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Recapping The Inaugural Big 5 Classic

Author Matty Cord

Saturday represented a historic day in the history of college hoops in our great city of Philadelphia, and that is saying a lot because Philly probably has the most rich tradition of college basketball in the country. In case you missed it, the inaugural Big 5 Classic took place over the weekend.

What a day it truly was for all involved.

The Big 5 Classic was a triple header of great basketball between Villanova, Drexel, Penn, La Salle, Temple, and St. Joes.

Also, if you missed my preview post I did on Friday, I was actually on the call for all three games of the triple-header as the public address announcer down at the Wells Fargo Center.

You would think calling all three games in a row would get tiring, but I promise you, all three games were action packed, and I couldn’t have asked for a better day of basketball.

In the first game, Drexel shocked #18-ranked Villanova by a score of 57-55. It was a huge win for the Dragons, especially considering the school has long been left out of the Big 5 tradition.

I guess Drexel’s Justin Moore went home a lot happier than Villanova’s Justin Moore that day.

In game number two, La Salle left victorious, but not without a fight from Penn.

This might have been the game of the day because it was filled with action until the final buzzer. The Explorers won in overtime by a score of 93-92, and La Salle’s Khalil Brantley hit a game-winning three-pointer at the final buzzer to will his team to a win.

Finally, in the championship game, St. Joe’s defeated Temple by a score of 74-65. St. Joe’s controlled the game from the opening tip-off and quickly put out and sort of run the Owls were able to string together throughout the game.

Overall, it was a really fun day for me!

The only challenge of calling three games in a row of the Big 5 Classic was learning a lot of players’ names that I wasn’t very familiar with and trying to get them all correct.

In a day full of fun, my favorite part of the day was an old Big 5 tradition making its return — the streamers.

It was awesome to see each student section launch their team-colored streamers when their school scored their first basket.

I’m sure everyone who was there had a great time, and hopefully, the Big 5 Classic makes a return next year.

More from Matt Cord…

Joel Embiid Is The MVP Of The NBA

Another trophy is making its way to South Philly and taking its rightful home right on Broad Street.

Joel “The Process” Embiid was officially awarded the MVP of the NBA last night, and a lot of us think it has been a long time coming.

The big fella had quite the season!

He led the NBA in points per game with 33.1 and brought in 10.2 rebounds per game, which was good for 8th in the league.

Plus, he got his teammates involved, averaging 4.2 assists per game.

Embiid is the fifth Philadelphia 76ers player to win the award with Wilt Chamberlain winning in 1966, 1967, and 1968, Julius “Dr. J” Erving winning in 1981, Moses Malone winning in 1983, and Allen Iverson winning in 2001.

This is the second MVP season I have had the pleasure to watch up close as the public address announcer for the team.

Both seasons were legendary between Iverson’s season in ‘01 and Joel’s this year!

We all know the ‘01 season ended in an NBA Finals appearance, so hopefully, his year is similar, but we actually finish the job this time and win it all!

But that discussion is for another day!

Today is all about Embiid!

It has been a pleasure to watch him grow as a basketball player.

From a guy who couldn’t get on the floor his first two years due to injury to the best player in the world!

Also, off the floor, he is one of the funniest players to be around.

For example, when we were in London in 2018, I snagged a funny photo of him imitating Dikembe Mutumbo’s finger wave!

That’s just one small moment that sticks out of him as a person.

I look forward to doing his intro every night because I know it is going to be the loudest the crowd gets during the pregame night in and night out.

Plus, I can’t forget our pregame ritual where I give him his first pass of the night and then after getting a feel for the game ball, he passes it back to me so I can give it to the referee!

It is so cool to see all his teammates react and give him his flowers!

He deserves them all!

But I’m sure his focus right now isn’t even on winning the award, it’s on trying to get healthy for his team and working towards a championship!

So let’s get it done, big fella!

Congrats!

Matt Cord is the host of the Matt Cord Show. He is a lover of all Philly Sports and has been the voice of the Sixers for 27 years and NBA2K for the past 4 years. As a cyclist enthusiast, Matt writes about his adventures all throughout the city.

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