Steve Bilsky promoting City Series revival

GIVEN THE differing Big 5 constituencies, making Wednesday night's doubleheader at the Palestra a reality was not easy. Eventually, the schools agreed to put self-interest (giving up home games) aside to make it happen.

"The last question was getting leagues willing to create byes,'' said Steve Bilsky, the executive director of the Big 5, who was a driving force behind the DH. "In the end, they all did and it came together.''

Whatever it took, the night with La Salle playing Temple, followed by Saint Joseph's-Penn, will be glorious, a perfect celebration on the 60th anniversary of the first Big 5 season. Players from the 1950s through the 2010s will be there to be introduced to the crowd. The old building will be jammed. The feeling will be as it always was.

Still, there is an undercurrent surrounding the City Series that something is missing, that the Big 5 is a wonderful tradition that has lost much of its juice in a changing world.

Bilsky, who played at Penn in the glory years of the Big 5, was an athletic director at his alma mater who understands that, if you have something of value, you best find a way to maximize that value before the value begins to evaporate.

"The Big 5 is kind of flat," Bilsky said. "I don't think it's necessarily people's fault . . . The biggest thing that could help is to play these games before the conference season starts."

Right now, Big 5 games are filled in around other priorities. Bilsky would like to make the Big 5 a priority, with the understanding that each of the schools has its own priorities.

"There's no continuity or any sense there's a real entity," Bilsky said. "It's just schools playing one another. If the game is good and happens to be played at the Palestra, you might have excitement, but it's over the next day.''

Bilsky has been talking with the schools about some type of format that would have the games played perhaps in early December during a "Big 5 Week.''

With a package of games to sell and a format everybody understands, Bilsky thinks the Big 5 could attract major sponsors, get the games on television and recreate interest in the City Series.

"When I came to Penn, the Penn Relays was flat," Bilsky said. "Then, we changed it. We marketed, brought in the Jamaicans, corporate sponsorship and television and now it's big time event."

Army-Navy was an event everybody "assumed'' would just be in the city, until, Bilsky said, "there was a threat of losing it.''

The city got behind Army-Navy and the threat disappeared.

"There is nothing like the Big 5 anywhere, and I think Philly fans could rally around it in similar ways," Bilsky said. "If you had a weeklong Big 5 event, it would capture fans' imagination."

Lately, Villanova goes 4-0 every season and everybody yawns. There is a City Series champion, but is anybody noticing?

A "Big 5 Week" format obviously would be an issue. Perhaps a tournament might work. Everybody would know the champion at the end of a weeklong event. And if you don't end up playing a team in the tournament and want to schedule at another time in the season, you can. Or, it's possible you could just play a team twice in a season, if you want to schedule early. If you try a tournament and it does not work, you could always go back to the traditional format.

And there needs to be a way to include Drexel in any "Big 5 Week.'' Imagine a week that ends with a tripleheader at the Palestra or perhaps the Wells Fargo Center, the final game being a championship game, the other two being third- and fifth-place games, just like tournaments every season everywhere.

"I'm trying to find a format that the people can buy into and it's OK financially, maybe even more than OK," Bilsky said. "Maybe, it could be something really special. One of the challenges is that three of the athletic directors are new to the Big 5. I think that's not necessarily a detriment. I think that they're young and bright and entrepreneurial, they're looking for new ideas; they're not set in their ways."

Back in the day, Bilsky pointed out the five schools really had a commonality in athletics, but now they really do not. Temple is thinking about a football stadium. Villanova is interested in playing more basketball games on national television against schools such as Oklahoma and Virginia. Penn, La Salle and St. Joe's have their own agendas.

"Trying to find that center is much more difficult now," Bilsky said. "So I just say because we are going to play the Big 5 games, let's find a way to max it out, find a way to make it the best it can be. If you are committed to playing, let's find a way of doing it better and more exciting and more interesting to the fan base than it is right now.''

* Temple's Fran Dunphy is five from the most coaching wins in Big 5 history. He has 512 between Penn and Temple. Owls legend John Chaney had 516 on North Broad Street.

* Juan'ya Green (Archbishop Carroll) is only 111 points from becoming the fourth player to score more than 1,000 points for two schools. He had 1,131 points in two seasons at Niagara, sat out a season as a transfer and has 889 for Hofstra heading into the homestretch of his final season. Green had the same coach at both stops - La Salle grad Joe Mihalich.

* Villanova is tied for fourth nationally in points allowed (60 per game), 10th in field-goal defense (37.7 percent) and 11th in free-throw accuracy (75.9 percent).

* Saint Joseph's is 10th nationally fewest fouls (15.9 per game) and 15th in three-point defense (29.5 percent). Hawks senior Zeke Miles is 66-for-73 (90.4 percent) from the free-throw line, tied for ninth nationally with Butler's Kellen Dunham and Oklahoma's Buddy Hield.

* Temple is committing only 9.4 turnovers per game, third nationally.

* Louisville leads the nation in defensive efficiency, field goal percentage defense and scoring margin.

* Purdue has outrebounded every team it has played.

* The NBA gold standard shooting percentages are 50 (field), 40 (arc), 90 (foul line). Hield, a player of the year favorite, averages 26.1 points, while shooting 51.4 overall, 51.5 from three and 90.4 from the line.

jerardd@phillynews.com

On Twitter: @DickJerardi