College Basketball: Big 5 Classic back for second season, with women’s event added

Villanova’s Brendan Hausen, left, reacts after being fouled by Saint Joseph’s Anthony Finkley during the first half of a Big 5 game on Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Big 5 Classic is getting a Year 2, which will be bigger than before.

The Big 5’s athletic directors on Thursday welcomed Drexel’s women’s team to the fold, allowing for a women’s Big 5 Classic to run parallel to the men’s next season.

The men’s classic is solidified for each of the next three years at Wells Fargo Center, this year’s edition to be held on Saturday, Dec. 7. The women will play their inaugural showcase at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion on Dec. 6.

The men’s Big 5 Classic will proceed according to the same format and the same two, three-team pods: Penn, Villanova and inaugural men’s champ St. Joe’s in one; Temple, La Salle and Drexel in the other. The top finishers in group play will meet at the Center for championship, third-place and fifth-place games.

Pods for both will rotate every two years, while the site of the Women’s Big 5 Classic is also set to rotate on a yearly basis.

“After a great response from the inaugural year of the new men’s format, I am thrilled to see that the success of the reinvigorated Big 5 is extending to women’s basketball,” Comcast Spectacor CEO Dan Hilferty said in a press release. “As a lifelong basketball fan and Big 5 alumnus, I am really excited to be working with the six universities to keep traditions alive and champion the future of the Big 5.”