Villanova Men's Basketball
Villanova Reaction: Wildcats Leave the Big 5
Villanova Men’s Basketball left the Philadelphia Big 5 on Thursday, Oct. 22, with the other member schools announcing that they’ll move forward without the Wildcats beginning in the 2027-28 season, playing a round robin format where each team plays the other four member schools at home and away.
The once-proud grouping has been on life support for several years, switching to a pod play format ahead of the 2023-24 season in an attempt to reinvigorate the rivalry; they also added Drexel to the grouping. Even so, Villanova head coach Kevin Willard has chafed against the Big 5 since arriving on campus.
The current pod play format doesn’t make sense for the Wildcats, who had to play one of their Big 5 opponents on the road instead of either traveling to face a premier program with a chance to boost their NET ranking or generating revenue from a home game of their own, revenue they increasingly need to keep up with the rest of Division I in the Name, Image and Likeness deal era. When discussing his team’s NCAA Tournament resume last season, Willard also talked about how competitive Big 5 games are compared to the typical out-of-conference slate… and a Quadrant 3 or 4 loss in such a game could deal a major blow to the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament hopes, albeit less of them in the 76-team era.
The further deterioration of a rivalry that once made college basketball special is a sign of the times, and Philadelphia basketball fans had plenty to say about Villanova’s exit: Willard even chimed in with a reply to a meme making fun of him for his program’s decision. Here’s the reaction to college basketball’s latest shake-up.