Spokesman Mike Sheridan, who said that the school's athletic department would not comment on this issue because it was "played out," did add that they are "hoping to get something resolved, but in the meantime, [are] just hoping to lay low."
For the first 31 years of Philadelphia's unofficial conference, the five schools would vie for the "City Championship" during Friday night doubleheaders at the Palestra, with each team playing the other four once a season.
Starting with the 1985-1986 season, Big 5 games began to be played at each school's home court.
In 1991-1992, Villanova's Big East schedule required it to play two additional games. This led to the Wildcats eliminating two games from their Big 5 schedule. To accommodate this change -- although the remaining schools played all four games -- only two games counted officially toward the Big 5 standings, yielding no legitimate city crown winner.
In April 1999, Big 5 Executive Director and former Penn Athletic Director Paul Rubincam -- who could not be reached for comment -- announced the return of the round-robin format.
Dunphy believes that this current issue is quite different from the 1991-92 scheduling problem.
"This is just an issue that revolves around a disagreement," he said. "I don't think most people realize how hard scheduling really is. Lots of sacrifices are made by a lot of people to make this work. Hopefully we'll get this resolved and Philadelphia basketball will be the winner."
Dunphy also believes that Philadelphia games should always be scheduled, with or without an official Big 5 title.
"We should always play these games," he said. "That's why we play Drexel as well. It's great for the city of Philadelphia."
