That’s what Temple men’s basketball coach Adam Fisher said he wanted his team’s identity to be when he spoke during media day on Oct. 27.
Those two facets of the game proved to be Temple’s Achilles’ heel last season, but with 11 new players, Fisher was out to avoid what prompted a collapse in the second half of last season.
With nonconference play finished and Temple (8-5) opening American Conference play at Charlotte on Tuesday, the Owls seemingly have accomplished what Fisher wanted. New faces have stepped up and their defense has improved.
Temple takes down Princeton 65-61, closing the non-conference slate on a four-game winning streak.
The Owls enter American Conference play with a 6-1 record in North Philadelphia.
“We know this is a challenging league. There [are] great coaches and there [are] fantastic players,” Fisher said. “There’s a reason why people pick from our league at the end of the year. We’ll probably have the lowest retention, because people see this league and they pull from it. So we know it’s a great challenge.”
Temple’s offense has seen an influx of depth that was evident during its current four-game winning streak. The Owls set a program record of 78.8 points per game last season and that has continued in 2025-26. They are averaging 77.8 points, the fifth-highest mark in the American.
Last season, the offense went through guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. and forward Steve Settle. While Zion Stanford was a viable third option, there was still a drastic drop-off and the offense was stuck.
Temple guard Aiden Tobiason is averaging 15.1 points a game.
This season, Temple’s best players have been able to coexist when the ball isn’t in their hands. Derrian Ford (17.8 points per game) and Aiden Tobiason (15.1) lead the team in scoring, becoming a one-two punch in the backcourt. Point guard Jordan Mason averages 11.2 points and 4.7 assists. Guard Gavin Griffiths has seen a career resurgence on North Broad Street, averaging 10 points. He leads the team with 27 three-pointers.
“We’ve got four guys that can space the floor and four guys that can shoot, dribble, and pass,” Griffiths said. “So it’s really fun to play when you have a team like that.”
Griffiths scores his points in bunches, often pulling the Owls out of a rut. He did so by knocking down three straight threes against Boston College on Nov. 15. On Dec. 14 against St. Francis (Pa.), 14 of his 17 points came in the first half to put the game out of reach.
Mason spearheads the offense, one of the reasons the Owls average just 9.8 turnovers, the fewest in the conference. He has added scoring to his prowess, being someone who steps up when Ford or Tobiason can’t get shots to fall. His presence gives the Owls offense something that it hasn’t had in Fisher’s tenure.
“He’s fantastic. I think he just makes the right reads,” Fisher said. “But we just have trust in him. … I think when your players know we have that belief in you, our guys know to always have their eyes on him.”
Temple’s defense looked like it was revamped after a string of good performances to start the season. That was quickly erased when the defense was exposed in a November tournament in Florida, when the Owls lost, 91-76, to UC San Diego and 90-75 to Rhode Island.
However, the last four opportunities have been different, and the Owls defense comes into conference play with momentum against a 6-7 Charlotte team that scores 72.1 points per game.
“Since we got back from Florida, I think we’ve guarded much better,” Fisher said. “I think that’s been a huge point of emphasis for us, defending and rebounding.”
Questions remain
After Tuesday’s matchup against the 49ers (7 p.m., ESPN+), Temple will face two more teams with losing records before a road game against reigning American champion Memphis on Jan. 14.
The Owls offense has been able to put up points, but many of them come in bunches as they go stretches of time without scoring, often looking lost. They typically resort to hero ball and isolation, with one player trying to end the drought himself.
Temple has taken a more collective approach to the season rather than building around top talent.
The abundance of Owls guards has also been an issue.
Masiah Gilyard was brought in for his defense and rebounding skills. Cam Wallace has shown he can be a future cornerstone, but he is still developing as a freshman. Former Alabama State star CJ Hines was brought in with the expectation to bring NCAA Tournament experience and be a three-point threat, but he hasn’t played yet while the NCAA reviews his eligibility.
AJ Smith has not played since the game against Villanova on Dec. 1 because of a shoulder injury; when he might return is unknown.
“It’s to a point now if there’s conversations with his family. We thought about having it,” Fisher said. “I said to him, ‘Go home for Christmas. Let’s talk to your family. Let’s jump on a call, see how you feel,’ and then we’ll probably make that decision on what he does from there.”
When Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree was starring at Neumann Goretti, the forward drew interest from multiple high-level programs. Two schools rose to the front of his recruitment: Miami and Villanova.
Playing for the Wildcats would give him a chance to remain in Philadelphia, but the Hurricanes’ recruiting efforts were led by assistant coach Adam Fisher, with whom Cosby-Roundtree developed a close relationship.
In the end, the 6-foot-9 forward committed to Villanova, but he gave Fisher a call to let him know of his college decision, which stuck with the coach.
They remained in touch as they went their separate ways and reconnected at the NBA Summer League this year. Fisher, by then the Temple head coach, and Cosby-Roundtree, then a video assistant with the Brooklyn Nets, sat together and chatted for the entire half of a game.
Fisher was looking to fill the director of player development position on his staff. He knew Cosby-Roundtree wanted to move into college basketball. After bringing Cosby-Roundtree in for an interview, Fisher realized the former Villanova standout had exactly what he was looking for. So the coach hired him, and now, Cosby-Roundtree is back in the city where his basketball journey started.
“I’ve been enjoying it. I love it,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “I’m learning so much about college basketball coaching now, compared to what it was when I was playing. I think for me, the biggest learning curve is patience.”
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree says he started “naturally coaching” as a senior at Villanova.
When Cosby-Roundtree joined Villanova in the 2017-18 season, he walked into one of the top college basketball programs in the country. The Wildcats had won the national championship two years prior and were led by coach Jay Wright.
Cosby-Roundtree won a national championship in his freshman year and spent the following two seasons growing in his role as a reserve forward.
However, the end of his Villanova career was hampered by injuries.
Cosby-Roundtree had stress fractures in his shins, which he had dealt with since high school. He missed the entire 2020-21 season and played in six games in 2021-22, his final year of college basketball.
Despite not playing, Wright wanted Cosby-Roundtree to remain around the team and help players during practice. He also provided a veteran presence on the bench. Cosby-Roundtree initially wasn’t interested in coaching, but watching from the sideline at Villanova gave him a new perspective.
“I just found myself seeing a game from a different view,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “I was just overly talking, overly communicating. Like, ‘Hey, you should do this, or you should do X, Y, and Z, make sure you’re here.’ I was just naturally coaching.”
After graduating from Villanova, Cosby-Roundtree spent a year coaching at Cristo Rey before he moved into a video assistant role with the Nets.
At both stops, he learned the ins and outs of coaching. He had to learn how to be patient with high school kids and be prepared to help the professionals in the NBA.
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree spent four years on Villanova’s basketball team.
“It was more just the difference is the amount of patience doesn’t have to be as long, for better or worse,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “You can explain it to [NBA players], and they’ll catch onto it quicker. … I think during my time with the Nets, I learned a lot about how to be organized, how to prepare, and how to improve guys.”
Cosby-Roundtree believes his experience with the Nets helped shape a seamless transition to the college game, where Fisher was waiting for him.
Fisher had the same staff for his first two years at Temple, but a position opened on the coach’s support staff when former Owls guard Khalif Wyatt — who currently is facing an NCAA penalty for placing hundreds of bets while as an assistant at West Chester in 2022 — left for a job as a video coordinator with Nets G League team this offseason.
Fisher asked Wright, as well as some of Cosby-Roundtree’s coaches in Brooklyn, about the 27-year-old coach. He got rave reviews.
“[His] character was off the charts,” Fisher said. “So then we brought him in and we talked to him, and he just aligned with what I’m looking to do. He gets Philadelphia, gets the Big 5. He understands the history of Temple. He’s a worker. This guy’s in here early. He’s detail-oriented. I’ll say, ‘Hey, I want to come up with two new drills.’ By midnight, I get an email with a video in writing and things that match what I’m looking for. He has been a fantastic addition.”
Coming to Temple also offered Cosby-Roundtree a chance to return to the city where he fell in love with basketball.
“To be able to give back to the city that I came from, and where I grew up is something that I personally really wanted to do,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “Being able to impact young lives … I enjoyed it, and that’s something that I take a lot of pride in.”
Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree grew up in Philadelphia and played at Neumann Goretti.
Cosby-Roundtree knows he still has plenty to learn, and Temple is his chance to soak in more information. He hopes to have the opportunity to one day run his own program.
“I just want to keep learning,” Cosby-Roundtree said. “The more I can learn from this staff, where everybody’s been a head coach before and they’re long-tenured assistant coaches, just learning as much as I can from them.”
If someone were to ask Evan Simon how the 2025 season went, his answer would be simple — the best of his college football career. Why? He finally had an opportunity.
The quarterback’s collegiate career started at Rutgers in 2020. He spent four seasons as a backup in New Brunswick, N.J. He transferred to Temple with two years of eligibility remaining — and the chance to be a starter.
“It’s taken me six years, and for each game I traveled, whether I was at Rutgers [or] Temple and I played or didn’t play, I had one family member there,” Simon said. “My mom drove to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when I was a third string or whatever. This just had to be the year that I gave myself a chance, and it was just a matter of doing whatever it took.”
It wasn’t easy. At Temple, there were quarterback battles and a coaching change that stood in the way of Simon achieving his goal, but he did it. His career ended when Temple lost to North Texas on Nov. 28, and, while the 5-7 Owls fell short of a bowl game, Simon helped usher in a new era of Temple football.
“I’ve had a shaky career. It’s taken six years for me to start the first game of the year,” said Simon, who threw for 2,097 yards and 25 touchdowns, while throwing just two interceptions this season. “It’s been quite the journey. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”
Carving his role
Simon doesn’t like to talk a lot about what happened at Rutgers.
The Manheim Central graduate joined the team in 2020. However, much of his time with the Scarlet Knights was spent on the sideline, prompting him to enter the transfer portal in 2023.
The options were limited, but one school stuck out: Temple, which had lost quarterback EJ Warner, who transferred to Rice.
“I had two other schools that were pretty interested, but they were lower level than Temple,” Simon said. “I had a great conversation with [former Temple coach Stan Drayton]; he made me laugh. I talked with the offensive coordinator. They both seemed like great people. I just put my trust in Temple as a whole.”
Temple quarterback Evan Simon (6) threw 25 touchdowns this season.
He competed with Forrest Brock, Temple’s third-string quarterback in 2023. Brock won the job and started the first two games. The door cracked for Simon when Brock injured his wrist against Navy on Sept. 7. Simon started the next game against Coastal Carolina.
Temple nearly defeated the Chanticleers, but Simon had his coming out party the following week against Utah State. He threw five touchdowns in a 45-29 comeback win over the Aggies. Simon would start every game but one for the rest of the season.
Temple, however, finished 3-9, and Drayton was fired before the season ended. Temple then hired K.C. Keeler, who opened up the quarterback position. Simon was considering entering the portal again.
“That whole transfer portal window was not easy, especially when you know coaches are telling you about guys who they are recruiting,” Simon said. “You’d like to think your position is safe, but it’s never safe. They brought two other senior quarterbacks in during this whole past year. It’s always in the back of your head.”
Getting a chance
Former Oregon State quarterback Gevani McCoy joined Temple in April, prompting yet another competition for Simon. This time was different, though. Simon was going to do anything to earn his job back, he said.
“I would study [McCoy], in a sense,” Simon said. “I’d study how many notes is he taking, how hard is he working in the weight room, how he interacts with teammates. I said this toward the end of the year, but bringing in two other quarterbacks and the competition during camp was by far the best thing that happened to me.”
He began doing things he had never done before, like sleeping in Edberg-Olson Hall. Simon was becoming a leader on the team.
Keeler took notice too, and named Simon the starter. He threw a career-high six touchdowns in the season opener against Massachusetts on Aug. 30, while McCoy was the backup.
“Chance is all we need,” Simon said. “I think Coach Keeler is a big part of it as well. He kind of forced me to be in some of those uncomfortable situations where it’s talking to the team or just things where you’re being forced to talk more.”
Next steps
When Simon walked off the field against North Texas, it signified multiple things.
Temple lost its fourth straight game, missing a chance at a bowl game. But for Simon, it was the final game of his college career.
But it won’t be the last time he picks up a football.
Former Rutgers QB Evan Simon slept in the Temple facility for six weeks to win the starting QB job 😳
The chance of being drafted isn’t high, Simon said, but he hopes to get a camp or workout invite from an NFL team. He signed with an agent at the end of this season and will spend the winter and spring training to prepare for Temple’s pro day.
“These next couple months are all unknown,” Simon said. “I’m just going to try to stay in the moment and make the most of it when the time comes.”
Simon’s journey was filled with twist and turns, and despite getting one year as a true starter at Temple, Simon says he wouldn’t change a thing because he believes that he left an impact on the program.
“This is a group of guys where they’re harder on themselves than their coaches are on them from a care factor,” Simon said. “We won five games, and we lost two games by a total of two points, and we played five ranked opponents. And, damn, we played hard, even in blowout losses. I think you give Keeler another year, baby, here we go.”
A former Temple guard who worked on coaching staffs at two Philadelphia universities placed hundreds of bets on professional and collegiate games while he was a volunteer coach, the NCAA revealed.
Khalif Wyatt, who served as an assistant volunteer coach for the men’s basketball team at West Chester University from July 2022 to spring 2023, placed 498 bets on professional and collegiate games between July and November 2022, totaling $176,326, according to the report released Thursday.
None involved West Chester teams.
Wyatt, who worked as a director of player development at his alma mater Temple before moving to the Long Island Nets in the NBA’s G League in September, declined to comment.
As part of the NCAA’s penalty, Wyatt was suspended from 15% of the regular season during the first season of his employmentif hired by any other NCAA member. He would not be able to participate in coaching activities during that period.
What does the violation mean for West Chester?
The NCAA began its investigation in 2024, when it was investigating another men’s basketball team. During that inquiry, sportsbook operator FanDuel reported Wyatt’s gambling. West Chester did not provide sports betting education to Wyatt, a volunteer coach, until 2023, according to the report. The NCAA found the university also responsible for Wyatt’s gambling.
The university was fined $2,500 and is on NCAA probation until December 2026.
A spokesperson for West Chester said, “Though the infraction was committed by a former short-term volunteer,” the school complied with the NCAA’s sanctions. It has further strengthened its compliance education, the spokesperson said.
Temple did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Khalif Wyatt was a standout player at Temple.
Who is Khalif Wyatt?
Wyatt, 34, grew up in Norristown and attended Norristown Area High School. He was a standout guard at Temple, where he helped the Owls earn two Atlantic 10 titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in four consecutive seasons.
He finishedhis career with 1,576 points, 295 assists, and 273 rebounds andwas named Atlantic 10 and Big 5 Player of the Year. He remains the program’s all-time leader for most 30-point games (seven) and is one of three Temple players to score more than 30 points in two NCAA Tournament games.
After his college career, Wyatt spent nearly a decade playing overseas in China (2013-14), Israel (2014-19), and the Philippines (2019-20).
Where has he coached?
Wyattwas named to Temple’s staff as its director of player development in July 2023, after previously having served as an assistant coach at West Chester.
Wyatt spent two seasons with the Owls before leaving for a job with the Brooklyn Nets’ G League team as a video coordinator this offseason.
Wyatt told The Inquirer in 2023 that he had hoped to be a Division I head coach or work in the NBA.
What is the NCAA gambling policy?
The NCAA bans student-athletes, coaches, and athletics staff members from participating in all sports betting activities, regardless of sport or division — includingprofessional sports.
In late November — after six college men’s basketball players had their eligibility revoked over allegations of sports betting — the NCAA rescinded a rule change that would have allowed student athletes to bet on professional sports.
Are there other local college betting incidents?
Former Temple guard Hysier Miller, who overlapped one year with Wyatt on the Owls’ staff, is permanently ineligible to compete in the NCAA after having placed dozens of bets, including some against his team, during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
The Neumann Goretti graduate placed 42 parlay bets totaling $473 on Temple games, and three of those were against his team.
Former Temple special assistant coach Camren Wynter and former graduate assistant Jaylen Bond also violated NCAA rules by betting on professional and collegiate sports. Their bets did not involve Temple.
According to the NCAA, both coaches received one-year, show-cause orders, a penalty in which any new hiring school would have to appear before the NCAA Committee on Infractions to state why it shouldn’t face discipline for hiring the coach, and a suspension of 10% of regular-season contests during his first year of employment.
In late November, Temple president John Fry and athletic director Arthur Johnson wrote in a statement that the NCAA found no evidence of point shaving or wrongdoing by the university.
Temple entered halftime against Davidson on Thursday with a 13-point lead and was looking to earn its third straight win.
Instead the Owls (7-5) went quiet, and it didn’t take long for their lead to dwindle.
Down by four with 35 seconds remaining, Davidson (8-3) had the chance to send the game into overtime or even win it when guard Parker Friedrichsen launched a three-pointer.
However, it ricocheted off the rim and went into the hands of forward Ian Platteeuw for the offensive rebound. Plattueew tried to give it to guard Roberts Blums, but it went over his head and into the back court. Blums corralled it and tried to call a time out with 19 seconds left. The only issue was that the Wildcats had none left.
A technical foul was called, and Temple drilled its free throws to seal a 68-63 road win.
Next up, Temple will host Princeton (3-10) for the second time this season in its nonconference finale on Monday (7 p.m., ESPN+).
Showing their depth
Temple has been without guard AJ Smith, who’s dealing with a shoulder injury and missed his third straight game. But he wasn’t the only player sidelined with an injury. The Owls were without guards Masiah Gilyard and Gavin Griffiths due to lower body injuries.
Their absences gave freshmen Ayuba Bryant Jr. and Cam Wallace bigger roles. Bryant earned his first career start, while Wallace saw 23 minutes of action and finished with 9 points, with 8 coming in the first half.
The Owls’ depth allowed guards Derrian Ford (23 points), Aiden Tobiason (19), and Jordan Mason (14) to lead the way in scoring.
Turning to old habits
Temple’s first-half success came from forcing Davidson to take low percentage shots. However, both sides of the ball started to collapse after halftime, and the Wildcats took advantage.
Blums and Platteeuw were the main beneficiaries. The two combined for 23 points.
Instead of making an extra pass, Temple relied on hero ball and played in isolation. The Owls finished with just five assists, after compiling 48 in the past two games.
They also shot 39.1% from the floor, and the Owls had a seven minute scoring drought in the second half, as the Wildcats went on a 13-0 run.
Part of their struggles stemmed from not having Griffith on the floor. The guard, who is third on the team in scoring with 10.9 points, leads Temple in three-pointers. On Thursday, the Owls made six of 19 attempts from deep.
Tobiason provides a lift
As Davidson crawled back, Temple’s offense fizzled and relied on its free-throw shooting, where the Owls made 26 of 33 attempts.
Ford was the main beneficiary, as his late free throws helped Temple keep Davidson at arm’s length. However, it was Tobiason who gave the offense some life.
Aiden Tobiason delivers in the clutch with a cold-blooded step-back. ❄️🔥
He made a layup to give Temple its first field goal in nearly nine minutes to push the lead to four. A few possessions later, he drilled a three-pointer to make it a six-point game. Then he swished a step back as the lead grew to 10.
The Wildcats continued to counter, but Tobiason had a rebuttal. He got a layup in the waning seconds that all but sealed the deal. Nine of his 19 points came in the final 10 minutes.
Temple left tackle Giakoby Hills agreed to a multiyear deal to stay with the Owls, according to a report from 247Sports. Hills reportedly will become one of the highest-paid players among the Group of Six conferences.
Hills committed to Temple from Morristown (N.J.) High School in 2024. He redshirted in his freshman season and was expected to remain a backup during the 2025 season.
Starter Kevin Terry suffered a sprained knee during a scrimmage on Aug. 9, thrusting Hills into his spot. Hills, 6-foot-5 and 290 pounds, spent the rest of training camp as the starting left tackle while Terry was on the mend, and made his first collegiate start in Temple’s 42-10 win against Massachusetts on Aug. 30.
Even when Terry returned in September, Hills remained the starter. The redshirt freshman was a key part of a Temple team that averaged 147.4 rushing yards per game. He was also the blindside blocker for quarterback Evan Simon, who broke the team’s single-season record by passing for 25 touchdowns.
Hills was one of six Temple players with a top-50 Pro Football Focus grade with a 73.5 through 12 games.
With Hills returning, Temple has locked down a potential cornerstone for the team under coach K.C. Keeler.
Temple’s Giakoby Hills (left) started all 12 games this season at left tackle.
Last week, Keeler and general manager Clayton Barnes spoke about the importance of multiyear contracts. They make it easier for the Owls to retain core players and help compete with Power Four conferences who may be offering those players more money.
“Without multiyear contracts, we wouldn’t have a chance to keep our best players,” Keeler said. “So some of those guys who are going to be sophomores, going to be juniors, say, ‘Here’s the plan to grow you,’ and that gives them a lot more security. Whereas a lot of Power [Four conferences] aren’t going to give a guy a multiyear contract.”
When Villanova hosted the first women’s Big 5 Classic tripleheader last year, the Wildcats intended to cap it off by winning the title.
Instead, the Temple Owls spoiled the party plans and left the Main Line with the title in their hands.
This year, the Wildcats delivered. Led by Brynn McCurry’s 21 points, they topped St. Joseph’s, 76-70, Sunday in a title game that was close throughout. It marked ’Nova’s 22nd women’s Big 5 crown, the most of any City Series team.
For as much as rosters in college basketball change by season these days, coach Denise Dillon admitted she had kept last year’s loss in mind.
“That’s the responsibility of myself and our staff, to explain to our players, because of so many new players on the roster, and not recognizing what Philly basketball is,” she said. “Yeah, the taste stuck with me, and I think some of the others who were playing in that game. Denae Carter and Jasmine Bascoe last year, they knew they gave something up here on our home court, and wanted to make sure we took care of business here today against St. Joe’s.”
Villanova’s players celebrate with the Big 5 champions’ banner.
The Hawks were more than valiant. Rhian Stokes totaled 23 points and six assists, while Gabby Casey had 19 points and eight rebounds.
At the other end, St. Joe’s held Bascoe to 4-of-16 field-goal shooting, though she still had 13 points. McCurry, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, delivered her third straight 20-point outing.
“Kudos to [McCurry] and to her teammates for stepping up, because I thought we did a hell of a job on Bascoe,” Hawks coach Cindy Griffin said,
December obviously isn’t March, but Villanova is on some national bracketologists’ early NCAA Tournament bubbles. Though the Wildcats lost at Princeton last month, they made up for it with a win at then-No. 25 West Virginia last Monday, and followed it with a win at Georgetown on Thursday to open Big East play.
Villanova’s Jasmine Bascoe defending Rhian Stokes of St. Joe’s, who led all scorers with 23 points.
Their next game, following exams, should be another solid barometer: home vs. Seton Hall on Dec. 19. The Pirates were picked third in the preseason conference poll, with ’Nova fourth.
“We gave up a tough one to Seton Hall last year in this place,” Dillon said of a 56-55 defeat. “We’ll remind them [at practice] on Tuesday.”
The rest of the day
Drexel topped Temple in the third-place game, 59-52. With Dragons star guard Amaris Baker held to just seven points on 2-of-13 shooting, Deja Evans stepped up with 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting, plus seven rebounds and three assists.
“Things weren’t going our way, our scorers weren’t making shots, but they still found a way to lock in and stay focused on what we needed to do to win the game,” Drexel coach Amy Mallon said. “And to me, that’s what Drexel basketball is about, and how we find ways to win.”
New York Liberty star Jonquel Jones, the adopted daughter of Temple women’s coach Diane Richardson, sat courtside to watch the Owls. That was a reminder of how big women’s basketball is nationally these days, though the stardust hasn’t landed on the Big 5.
Jonquel Jones (second from left) sitting courtside during the Temple-Drexel game.
“Well, I’d love to have her on the court, but we have already exhausted that eligibility,” the always-charismatic Richardson said. “It’s great. She loves our kids and she’s got some time off because of her [ankle] injury, so she’s been spending a lot of time with me. We’re glad to have her here, and not only just for us, but for women’s basketball — and here at the Big 5, where we want to shine a light.”
Penn won the fifth-place game over La Salle, 65-52, led by Katie Collins’ 20 points and nine rebounds. The Quakers led by 21 points in the third quarter, but the Explorers rallied to within five at the end of the period before Penn pulled away in the fourth.
As The Inquirer confirmed a few days ago, the women’s tripleheader will change location next season. Sunday marked Villanova’s second straight year, and the second straight year of disappointingly small crowds on the Main Line: 1,242 fans over the three games.
Though it’s not official yet, the Palestra is the favorite right now to host as part of the arena’s 100th birthday celebration. Penn’s coach isn’t alone in hoping that moving the games to the city’s most famous college basketball venue will draw more fans to watch them.
“I know one thing: Penn would put on a first-class event, just like Villanova has done here,” said Mike McLaughlin, who has long championed having the women’s tripleheader at the city’s most famous venue. “This has been a great event for our athletes, and Penn will do the same if it’s at the Palestra.”
The Villanova women’s basketball team had vengeance in mind as it beat Temple to open Big 5 play on Nov. 22.
While the teams’ history spans decades, anticipation of the annual Big 5 Classic tripleheader has added a new layer to the competition.
And for some Villanova players, the 30-point win was personal. Temple beat Villanova by 14 to win last year’s inaugural women’s Big 5 Classic championship.
“[The Big 5 championship] was a tough loss last year,” Villanova senior guard Ryanne Allen, a Bucks County native and Archbishop Wood graduate said. “That was a huge impetus for us, especially losing on our home floor. We didn’t want it to happen again, so it was nice to get that win back for us.”
Three days after the Wildcats’ 88-58 win, they secured a return to the Big 5 championship game with a win over La Salle. In the other “pod,” St. Joseph’s (6-2, 0-1 Atlantic 10) came out on top with wins over Penn and Drexel. The Wildcats (7-2, 1-0 Big East) will face the Hawks on Sunday at Finneran Pavilion (4:30 p.m., NBCSP).
After back-to-back years at Finneran Pavilion, the Big 5 Classic will change locations next season, Villanova confirmed. The Palestra, a focal point of Philadelphia basketball history, would be a fitting host as the venue prepares for its its 100th birthday.
Villanova’s Jasmine Bascoe goes up for a layup as Temple’s Tristen Taylor defends on Nov. 22.
“It’s a great rivalry,” said Cindy Griffin, who is in her 25th season coaching the Hawks. “We’ve been battling [with Villanova] for the last couple of years, and we’re ready to come on top of this battle … I think our players are hungry to not only compete, but to win. It’s going to be a great game.”
Villanova will install the Big 5 logo on its court at the Finneran Pavilion as it prepares to host the tripleheader for the second consecutive year.
“I’m hoping this young crew recognizes how [the home court] can work in your favor, and just feed off that energy,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “Our atmosphere here at the Finn is tremendous. We’ve got to feel it and know that it can give us a little bit of an edge in a tough battle against our city rival.”
The Wildcats will ride the high of a five-game winning streak — including wins over No. 25 West Virginia and Georgetown in their Big East opener — into the championship game.
Since 2004, Villanova has a 15-4 record against the Hawks.
“We had a couple disappointing losses to start the season, but you can just see this group figuring out who they are and what they’re doing. … Getting that tough La Salle win at their place to put ourselves in position was the first step,” Dillon said. “We’ll focus all of our attention on Saint Joe’s, hopefully redeeming ourselves and getting that win on Sunday in front of our fans.”
The Hawks are led by homegrown talent in returning junior guards Gabby Casey and Aleah Snead.
Casey, who attended Lansdale Catholic, and Snead, a graduate of Penn Charter, will bring an extra level of intensity to the Big 5 matchup. Casey currently leads St. Joe’s with 15.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
“Gabby [Casey] and Aleah [Snead] are the ultimate competitors and Philadelphia kids,” Griffin said. “ … they understand what [the Big 5] is. They understand the pride and the value of playing in Philadelphia and representing St. Joe’s.”
St. Joseph’s guard Aleah Snead (left) celebrates with teammates Talya Brugler and Gabby Casey after a game last season.
As dynamics between Big 5 schools shift entering the 2025 Classic, the tripleheader will serve as a platform for each school to promote its program.
“There’s a lot of different brands of basketball in the Big 5,” Griffin said. “I think just with the growth of women’s basketball, the more we promote women’s basketball in our area, the better off all these young women are going to be.”
The banner made its way to the bottom of the student section, and a crew of security guards soon was hovering. Everyone had to go, they said.
“We were like ‘What?,’” said Luke Butler, who led the crew of Temple students that night at La Salle.
The fans — the Cherry Crusade — spent a few days crafting one-liners to paint onto 30-foot banners that would be rolled out during the Temple-La Salle basketball game. The “rollouts” have been a Big 5 tradition since the 1950s, even surviving a brief ban when the schools thought the messages had become too racy.
The rollouts often are a play on words or innuendoes that make light of the opposing school. You roll out your banner and then hold your breath while the other school shows theirs. Each student body takes turns dissing each other like kids in a schoolyard. The best rollouts, Butler said, are the ones that “twist the knife” just a little.
St. Joe’s students unveil a banner referring to Villanova finishing last in the Big 5 Classic last year.
But this one, Butler learned, twisted a little too much.
The Explorers entered that game in February 2010 on a seven-game losing streak, and Ash Wednesday had been two weeks earlier. Temple, down a point at halftime, raced away in the second half. And here came the rollout: “LA SALLE GAVE UP WINNING FOR LENT.”
The Temple students — the same crew who held a “funeral” a year later for the St. Joe’s Hawk — thought it was good banter. But a priest was offended, and security had instructions.
“They were like ‘Father is pissed. You basically affronted their faith, and they don’t want you in the building,’” Butler said. “That was a good example of a rollout where we said ‘This will get a good reaction.’ It did. It just wasn’t the reaction we were thinking of.”
70 years of rollouts
The rollouts trace back to the Palestra, when the building was the home of the Big 5 and basketball doubleheaders. The bleachers were filled, the basketball was good, and the crowds were lively. Philly was the center of the college basketball universe, and the Palestra was a scene.
The “rooters” who sat behind the baskets would roll out banners during the games about opposing schools. The messages were a chance for a student body to take a shot at their rivals from across the court. When La Salle students hung a dummy of their coach in the early 1960s from a campus flagpole, St. Joe’s rolled out a banner a week later that said “We Fly Flags on our Flagpole.”
The messages became more pointed, as the Daily News wrote in January 1966 that “the rollouts wandered from the realm of good taste.” The Big 5 athletic directors agreed to ban them, saying that “certain rollout subject matter has been offensive and detrimental to the best interests and continued success of the Palestra program.”
The president of the St. Joe’s student section protested the decision at the Big 5’s weekly luncheon, telling the athletic directors that they were ruining “the greatest spectator participation event in sports” and the rollouts were part of the “spectacular” that was basketball at the Palestra.
“It’s not a spectacular,” said Jack Ramsay, then the coach and athletic director for St. Joe’s. “We’re down there to play basketball. If the students want to join in, that’s fine.”
No longer allowed to roll out their messages, students at the Palestra began to shout what they would have written. Banner Ball gave way to Chorus Ball, the Daily News wrote. A year later, the students won, and rollouts were welcomed back to the Palestra as long as messaging was preapproved by the school’s athletic office.
The banners became as integral to a Big 5 game as a soft pretzel from the Palestra concession stand. You didn’t miss a basket during a doubleheader, but you also made sure you caught the dig the opposing students made during a timeout about your school.
The banners were the game within the game as the student sections planned their rollouts like a comedian preparing a stand-up skit. The jokes had to be fresh. How many times can you call the other coach ugly before it’s no longer funny? They had to be timely and tap into current events. That scandal involving a prominent alumni from the other school? Fair game. The football team stinks? That’ll work. A basketball player got arrested? There’s a rollout to be made.
And they had to be timed just right. You can’t come out swinging with your best bit. You have to build up the crowd with a few decent banners and then roll out the one you know will hit.
“You could tell from the other alumni if they were like, ‘Whatever,’ or if it really pissed them off,” Butler said. “Ultimately, that’s what you’re looking for. From brainstorming, to the making of them, to rolling them out, you’re looking for that reaction of them saying ‘Ugh.’”
A fading tradition
The rollouts, just like the Big 5, seem to be waning. Student attendance at local games is no longer what it was. The basketball programs have been down, the transfer portal has made players hard to identify, and conference realignment has introduced games with unfamiliar opponents.
Villanova — the lone Big 5 school to make an NCAA Tournament in the last five years — is the only team that regularly draws a large swath of students. Most schools fill up a student section for the marquee games but attract just a small group on most nights. Attracting students to a once-integral aspect of campus life has become a challenge.
Each school is trying to confront the decline of student participation, and Temple decided last year to revamp its student section. The Cherry Crusade does not have a student president, and the rollouts are made by athletic department staffers.
A banner made by the Olney Outlaw’s La Salle Student Section on Thursday.
They sold out their tickets two years ago when they reached the final of the Big 5 Classic and still fill the student section for a big game. The challenge has been to build a consistent presence.
“We want to find those passionate fans to bring back what the Cherry Crusade was,” said Katie Colbridge Ganzelli, Temple athletics’ marketing coordinator for on-campus initiatives. “They’re still there. We’re just trying to find those passionate students who want to be in charge of the student section like it used to be.”
Villanova’s rollouts earlier this week vs. Temple — “Rocky would’ve gone to Villanova,” one said — didn’t twist the knife. Penn’s student section is dormant, forcing the band to provide rollouts. The tradition seems to be fading across the Big 5, but credit La Salle for trying to keep the edge.
The school revived its student section this season, and the Olney Outlaws took aim at a Big 5 coach for being follically challenged and used another rollout to dunk on Villanova and St. Joe’s. They’re twisting the knife in Olney.
“We had noticed a lack of student engagement and thought this would be a fun way to get kids involved,” said Paige Mitchell, a senior marketing major who founded the Olney Outlaws. “I was working in the athletic department, and my boss at the time gave me a project to come up with something that would get everyone more engaged. It’s grown from there.”
Get your rollouts ready.
The road to the Toyota Big 5 Classic starts Saturday and ends at Xfinity Mobile Arena on December 6! 🏀 #Big5IsPhilly
The group of students — “I have a couple guys in the group who are pretty clever,” Mitchell said — brainstorm ideas for the rollout before they meet to paint their signs. They’re ready for Saturday, when La Salle plays Drexel in the Big 5 Classic.
“It’s stressful making sure they get rolled out at the right time,” said Mitchell, who’s also a center forward on the Explorers’ water polo team. “But I love seeing the way the students react. I have a couple friends who were sitting behind the rollout, and they’re blowing up my phone like, ‘What did it say?’ It’s just exciting.”
Perfectly Philly
Butler asked the La Salle security guard if he could talk to the priest, hoping he could ask for absolution. The priest was still steaming as Butler told him it was a misunderstanding. It was just some college kids making a joke, he said. The priest offered Butler penance: the Temple students could stay, but they had to hand over the rest of their banners.
But the Owls were going to clinch the Big 5 title that night, and the Cherry Crusade brought a rollout to celebrate it. Butler pleaded with the priest to allow them to keep that sign. He rolled it out to show the priest and security guard what it said. “Fine,” said the priest. The rollouts, once again, would not be banned. A perfectly Philly tradition lived on.
“There’s something in the Philly culture that rollouts hit a perfect vein,” Butler said. “The thing about people from here is that there is respect if you can dish it and you can take it. People love to twist that knife. When people did good rollouts against us, you were angry, but there was respect there.
“It’s making fun of people who appreciate it, but also hate it, and it gives you an opportunity to be a little bit of an a—. At the end of day, it’s all love. We all love Philly basketball, even though I’ll never root for St. Joe’s and I’ll never root for Villanova. But I still want them around. I want everyone to do well, so then the hate means something.”
In March of 2013, La Salle pulled off the improbable. The Explorers hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1992. They hadn’t advanced past the Round of 64 since 1990.
But here they were, on a chilly night in Kansas City, edging out Kansas State, 63-61, to earn a spot in the Round of 32.
As players danced in the middle of the locker room, with the music blaring, an unlikely figure emerged.
Donning a black suit with a blue dress shirt, the visitor walked through the chaos, straight to La Salle’s head coach, John Giannini.
It was Jay Wright.
His team had a game in a few hours, against North Carolina, but the Villanova head coach wanted to congratulate his dear friend.
Former La Salle head coach John Giannini during a game against Butler on Jan. 23, 2013.
“Once we got to the tournament, we were always rooting for each other,” Wright said of the Big 5 programs. “It was always about Philadelphia basketball.”
This was the way he and his Big 5 counterparts had been taught. When Wright was an assistant at Villanova in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he watched as head coach Rollie Massimino battled with Temple’s John Chaney.
The games were intense, and often heated, but they always showed each other respect. Sometimes, Big 5 coaches would go to dinner afterwards. It wasn’t uncommon for them to get together during the offseason.
The coaches would celebrate each other’s wins, even though they were technically competitors. Every time Wright advanced in the NCAA Tournament, he’d get a call from Chaney.
When Martelli reached the Elite Eight in 2004, he heard from Wright and longtime La Salle coach Speedy Morris.
The men who preceded them practiced the same habits, from Temple’s Harry Litwack, to Villanova’s Al Severance, to St. Joseph’s Dr. Jack Ramsay.
“The initial [Big 5] group was so together, and so tight, that when the rest of us joined, it was just the way it was done,” said Fran Dunphy, who spent a combined 33 seasons at the helm of Penn, Temple, and La Salle. “The culture was already set.”
Former Big 5 coaches Phil Martelli, Steve Lappas, John Griffin, Speedy Morris, and Fran Dunphy.
For former Big 5 coaches in the area, that culture is still intact. Martelli, Dunphy, and Wright remain good friends. They visit with Morris, and are in regular contact with other former colleagues, like Giannini, Steve Lappas, and John Griffin.
The coaches believe this brotherhood is unique to Philadelphia, a city rich with basketball lore.
“On the court, you wanted to kill each other,” Wright said, “and off the court you were like brothers.”
A ‘different’ kind of bond
Dunphy was born and raised in Drexel Hill, only a few years before the founding of the Big 5 in 1955.
Back then, it was an association of five Division I schools: Villanova, Penn, St. Joe’s, Temple, and La Salle (Drexel was added in 2023).
The future coach rooted for them all, without prejudice. He’d often spend his Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at the Palestra, watching Big 5 teams square off.
“There were three nights of doubleheaders,” Dunphy said. “It was an amazing experience.”
When he was hired as the head coach of Penn in 1989, Dunphy felt a deep sense of pride. He also felt respect for his peers, many of whom had toiled through the same high school and assistant coaching ranks.
Their connections went far back. In 1976, when Wright was in the ninth grade, he attended a basketball camp in the Poconos. His camp counselor was a young Martelli.
A few years later, Martelli coached his first high school game for Bishop Kenrick in Norristown, which closed in 2010. His opponent was Dunphy, who was leading Malvern Prep at the time.
Morris and Chaney were introduced during their tenures at Roman Catholic and Simon Gratz in the late 1960s and 1970s. Lappas was an assistant at Villanova when Martelli assisted at St. Joe’s in the 1980s.
All of this only fortified the “brotherhood.”
Fran Dunphy spent a combined 33 seasons at the helm of Penn, Temple, and La Salle.
“It was different than going to an ACC school or a Big Ten school or whatever the major conferences are,” Dunphy said. “Let’s say we went to Orlando for an AAU tournament. There might be three or four of us sitting together as Philly coaches, because that’s what we did. And we might be recruiting the same guy.
“And there would be coaches from other leagues, and they’d say, ‘What are you guys doing?’ Well, that was just the way it was.”
Added Martelli: “You never said, ‘I’m going to talk bad about this guy or that guy, just so we can get a recruit.’ Because you knew [the other coaches] weren’t doing it. So we were not going to do it.
“People from the outside marveled at it. They’d say, ‘Seriously, this is what you guys do?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah.’”
Despite this unspoken pact, the coaches were not thrilled when a Big 5 rival would scoop up a promising player. Martelli, for example, was very frustrated when Dunphy earned local star Lavoy Allen’s commitment in late 2006.
“I would say that in a complimentary way,” Martelli said. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe we didn’t get him. And to make matters worse, Temple got him. We’ve got to deal with him for four years?’”
Even at the height of their competitive prowess, the coaches would band together for the betterment of the sport and the world around them. In 1996, Martelli and Dunphy started the Philadelphia chapter of Coaches Vs. Cancer, a nonprofit that raises awareness and funds for cancer research.
They looped in their fellow Big 5 coaches: Lappas, Morris, Chaney and Bill Herrion (who was at Drexel). Not long after Wright was hired as head coach of Villanova in 2001, he accompanied Martelli and Dunphy to meet the CEO of Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Fred DiBona, for lunch in Center City.
Former Big 5 coaches Phil Martelli and Fran Dunphy with their wives at a Coaches Vs. Cancer event.
The insurance company offered them $50,000, and became the group’s first corporate sponsor. That donation helped lift the chapter off the ground.
“The three of us were really competing against each other, right then,” Wright said. “And we all went together during basketball season, up to his office, and got that thing spearheaded.”
Wright, Martelli, and Dunphy are still very involved with Coaches vs. Cancer. The Philly chapter has since become the most successful in the country, raising over $22 million.
It is not the only legacy they’ve left behind. Over recurring breakfasts at Overbrook Golf Club, the coaches would talk about everything from scheduling to the format of the Big 5 round-robin.
Some of those ideas will be implemented on Saturday, in the third-annual Big 5 classic. Wright said that the triple-header format was discussed as far back as “15-20 years ago.”
He and peers wanted to put on a big event, one that didn’t cause scheduling conflicts.
“It was healthy, because we were from different leagues,” Martelli said. “Fran was in the Ivy League, I was in the Atlantic 10, and Jay was in the Big East.
“It was always for the greater good. It wasn’t about, ‘What’s best for St Joe’s? It was, ‘What’s best for college basketball?’”
‘The elder statesmen’
Wright, Dunphy, and Martelli have a reverence for Morris and the late Chaney, “the elder statesmen” of the group.
Chaney took special interest in Dunphy, who replaced him at Temple in 2006. The former head coach liked to share his thoughts after games. This was especially true if Temple had too many turnovers.
The next day, Dunphy’s phone would ring. He always knew who was calling.
“The conversation would go, ‘Franny, what the hell is going on out there?’” he recalled. “‘Why are we turning the ball over?’
“‘I know, Coach. We’re working on it. We’ve gotta get better.’”
Speedy Morris and John Chaney developed a friendship while serving as Big 5 coaches.
Like their younger counterparts, Morris and Chaney were contemporaries. They both grew up in the city; Morris in Roxborough and Chaney in North Philly.
The coaches also shared a flair for the dramatic. Neither man was above throwing his coat, or screaming at a referee, or stomping up and down the court.
They found kindred spirits in each other.
“He was tough,” Morris said of Chaney. “But I enjoyed him, very much.”
One day, in the late 1990s, the La Salle coach came up with an idea. The Temple coach was known for his expensive clothes, especially his ties. He’d often give them away as gifts.
So, Morris decided to pay it forward. He grabbed a few dozen of the ugliest 70s-era ties he could find, and asked his wife, Mimi, to wrap them up in a box. She sent it to Temple, with a note.
“It read, ‘You’ve been so kind to share some of your beautiful ties with me,’” Morris’s son, Keith, recalled. “‘I’d like to share a few of mine with you.’
“Chaney opened it up, and he was like, ‘What is this [expletive]?’”
After Chaney retired from coaching in March of 2006, he became an occasional attendee at Morris’ practices and games at St. Joe’s Prep. There was one, in particular, that stuck out in Morris’s mind.
It was 2006, and the two coaches had just paid a visit to Tom Gola, who was dealing with a health scare. They headed back to the Prep, where they’d parked their cars. As Morris said goodbye, Chaney made an impromptu announcement.
He would be coming to practice, too.
John Chaney, Speedy Morris, and Fran Dunphy.
Morris was thrilled. The high school coach asked his friend if he wanted to take the lead. Chaney insisted he didn’t. But once Morris started running a defensive drill, that quickly changed.
It was a 2-3 matchup zone, and a Prep player missed a weak-side box-out. Chaney jumped out of his chair, as if he was still at Temple.
He ran from midcourt to the paint.
“He said, ‘No!’” Morris recalled. “‘That’s not how we do it!’”
Chaney proceeded to give the student a 10-minute, expletive-laden lesson on rebounding and positioning. Keith Morris, an assistant coach at the time, nervously looked around to make sure there weren’t any Jesuit priests in the gym.
The two coaches stayed close until Chaney died in 2021. They’d talk on the phone at least once a week. They’d get lunch together in Manayunk, discussing basketball and life.
“They called each other brothers,” Keith said.
‘The caretakers’
This level of camaraderie is more challenging in today’s game. When Wright, Dunphy, and Martelli were coaching, the idea of having a player transfer from one Big 5 school to another was unfathomable.
Now, it is commonplace, with much more relaxed rules. The advent of NIL has pushed programs to generate more revenue, so they can remain competitive and pay their players. It has led to a corporate, less familial environment.
But despite these challenges, the coaches still believe that upholding the Big 5 brotherhood is worth the effort.
“Because the guys who are coaching now, they didn’t create the Big 5,” Martelli said. “They don’t own the Big 5. But they are the caretakers. And the same goes for all of us.”
