Creighton – Philly

Could be a match made in Heaven. Philadelphia is a major media market, a recruiting hotbed with scores of recruits, and home to the Big Five. It is a natural basketball mecca.

Creighton has had the benefit of playing Philly area teams over the last couple of years, in Drexel and St. Joe’s. The fans in the Philadelphia area and Jays fans are becoming used to seeing the Jays in town – this year at the Palestra. Drexel is not an official member of the Big 5, and the Dragons are in a rebuilding mode.

This trend is one we should continue. Jays are becoming a fixture that the fans in Philadelphia look forward to – as a non-conference gauge for their teams. And…You can’t get a ‘bad’ game in Philly.

The BIG 5: St. Joe’s and Penn are steady. Temple and LaSalle are rapidly rising due to great recruiting years. Villanova is still at the Top of the pile in Philly.

Most promising games would be a continuation of the St. Joes’s series and the addition of a LaSalle or Temple series. LaSalle article link below:

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/colleges/20080917_Glen_Mills__Murray_commits_to_La_Salle.html

Coach John Giannini returns the most scoring and rebounding of any Atlantic 10 school. And now the program has added a colossal recruit, certainly the biggest since Giannini took over five seasons ago, and the most highly-regarded for quite some time. Building via transfers and recruiting, LaSalle is on course to a return to prominence.

Creighton should work to maintain this Philadelphia link with the A-10 and expand it to include all the Big Five schools (on a rotational basis). There are no bad basketball games in Philly.