Posted: Thursday, January 22, 2009, 10:33 PM | 6 comments |
 

Who's best in the Big 5?
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Who is the city player of the year in men's college basketball?
Dionte Christmas (Temple)
Ahmad Nivins (St. Joseph's)
Dante Cunningham (Villanova)
View results
My post last night generated a great debate in the comments about who the best player in the Big 5 is this season.

So with Temple's game against Saint Louis literally the only sporting contest in town tonight, I figured I'd keep the debate going by asking all of you to cast your vote.

Naturally, the Owls' leading candidate, Dionte Christmas, scored only eight points in 25 minutes against the Bilikens before leaving the game with a nasty cut over his eye.

But there's no question he ought to be in the conversation for this year's Geasey Award, also known as the Big 5 MVP.

It seems to me that the leading candidates for the award right now are Christmas, Ahmad Nivins of St. Joe's (who got Phil Martelli's vote last night) and Dante Cunningham of Villanova. So they're the main candidates in the poll, but if you think someone else is more deserving you can vote that way too. Leave a comment below if you do so.

By the way, the Line of the Game from Temple's 65-40 blowout has to go to Lavoy Allen, who made his first eight field goal attempts en route to a game-high 16 points.

I wonder if Allen used this Joe Lunardi column on ESPN.com, which has some not-so-nice things to say about the Atlantic 10's season so far, as motivation.

Name
Min
FG
FT
3pt
OR
DR
TR
A
S
TO
Blk
PF
Eff
Pts
L. Allen
25
8-10
0-0
0-0
2
5
7
1
0
0
1
0
22
16


Posted by Jonathan Tannenwald @ 10:33 PM  Permalink | File Under: Big 5 | | Line of the Day | | Saint Joseph's | | Temple | | Villanova | 6 comments
6
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:42 AM, 01/23/2009
    Has to be Nivins. Without him the Hawks would be a sub-.500 team and at a new low for the program. He has been instrumental in any decent win they have earned this year.
    — Mattjb34
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:59 PM, 01/23/2009
    Matt, new low for the program? Did you start following the team Jameer's freshman year?
    — Paul Miki
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:22 PM, 01/23/2009
    no doubt ..best coach is g. miller from brown
    — BROWNCOACH
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:21 PM, 01/23/2009
    The fact that these are the best names in the Big 5 says a lot about state of Philadelphia basketball... not in a good way.
    — DrexelDragonFan
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:10 PM, 01/23/2009
    "Best player" not "MVP". I'll give Nivins the MVP award, hands down. But while I don't mean to knock him, the rest of that Hawks team is awful. He's put up some monster numbers against horrible teams, but St. Joe's also runs their offense around him. The concept of having a forward as the focal point isn't something anyone should expect from Jay Wright.
    — ncatra01
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:59 AM, 01/24/2009
    They are both really great players. I think Nivins is way more consistent on the offensive and defensive ends, while Christmas is more capable of taking over against high level competition. Both had subpar tournament games last year though. Frankly, at this point in the season they should share it.
    — nickj


6 comments
About Jonathan Tannenwald
I fell in love with the Big 5 at first sight upon moving to Philadelphia in 2002. At various points in my journalistic career, I've covered all six of the region's Division I teams. During that time, I've eaten many soft pretzels from the Palestra's concession stands, which is how this blog got its name.

I write primarily about the University of Pennsylvania and the Ivy League, but I also cover the other basketball and football teams across the city from time to time. In the spring, you'll find coverage of the Penn Relays here.

In addition to all of that, I write Philly.com's soccer blog, The Goalkeeper.

You can contact me by email by clicking here.

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