Schuylkill 16 Week 4: DC v. Philly It's On!

The past week we've had some great discussion on this blog about both the current state of the Big 5 especially Penn basketball and coach Glen Miller. Today though, let's examine some teams a little farther afield from 33rd St., namely the Schuylkill 16.

Villanova yet again is the unanimous number one selection, and frankly I don't see them losing that spot (although eventually they might not be unanimous). But Tannenwald makes a very interesting comparison this week. As some of you might remember, the idea from the S-16 came from the Atlantic 11 Poll of the D.C. Sports Bog, which ranks 11 out of 27 teams from the greater Washington, D.C. area. I've always seen parallels between the two polls, the most obvious of which is that a Big East school absolutely dominates the poll ('Nova here, Georgetown down there). There are also some conference overlaps, most notably the Atlantic 10, CAA and Patriot League.

This week Jon compared the two polls by looking at the teams' Pomeroy rankings. I don't know if he'll continue this every week, but it's an interesting stat to see how the areas' teams stack up.

All of this is quite ironic, since just this past Friday The D.C. Examiner wrote how great it would be for a Washington Big 6 (or 7 if you include Navy), a D.C. take on the Big 5. The article quotes, of all people, Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky, who believes that “You could find a million reasons not to do it.” In the end, he sees it only coming to fruition if the potential schools' athletic directors act together: "It would take six very magnanimous people who would say, ‘hey, sometimes it’s better to look beyond our own selfish interest.’"

As a Bethesda, Md., native I would love to see this rivalry system come into place. However, it will not happen anytime soon. Georgetown and Maryland, by far and away the two most dominant programs in the D.C. area in terms of both fan base and talent, refuse to play each other due to various reasons. In fact, the teams have met just three times since 1981: at the home of the then-Washington Bullets 1993, in the 2001 Sweet Sixteen in Anaheim, Calif., and just two Sundays ago as part of the Old Spice Classic at Walt Disney World. Clearly if D.C. were to get a Big 6 or 7 those two teams would need to reconcile their differences.