College basketball’s greatest tradition, personified.

Columns of the Cathedral

UPenn’s famed Palestra is often dubbed the “Cathedral of College Basketball.” Find all of 5 Features columns and feature pieces here.

  • Lange’s Players, Donahue’s Coaching, Hawks Winning

    When you watch the product unfold on the court over the last six or so games for the St. Joseph’s Hawks, it’s hard to ignore the developing fruits of Billy Lange’s labor. His recruiting prowess, backed by a relatively well-oiled ATM for mid-major standards, can sometimes seem about as good as good gets for this…

  • ‘Player’s Era’ Sparks Debate on Why Fans Watch

    If you go to a festival in Vegas, you can’t be frightened by the freakshow.  Yesterday, as the second rendition of the Player’s Era Festival showcased some of the sports biggest brands in a semi-vacant Vegas arena, the college basketball internet world reached somewhat of an inflection point.  The event served as a microcosm of…

  • City Coaching Carousel Reflects Larger NCAA Climate

    Legendary St. Joe’s frontman Phil Martelli sat, stood, and sometimes frantically danced on the sidelines of college basketball courts for nearly four decades.  Today, he watches from the crowd – his clipboard perhaps used as coloring fodder for his grandkids and his whistle hopefully hung in the halls of the Palestra. His son, Phil Martelli…

  • Joes Woes: Rinsing, Repeating, and Reflapping on City Ave

    The Saint Joe’s rollercoaster experience is one that would bring plenty of crying kids and possibly even a collection of lawsuits to Dorney Park or Universal Studios.   You start at a relatively high perch, a familiar vantage point that brings excitement for what’s to come. The ride then dips, understandably as gravity and mechanical…

  • Championship Blues: No Nova = No Good for Big 5 Classic Event 

    As we rev up for year two of the Wells Fargo Center’s Big 5 Classic event, here’s what we know now about the highly-anticipated sequel.  A Big 5 event without Villanova as the marquee headliner can seem to many fans, most notably the many Villanova fans, as not much of an event at all. It’s…

  • Twas the Night Before the Holy War

    The sentiment often gets thrown around the Big 5 that the four teams that annually match up against Villanova treat it like “their Super Bowl.” We’ve seen Villanova lose to metrically inferior opponents in back-to-back years now — last season at the Liacouras and this season at the Palestra — both resulted in a dramatic…

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