Digger Phelps and Reece Davis discuss current state of Ivy, NCAA hoops

With ESPN’s College GameDay visiting the Palestra over the weekend to chronicle the greatness of the Cathedral of College Basketball, there was plenty to talk about with ESPN’s resident college hoops experts.

Though the GameDay crew was in town to focus on the historic nature of the Palestra, as well as the spectacle that is Big 5 basketball, the show and network didn’t dedicate much time to discussing the current state of Penn basketball.

Still, former Penn assistant and Notre Dame head coach Richard “Digger” Phelps and ESPN analyst Reece Davis gave insight into their views on everything from Big 5 basketball to their impressions of the Palestra.

According to Phelps, the reason that Big 5 contests have shifted away from being played at the Palestra every season is “money”. Despite changes in the Big 5 setup in recent years with more teams playing their city-rivals in on-campus arenas, Phelps added that “all Big 5 games, to [him], should always be played in the Palestra.”

“I think it’s important to take the show to places where the history of the game is captured, where there’s a lot of passion in the stands, and where there’s history,” Davis said. “We wanted to come here because we think its one of the great venues in the sport and just walking around here is cool.”

Though the GameDay crew visited the Palestra as part of its “My Home Court” series, a week-long set of profiles of the most important and historic venues in college basketball, Davis wouldn’t rule out the possibility of returning to the Penn’s campus in the future.

“[Visitng the Palestra for a Big 5 doubleheader] was my original idea about coming here,” Davis said. “ I think there are a lot of business aspects of it…[but] I would love to come back here.”

Like Phelps, Davis recognizes the importance of the Palestra hosting Big 5 games on a consistent basis, primarily due to the value of a once-prominent tradition.

“I would like to see everybody sacrifice a little bit to do it,” Davis said. “You don’t need to be anchored by tradition, but sometimes it provides a really good foundation for the future, and I hope all the schools see fit to do it occasionally.”

With the impending retirement of Steve Bilsky, Penn’s Director of Athletics, Phelps didn’t hesitate to deliver a lighthearted shot at his former play.

“Bilsky and [Dave] Wohl was a great backcourt, and then Steve gets into politics and becomes an AD at George W, and then becomes an AD here,” Phelps said. “And it’s like, ‘Are you kidding me? YOU are Director of Athletics? For what reason? I mean seriously, are you in charge of the equipment room or what? Giving out Penn t-shirts?’

“But no, I understand he’s retiring…well, God, he retired when he got the job!”

Ultimately, a discussion broke out between Davis and reporters regarding the current state of the Ivy League. While Columbia and Princeton have both played well in 2013-14, Davis told everyone the obvious: that Harvard is still the team to beat.

“I think what happens — and I know it’s a little bit of a conundrum for the Ivy League schools in how they want to find that balance [of academics and athletics] — but everybody wants to win,” Davis said. “But when a Harvard or a Princeton sort of sets the bar at a certain level, and starts recruiting a particular type of player, everybody’s going to want to live up to that type of standard.

“You’ve seen that historically in the Ivy League, everybody shoots for who’s on top. And I guess Harvard, from that standpoint right now, is the team on top, but I don’t think you’ll see teams just taking it quietly.”