The biggest storylines as Big 5 men's basketball tips off

Welcome to Drexel. (RIP, City 6.) Welcome to the new Big 5 men’s tournament. (Spoiler: I like it.) Welcome fully to the NIL era, where the pressures are real all over the landscape.

One thing stays the same: Villanova comes in as the big dog. Opening the transfer portal door fully puts the Wildcats back in the preseason national rankings, and has them as legit Big East contenders.

Here’s the short version of how I look at Villanova. The Wildcats don’t have a future NBA lottery pick on the roster. They do have a whole bunch of players who should at least merit NBA two-way contracts. In other words, they have pros, in the best sense of the word … players who know how to play, most of them veterans.

In fact, they are pros, with roughly $3 million in NIL collective money going toward this season’s players.

Make no mistake, that price tag brings increased pressures. I’ll argue it should. If you’re getting paid like a pro, you get judged like a pro. It’s not merely pressure on second-year coach Kyle Neptune and his staff. The players have to produce.

Villanova fans have never been shy about being tough on the coach. The first Q of a preseason Q and A with Neptune was prefaced by an alumnus saying he didn’t like Neptune’s substitution patterns last season. That level of grouchiness is kind of a ‘Nova old guard staple. But the folks on the Main Line will tell you there is an increased level of expectation and pressure based on the NIL outlay.

Villanova fans should be excited about this team. When you start with Justin Moore and Eric Dixon and add the transfers in, then see how holdovers like Mark Armstrong and Jordan Longino progress, this is the right kind of mix.

Interestingly, the biggest impact from that $3 million Villanova figure going public may be on other Big 5 campuses. I’m told there have been highest-level meetings or plans being made for such meetings at St. Joseph’s and Temple. In other words, an acknowledgement that NIL collectives are going to be part of the near-term landscape and a significant factor in the standings.

Temple’s collective, I’m told, got a single $100,000 NIL donation in the last month that basically doubled what the collective had raised in two years.

The most deserved buzz away from Lancaster Avenue centers on Hawk Hill. When you have a top returning Atlantic 10 player such as Erik Reynolds II, pair him in the backcourt with Lynn Greer III, who has been through every kind of high school and college experience and really seems to be coming in his own, then add a glue guy like Cam Brown … that’s a solid foundation. Add in Rasheer Fleming, ready for more frontcourt minutes. All that, and the biggest reason the Hawks should be ready to take a jump is center Christ (pronounced Creest) Essandoko, a 7-footer who sat last season but had 15 rebounds and 6 assists in 26 minutes in a scrimmage last weekend against Manhattan. He’s a game-changer, in a very literal sense, at both ends of the court.

Bottom line: If the group stays healthy, it should be an A-10 contender. With that comes pressure. Billy Lange needs to achieve real liftoff in his fifth season on Hawk Hill. Put a line through his first season; there was no way to get moving with what he had coming in. But the progression from 11-19 in Year 3 to 16-17 in Year 4 needs to get past .500 and beyond. (Prediction: It will.)

Another team to be intrigued about is Penn. Penn might be flying a bit under the radar after the transfer of leading scorer Jordan Dingle to St. John’s and the medical retirement of Max Martz. But if they find enough points, and prove to be better defensively, don’t count the Quakers out from getting back to the four-team Ivy League tournament, where anything can happen. Remember last season, Penn and Princeton went to the wire, then Princeton survived and went to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Drexel is the other team that could end up playing important games in March. Can the Dragons reprise their 2021 NCAA Tournament experience? With forward Amani Williams and guard Justin Moore, Drexel has two strong foundational players. Zach Spiker’s team is picked third in the Colonial Athletic Association. No, wait, the CAA is now called the Coastal Athletic Conference. (The name works at least until the next wave of realignment.)

In the new Big 5 tournament, Drexel is bracketed with La Salle and Temple. This seems like as good a season as any for the Dragons to make a little splash and reach the final Dec. 2 at the Wells Fargo Center.

In truth, expect that bracket to be completely competitive, with Drexel going to Tom Gola Arena on Tuesday for its first-ever Big 5 game, then hosting Temple Nov. 14 for the first time ever.

Let’s say that group ends up with everyone splitting. The tiebreaker will be the NET rankings used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Not a great system to use, especially early in the season, but there is no great system to use. Might as well flip a coin. It seems unfair that Villanova, for instance, will be rewarded for a tougher early-season schedule. The other side of that coin: The Big 5 should want its best teams in that tournament final.

For those who mourn the loss of the Big 5 round robin, I’m not among them. There was so little drama involved in the City Series in recent years. Now, at least every Big 5 game counts, until the consolation games at Wells Fargo anyway. It’s kind of like adding wild-card teams to the baseball playoffs.

It is a shame that there is only one Palestra game involved in the Big 5 tournament, Villanova at Penn, Nov. 13. A shame, but I get it. Wells Fargo can bring more resources in selling tickets, and sell more tickets. A potent combination. It would be great if some of the other schools brought home games to the Palestra. Maybe in a future year. There’s still nothing like the place.

Anything Adam Fisher achieves in his first season at Temple should be considered gravy after the transfers out on North Broad Street. The Owls were picked 12th out of 14 in the preseason American Athletic Conference poll.

Up on Olney Avenue, La Salle was picked dead last in the A-10. Let’s flat out say a Fran Dunphy team isn’t finishing last in any league. Not predicting miracles. Last season, La Salle was picked 14th of 15 and ended up tied for 11th.

There was a lot of talk at Thursday’s Coaches vs. Cancer tipoff luncheon that this would be a bounce-back year for the Big 5 after not sending a single team to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 45 years.

In recent seasons, the success of Villanova has kept the whole group afloat. Expect ‘Nova to rise again. Whatever the format, the Big 5 has significance only if there is top competition throughout. Is this a bounce-back year? Is it truly a new era? It’ll take more than the arrival of the Dragons and a new tournament format. We’ll start finding out on Monday.

College basketball’s opening day is Monday. Join us all day and night for live coverage as we celebrate the start of the season for the Big 5 programs plus the debut of fabulous freshmen from the Philly area.