Front-runners for Big 5 Player of the Year

I think it is down to three players for Big 5 Player of the Year. Providentially, all of them will be on the court Thursday night at the Liacouras Center in the final City Series game of the season, one that will decide whether the title is shared or won outright.

My three players are Ramon Galloway and Tyreek Duren (La Salle) and Khalif Wyatt (Temple).

A very good case can be made for any of them. Wyatt is probably the favorite as we head into the final weeks of the season, but much can still happen. I certainly have not made up my mind. Postseason games count. Team success is also a factor for voters to consider.

Wyatt averages nearly 20 points per game. The bigger the moment, the better he plays. He is a creative passer, gets to the foul line a ton and makes free throws. He is not a high-percentage three-point shooter, but seems to make the ones he has to make. He gets a lot of steals, but is nobody's idea of a lockdown defender.

Galloway averages 17.3 points. He is an excellent long-range shooter (42.2 percent) who rebounds, passes and defends. He is so versatile on offense that he had 12 assists in Saturday's win over Saint Joseph's when the shots were not there. He is a terrific free throw shooter (81.9 percent) and an excellent defender, almost always guarding the other team's best perimeter player. So we may very well see Galloway on Wyatt Thursday. That would be a game inside the game.

Duren may or may not be the best player in the city, but he is definitely the most valuable. Put him on St. Joe's and I think the Hawks have a half-dozen more wins. He averages 14.5 points and shoots 41.1 percent from the arc. But you can't define him by numbers. He understands pace and flow and rhythm. He feels the game as much as he sees it, and he sees everything. The wilder the scene, the calmer he gets. He reminds me of Jameer Nelson in this way. He has one goal - win the game.

THE NCAA DEAL:

La Salle goes for its first City Series sweep in 23 years when it visits Temple. If the Explorers lose, they will share the title with the Owls. The Big 5 title no longer has the same meaning it did nationally, but it still matters locally. And anything that can help an NCAA résumé is a good thing, so the game is huge for both teams.

If La Salle beats Temple and then wins Sunday at Rhode Island, that would be nine true road wins. With that kind of résumé and a top-four finish in the Atlantic 10, there is no way the Explorers would not be in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 21 years. La Salle is now playing for a first-round A-10 Tournament bye.

Temple and Villanova are probably just in or just out at the moment. No way to say how it will play out, because the final few selections are moving targets. Kentucky is moving its way out. Maryland may be moving its way in.

Every game matters, but some matter more than others. Villanova has three difference-makers on its schedule against certain NCAA teams - Marquette and Georgetown at home and at Pittsburgh. Temple plays at Charlotte and finishes at home against VCU, both extra-large games.

Each team will have more chances to impress (or not) in its respective conference tournaments.

Barring a run to the A-10 title, SJU will be looking for a spot in the NIT. SJU was picked first in preseason and La Salle eighth. That spread made no sense then. Now, everybody knows why. The Hawks need to win some games to avoid being the fourth team not invited to Brooklyn for the tournament. Fordham, Rhode Island and Duquesne appear to have three spots covered.

Drexel obviously has to win the CAA Tournament to have a shot. Penn is playing to get better for a run at something next season.

THE FLOP:

They allegedly changed the rules this season to give an offensive player a bit more freedom when making a move to the basket. Supposedly, a defender could not jump into an offensive player's path to take a charge once that player left his feet. In theory, it is a good change. In practice, it is not working. There are still far too many charge calls that should be blocks. It is, in fact, an epidemic.

I have a suggestion that could get rid of the play everybody hates, once and for all. If it is not 100 percent obvious to every official, every player, every coach and everybody in the gym that it is a charge, it is a block.

It is not great defense for a help defender to slide in front of a player who has beaten his man on a drive. It is gamesmanship. I know it is now taught at every level, but I still hate it. And the fans hate it.

Get rid of it. Make the game one of skill again. You slow all these "charges" down on tape and you see that almost all of these allegedly set defenders are still moving when contact occurs. When defenders are trying to trick officials, something is wrong. This is wrong. It has always been wrong. It remains wrong.

THAT WOULD BE A GAME:

A few weeks ago, I led the column with some thoughts on the great 1987-88 Temple team that became the first Big 5 era team to rise to No. 1. And I wondered about an imaginary game with the other Big 5 team that got to No. 1, 2003-04 Saint Joseph's.

Joe Lunardi had an even better idea. He would love to have seen a game between teams from the same era - that Temple team and the great 1989-90 La Salle team that featured Player of the Year Lionel Simmons, Doug Overton, Randy Woods, Jack Hurd and sixth-man supreme Bobby Johnson.

Before he went on to bracketology fame with ESPN.com, Lunardi was writing stories on Big 5 teams. He covered both those teams extensively. And he is right. That would have been some game.

THIS AND THAT:

-- Going into Tuesday night, there were six teams unbeaten in conference play as Championship Week beckons. They are: Miami (ACC), Memphis (Conference USA), Akron (MAC), Norfolk State (MEAC), Gonzaga (WCC) and Louisiana Tech (WAC).

-- Why do so many coaches not foul, up three in the closing seconds? I know teams have been smart (or lucky) enough to make a free throw, miss a free throw, get a rebound and score. But it is much easier to make one three than to do all that. Yet, after more than 25 years of the three, too many teams just sit there and watch in the final seconds when they could be proactive and tilt the odds their way.

-- Another thing I don't understand. Your team is up a point with less than 3 seconds remaining. Your team is shooting one free throw and the other team has no timeouts. Don't you have to tell your player to miss? Almost any shot the other team makes in the one-point situation will be a three, so you will lose. So why not make them get a rebound and take an 80-foot shot rather than give them a chance to throw the ball inbounds to the frontcourt from the baseline with no time going off the clock. Coaches routinely get this wrong.

Coach K took a big chance in the 2011 title game when he ordered a miss with his team up two and Butler without a timeout. That is a harder call and it almost cost him a title on that 60-foot shot that rimmed out. Up by one point, it should be obvious that a miss is the correct call.