After road losses on Saturday, both Villanova and Temple have dropped in the Associated Press Top 25 men's basketball poll.

Villanova (20-2) is now ranked fourth, behind Kansas, Syracuse and Kentucky. Villanova was No. 2 last week but lost at Georgetown on Saturday, 103-90. The Wildcats face a tough opponent Monday night at 19-3 West Virginia, the nation's fifth-ranked team.

Temple (19-5) dropped from 19th to 21st after a 71-54 loss at Richmond. The Owls play host to Rhode Island on Saturday at 4 p.m.

The Villanova and West Virginia basketball teams have now arrived in Morgantown for tomorrow night's Big East showdown, but it was not that easy.

The Wildcats (20-2, 9-1) stayed overnight in Washington, as planned, and left this morning by bus for WVU. They left at 9 and arrived by 2 on roads that were described as manageable. The ride is usually about 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

The Mountaineers (19-3, 8-2) were in New York City, beating St. John's yesterday afternoon, and their charter could not leave to get home because of conditions at the airport. They flew in this afternoon at noon.

The teams meet at 7 p.m. tomorrow on ESPN. Last year, the Wildcats lost in Morgantown by 21. The teams will hook up again in the March 6 finale in South Philly.

Villanova hasn’t lost two back-to-back in close to two years (74 games).

We're sure the West Virginia student section will be on its best behavior. But the musket fire should still be loud.
 

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The three men inducted into the Big 5 Hall of Fame yesterday were about much more than their numbers, which were considerable.

They coached in the Big 5 for more than a half-century combined, and won more than a thousand games. But that wasn’t really it, either.

This was about the lives they influenced, the lessons they taught and the beliefs they instilled.

John Chaney, Rollie Massimino and Speedy Morris had a way of making players believe in them and believe in themselves.

The stories started early yesterday at the Palestra and never stopped. In fact, Chaney may still be talking.
Morris, the Philly everyman who coached at La Salle, went first.

“Ever since I was a kid, basketball was my game,” Morris said.

He just wasn’t very good at it.

“I was the 15th man on a 15-man team at Roman,” Morris said. “My teammates used to call me ‘The Judge’ because I was always on the bench. I finally got in one time, drove in from the top of the key, drove down the lane and got called for 3 seconds.”

He got his start coaching St. John’s CYO in 1959. From there to Roman, Penn Charter, the La Salle women and men and, these days, St. Joseph’s Prep.

Morris’ first basketball coaching hero was Saint Joseph’s legend Jack Ramsay. His CYO teams employed the tactics Ramsay made famous in his seminal book, “Pressure Basketball.”

Morris recited the starting fives from each of his favorite Big 5 teams as he was learning to coach (1961 St. Joe’s, 1962 Villanova, 1969 La Salle, 1969 Temple, 1971 Penn). He understands the history because he lived it.
He relayed the story of how, after his successful run at Roman ended badly, now Sixers president/general manager Ed Stefanski, then the coach at Monsignor Bonner, reached out to him, made him an assistant, and paved the way to yesterday.

Massimino, the passionate tactician at Villanova, went second. He told the story of how Chuck Daly told him to meet him at the Newark Airport so he could hire him as an assistant at Penn, which led to Villanova, which led to the 1985 national championship. Only, with a young family of five, he had to take a big loss in salary and was not sure it was right call at the time.

It was.

“Without the Big 5, I don’t know where my career would have gone,” Massimino said. “Today, I’m being inducted with two people who I dearly respect and have spent an awful lot of time with.”

Massimino is still coaching at Northwood University in West Palm Beach, Fla. His team is still winning.

Massimino told a great story about the wonderful old official, Steve Honzo.

“Steve used to get a tan in some salon and come with his nice shiny hair,” Massimino said. “One day, I told him, ‘Steve, that was a terrible call, but will you give me a technical for what I’m thinking?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Well, I think you stink.’ ’

Massimino did not mention the night his team played the perfect game against Georgetown. He didn’t have to. It is part of his legacy, the only Big 5 era coach to win the national championship.

“Basketball is a game played for fantastic stakes,” Massimino said. “Each and every day, you’re competing against experts. And, if you want to win, you’ve got to be the master of the game. To me, that’s what coaching legends are all about here in Philadelphia.”

Chaney, the Temple preacher with a unique view on everything, went off on a 32-minute stream of consciousness riff that Saint Joseph’s athletic director Don DiJulia unofficially determined covered 49 topics, none of which, as far as could be determined, had much to do with Owls basketball, which he took higher and farther than anybody except him imagined it could be taken.

“I don’t think I’ll be long,” Chaney began.

He wasn’t, by his standards.

Chaney is retired now. Plays seven holes of golf when he can. Plays pinochle with his friends. Gives away most of his good clothes. Tells stories like nobody tells stories.

Chaney went from Herb Magee to Villanova’s 2009 Final Four, the Celtics at Convention Hall, the bag of peanuts he used to get outside the Palestra when he would sneak into Big 5 games, Paul Arizin, the Eastern League, Thomas Jefferson, the jump stop, AIDS, Chuck Bednarik, Red Grange, baseball pitchers and the need for so many of them, Jim Konstanty, ice hockey (don’t ask), Wilt, how Kobe Bryant should have gone to La<TH>Salle to play for Speedy, how he was more Italian than Rollie because he was from South Philly, where’s Steve Bilsky (the Penn AD apparently left somewhere during the first half) and his first high school game against Southern.

The tangents had tangents. Nobody knew where he was going or how he got there. And nobody cared.

This was a day to celebrate 55 years of the Big 5 and three men who lived it, loved it and will forever be a part of it.
 

In all but the Ivy League, conference schedules are nearing the halfway point. There are discussions in offices, around campuses and in the media about surprises both good and bad, players of the year candidates and which teams have the look to make a postseason run - all of this and there are still more than a dozen games to play.

In my program we are focused on daily improvement. It has always been my makeup to pursue our best basketball in February and March. Constantly reading the eyes and bodies of my players – are they tired, physically, mentally, emotionally? Who is disappointed in their own game or their role? It is a challenge to keep things fresh and upbeat.

Specific to the goal of  improvement, it is imperative that we improve as a rebounding team. It sounds simple but we have not caught the ball well enough. A rebound should be seen as a pass. The key will be for us to “catch more passes” off the backboard.

The Atlantic 10 has had great leadership from teams at the top of the standings – Temple,  Xavier, Dayton, Rhode Island – and teams to watch develop through the back of the schedule might be La Salle, Richmond and Charlotte.

In the city it would not be a surprise before the end of the year to wake up one day and Villanova be ranked No. 1 in the country. They are that good and playing that well.

With the Hawks it is exciting to know that we are competing with the best in America. The bar is set high and each day we strive to pull ourselves up.

It has been rough but as always, The Hawk Will Never Die!

Archbishop Wood High center Fran Dougherty announced Wednesday afternoon that he will attend Penn.

Dougherty, 6-8, 225 pounds, is projected as a power forward with the Quakers.
 

As a coach you would rather be involved in a game that is non-descript, with no personal issues, just "Xs and Os". That is why the Penn game will always be a tough one for me. As I have so many fond memories of my time there, and the special relationships formed with the many good people associated with the program.

This year, it will be even more personal as I will be coaching against one of my former players, Jerome Allen, for the first time.

Jerome is a tremendous man who has done great work throughout his career. He had a solid professional career overseas, is an outstanding community guy, and will be successful in whatever he does in life.

So to coach against him, in his Palestra debut on Wednesday night, is something that I am personally not looking forward to. I am sure I will talk with Jerome a few times before the game, and we will talk afterward, as well. However, once the ball goes up, it will be the same as always. I will be coaching my team and he will be doing the same with his guys.

Hope to see you there!!!

Fran Dunphy
 

Eighth-ranked Villanova (11-1), which opens the Big East portion of its schedule Saturday at Marquette, has learned that 6-10 freshman forward/center Mouphtaou Yarou, part of one of the best recruiting classes in the country, has been cleared to return to the team after missing the last 11 games after being diagnosed with the Hepititas B virus.

Yarou started the first two games before being sidelined prior to the Puerto Rico Tipoff Classic on Nov. 19. Since then he has been under the care of team physican Dr. Frank Furman. He has not practiced with the team in the interim, but was allowed to work out on his own.

"We're excited for Mouph," said coach Jay Wright, in a statement. "The doctors tell us he has responded well to treatment. We'll see where he's at once he's back with us and then make a determination on when he's ready to return to action."

It's doubtful that Yarou will play at Marquette. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Wright will bring him along slowly, just as a precaution.

But when he's ready, it will definitely be a big plus for the Wildcats, who were really left with one big man, 6-10 junior Tony Pena, in his absence.

The 'Cats have had senior guard Reggie Redding back for the last two games, and it has made a difference. He had to serve a one-semester suspension by the university for violating the student code of conduct during the summer.
 

This Monday night we will Turn Back The Clock with our basketball program and play a game at McGonigle Hall for the first time since the Liacouras Center opened in 1997.

McGonigle Hall has a special place in the mind of many Temple fans. From its opening night when the Harry Litwack-coached Owls edged Lou Carnesseca's St. John's Redmen, to wins over national powerhouse UCLA and A-10 rival UMass, it has compiled many treasured memories in its 18 seasons serving as the program's home court.

My fondest memory of McGonigle Hall is watching on television Temple's win over Villanova in 1988. In one of the greatest games in Big 5 history, top-ranked Temple, led by freshman All-America Mark Macon defeated 10th-ranked Villanova. After the game both John Chaney and Rollie Massimino said that it was a game where you just watched the kids play. You did not have to get involved in the coaching piece because you did not need to. They were just two great teams going after one another.

Our players are excited about playing in McGonigle Hall. They are also excited to wear the old uniforms. They will not be wearing the real "short" shorts, that we all looked foolish wearing back in the day, but the look of the old Temple uniform will be the same.

I look forward to the tremendous atmosphere, with the fans right on top of you, that we will recreate against Bowling Green on Monday. I have experienced it as a visiting coach while at Penn and am looking forward to the experience as the Temple head basketball coach.

Go Owls!

Fran Dunphy

We’ve been playing pretty well as of late. After losing three straight close games to start the year, we are now even at 5-5. Last week we got a big win against Northeastern in our conference opener. Last year they scored at the buzzer to beat us, but this year we were able to come away with a two-point win. On Sunday, our defense played well again as we set the school record by allowing only nine points in the first half in our win against St. Francis. Samme Givens had one of his best games ever with 24 points and 16 boards to lead us to the win.

Now that finals are past us, we are getting ready for a tough week ahead. For the first time since I took over at Drexel, we are heading to the West Coast. We play Cal State Northridge, one of the top teams year in and year out in the Big West, on Friday night. It will be a challenge with the long flight, the time change and for some of our guys it will be their first time ever in California. Our guys have to realize that it’s all right to have fun while we are out there, but that this is a business trip and we are going out there to win a basketball game.

After the Northridge game we are getting on a plane and flying to Kentucky. On Monday night, we face Cal and the Wildcats, who are ranked third in the country. Everyone knows how talented John Wall, Patrick Patterson and the rest of that team is. I just want our guys to not be star struck by those guys and realize that a few teams have almost knocked them off this year. Playing in Rupp Arena should be a great experience for our guys and we’ll give it our best shot and see what happens.