Martelli speaks on the state of the Big 5

This year, St. Joe's became the final team (other than Penn) to move its Big 5 home games out of the Palestra. With a declining interest in the city series, combined with speculated tension between two of its schools, how much clout the unofficial conference will carry in the coming years remains unclear. For the present time, though, the Big 5 appears to be safe. Yesterday, I talked to St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli about his thoughts on the importance of the Big 5, its current status and what the future holds for the staple of Philly college hoops:

In general, how important would you say the Big 5 is to Philadelphia and to college basketball as a whole? I think that the Big 5 is a very special fraternity. It's an honor to be part of it, and I think it's the envy of other college basketball towns and coaches. They’ll always talk to us about, 'How could six Division I schools be in close proximity? How do you split up the public relations? How do you split up the newspapers? How do you split up the fan support?' It’s just really a proud badge that all of us get to wear by being in the Big 5.

How would you characterize the status of the Big 5 today? I’m a huge proponent of the Palestra — I still believe to this day that every Philadelphia game should played in the best college basketball building in America. I think all the tickets should be 50/50, and if people want to say that’s pie in the sky or that’s not doable, I understand what they’re saying. But I’m just suggesting that the beauty of the Big 5 is half the building for your team, half the building for the other team, and then we create these special memories like what was created Saturday night. Penn and St. Joe’s — both teams kind of scuffling along, and you get that kind of crowd, that kind of enthusiasm. I think it’s very special for the players, I think it’s very special for the students. So I think the Big 5 is healthy. The competition is healthy, there were a number of close games this year. And it’ll never go back to the way it was, but I can be a guy who wishes it would go back.

Your school was the last, other than Penn, to play all its Big 5 home games at the Palestra. But this year, Villanova and Temple came to your place, but La Salle will still face you at the Palestra. Is leaving the Palestra a permanent decision or will it depend from year to year? What we have to do is what was very best for our team and our program, and our students and our fans this year. It was the right thing for where we are right now, and I’m certain that we will evaluate this inside out and upside down going forward on what’s the best thing for our situation. Everybody needs to know that I don’t say it lightly: the Palestra is the best college basketball building in America. But, from our point of view, we need it alive, we need it to jump. We also need home court, which is really important for us. We need to create a really live atmosphere here at Hagan Arena.

Obviously as a coach, you don't want to lose any Big 5 games, but do you think it's good for the conference as a whole that any team can beat another on any given night? I don't know if it's good, but it certainly creates anxious moments for the coaches. We certainly are aware of that. A lot of other people and a lot of other situations can say, 'Throw the records out the window!' That’s obviously true in Philadelphia. There is a drive to be the dominant team in Philadelphia, and certainly this year it looks like it’s going to be all over the board. It’s going to be everybody getting a little piece of it. So I thought the game on Saturday night was good for Philadelphia. I thought it was brilliantly played by Penn. I thought it was brilliantly coached by Jerome Allen. They won the game — I’m not sitting here telling you we lost it because of this or we lost it because of that. They won it because of the game they played.

Do you think the Big 5 will survive in the long run? It went through a rough patch in the ’90s but managed to bounce back then. I think the Big 5 is very, very vibrant right now.

Additional thoughts? I just appreciate that there’s a younger generation that is understanding, respecting and loving Philadelphia basketball, and that certainly describes the Penn student body.