The past week we've had some great discussion on this blog about both the current state of the Big 5 especially Penn basketball and coach Glen Miller. Today though, let's examine some teams a little farther afield from 33rd St., namely the Schuylkill 16.
Villanova yet again is the unanimous number one selection, and frankly I don't see them losing that spot (although eventually they might not be unanimous). But Tannenwald makes a very interesting comparison this week. As some of you might remember, the idea from the S-16 came from the Atlantic 11 Poll of the D.C. Sports Bog, which ranks 11 out of 27 teams from the greater Washington, D.C. area. I've always seen parallels between the two polls, the most obvious of which is that a Big East school absolutely dominates the poll ('Nova here, Georgetown down there). There are also some conference overlaps, most notably the Atlantic 10, CAA and Patriot League.
This week Jon compared the two polls by looking at the teams' Pomeroy rankings. I don't know if he'll continue this every week, but it's an interesting stat to see how the areas' teams stack up.
All of this is quite ironic, since just this past Friday The D.C. Examiner wrote how great it would be for a Washington Big 6 (or 7 if you include Navy), a D.C. take on the Big 5. The article quotes, of all people, Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky, who believes that “You could find a million reasons not to do it.” In the end, he sees it only coming to fruition if the potential schools' athletic directors act together: "It would take six very magnanimous people who would say, ‘hey, sometimes it’s better to look beyond our own selfish interest.’"
As a Bethesda, Md., native I would love to see this rivalry system come into place. However, it will not happen anytime soon. Georgetown and Maryland, by far and away the two most dominant programs in the D.C. area in terms of both fan base and talent, refuse to play each other due to various reasons. In fact, the teams have met just three times since 1981: at the home of the then-Washington Bullets 1993, in the 2001 Sweet Sixteen in Anaheim, Calif., and just two Sundays ago as part of the Old Spice Classic at Walt Disney World. Clearly if D.C. were to get a Big 6 or 7 those two teams would need to reconcile their differences.
Tags: basketball, Schuylkill 16
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December 13th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
[...] « Schuylkill 16 Week 4: DC v. Philly It’s On! [...]
December 13th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Philly 6 vs. DC 6 sounds super. Lots of possibilities.
How about an annual Patriot League-Ivy League Challenge, in the mold of what the Big Ten and ACC do each year? Each PatLeague team already plays ~2 games with Ivy teams. Weave it in. Use the Monday or Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Try to pair off the teams by quality to get eight competitive games...
Maybe get a charitable cause involved. Coaches vs. Heart Disease? Get a little Pharma sponsorship. Bring in some TV coverage (VERSUS might be just the place to try this!)... a feature doubleheader in the Palestra hosted by Penn/Princeton one year. In other years, use other on campus sites like Stabler Arena hosted by Lehigh/Lafayette, Holy Cross/Harvard cohost in Boston, AU/Navy cohost in the DC area, and Cornell/Colgate in the Carrier Dome. Non-doubleheader schools would have single games on campus, feeding updates to the main coverage. Only one game each year, with home teams alternating.
December 14th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
That sounds like a great idea IvyBballFan.
January 7th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
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