In case you haven't read how big this game is in our city (I'm passing on it but Nova seems too obvious. The Hawks want this as badly as the Cats do):
Holy War
By Ray Parrillo
Inquirer Staff Writer
JERRY LODRIGUSS / Inquirer
St. Joe's guard Delonte West hits a three-pointer during Saturday's 83-71 triumph over Temple. The Hawks (18-0) face Villanova (12-7) tonight.
Don DiJulia was passing by a St. Joseph's women's tennis match when the coach of the team beckoned for DiJulia, the university's athletic director.
Check this out, the coach told him.
"One of the players on our team lifted her skirt, and on the back of her underwear it read, 'Beat Villanova,' " DiJulia recalled with a laugh. "I mean, it was a women's tennis match! How do you explain that?"
Tonight at Villanova's Pavilion, the Wildcats and the Hawks will meet in men's basketball for either the 61st or 62d time. The schools don't agree on the number. But just about anyone with a sense of Big Five history will agree that no other City Series rivalry matches Villanova-St. Joe's in passion or intensity.
And few, if any, of the previous Villanova-St. Joe's games have created as much buzz as tonight's because the Hawks are undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the country. The satisfaction that the young, erratic but talented Wildcats would get from chopping them down might be unprecedented. Especially in front of a national television audience.
"You know the other team is really good when you beat them and the fans run out onto the court," said Whitey Rigsby, who does color commentary for Villanova's radio network. "If we beat St. Joe's, I think our fans will run onto the court."
Rigsby was a freshman guard from Queens, N.Y., in the 1974-75 season. On the eve of his first game against St. Joe's, Rigsby's roommate at Villanova, Joe Rogers, tried to prep him on how bitterly fought the game would be. Rigsby didn't understand until he walked into the Palestra and realized he couldn't hear himself think.
"Joe was from Bala Cynwyd, so he grew up right ac**** from St. Joe's," Rigsby remembered. "He said to me, 'Wait until you see this.' I wasn't sure what he meant until I got to the game. I thought to myself, holy.... Right then, I understood."
The emotions that drive this rivalry come from many sources. The proximity of the universities is the most obvious. They are separated by only seven miles, most of them along a stretch of Lancaster Avenue.
But there is more. Much more.
There are countless families with ties to both schools. Vince Nicastro, Villanova's athletic director, received his master's in business administration from St. Joe's and worked on Hawk Hill for four years as director of tickets and promotions. Nicastro's wife, Liz, is a 1990 graduate of St. Joe's. Nicastro said there's a simple reason why the rivalry creates no marital stress.
"We learned a long time ago that your loyalties lie with the folks who are paying you," he said with a laugh. "We clearly know where our bread is buttered, so obviously we'll be rooting for the Cats.
"But there are so many families who went to both schools, and I think the generations of families having split loyalties has helped foster this rivalry."
It's a rivalry that can turn loving families into the Hatfields and McCoys. Expressing concern that what they might say could cause at least a mild domestic disturbance, one family with split loyalties politely declined to be interviewed. Too touchy a subject.
Another dimension to the rivalry is an undercurrent of class warfare that became rooted in the mid-1950s, when the Big Five was formed and Villanova and St. Joe's began playing annually.
Villanova's campus is located on the posh Main Line. For the most part, it has had a more affluent student body, drawn from a wider geographic area. St. Joe's is in the Wynnewood section of the city. Until fairly recently, it was largely a commuter school. It's not uncommon to hear St. Joe's people complain that Villanova people think they're better than them. It's not uncommon to hear Villanova partisans say those from St. Joe's are simply jealous.
"I would agree that it's an underlying issue between the schools," said John Griffin, who played for St. Joe's from 1974 to 1978 and coached the Hawks from 1990 to 1995. "I didn't have a feel for that when I started at St. Joe's. As someone from the working class, I had a chip on my shoulder about anyone who I perceived as privileged. But none of that dawned on me when we played Villanova. But when I listened to certain people at St. Joe's, well, let's just say you would pick up on that flavor."
"There's a perception by some that Villanova people think they're better than everyone else, that they're uppity," Rigsby said. "I don't know why the perception is there, but it is. I don't think it's true."
Yet that perception from St. Joe's vantage point intensified when Villanova joined the Big East, won the national championship in 1985, and, citing conference commitments, decided not to play the other Big Five teams on a round-robin basis. Villanova had a national profile. The Big East gave it more visibility. Its recruiting base expanded, and it attracted more and more blue-chip prospects. Playing in the lower-profile Atlantic Ten Conference and with a smaller athletic budget and more modest facilities, St. Joe's couldn't attract the same caliber of players as Villanova.
At that time, Villanova decided its Big Five home games would be played at its new on-campus facility. Rollie Massimino was blamed for breaking up the Big Five, taking the game out of the storied Palestra, former home of all City Series games. For five seasons during the 1990s, Villanova and St. Joe's didn't meet. As far as St. Joe's people were concerned, Villanova had "big-timed" them.
By the time Rigsby went to Villanova, he sensed the game always seemed to mean more to the Hawks than to the Wildcats. "Frankly, we felt like we had little to gain and a lot to lose by playing St. Joe's," said Rigsby, who went 4-0 against the Hawks when he played. Some years, the Hawks would get so fired up they'd shave their heads for the 'Nova game. The Wildcats figured their conference was tough enough, so who needed to deal with this aggravation?
"I used to think that maybe our players got too hyped up for Villanova," Griffin said. "I remember one game when Geoff Arnold [of St. Joe's] was face-guarding Stewart Granger - and that was before the tip-off."
Lately, though, the dynamics of the rivalry have changed. Tonight's game means everything to Villanova.
"I can only go back to 1974, and I can say this St. Joe's game means more to Villanova than any since," Rigsby said. "The roles have reversed. They're the favorite. We're the underdog. Mostly, though, it's because they've become a top-ranked team, and that's what makes it so important."
Holy War
By Ray Parrillo
Inquirer Staff Writer
JERRY LODRIGUSS / Inquirer
St. Joe's guard Delonte West hits a three-pointer during Saturday's 83-71 triumph over Temple. The Hawks (18-0) face Villanova (12-7) tonight.
Don DiJulia was passing by a St. Joseph's women's tennis match when the coach of the team beckoned for DiJulia, the university's athletic director.
Check this out, the coach told him.
"One of the players on our team lifted her skirt, and on the back of her underwear it read, 'Beat Villanova,' " DiJulia recalled with a laugh. "I mean, it was a women's tennis match! How do you explain that?"
Tonight at Villanova's Pavilion, the Wildcats and the Hawks will meet in men's basketball for either the 61st or 62d time. The schools don't agree on the number. But just about anyone with a sense of Big Five history will agree that no other City Series rivalry matches Villanova-St. Joe's in passion or intensity.
And few, if any, of the previous Villanova-St. Joe's games have created as much buzz as tonight's because the Hawks are undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the country. The satisfaction that the young, erratic but talented Wildcats would get from chopping them down might be unprecedented. Especially in front of a national television audience.
"You know the other team is really good when you beat them and the fans run out onto the court," said Whitey Rigsby, who does color commentary for Villanova's radio network. "If we beat St. Joe's, I think our fans will run onto the court."
Rigsby was a freshman guard from Queens, N.Y., in the 1974-75 season. On the eve of his first game against St. Joe's, Rigsby's roommate at Villanova, Joe Rogers, tried to prep him on how bitterly fought the game would be. Rigsby didn't understand until he walked into the Palestra and realized he couldn't hear himself think.
"Joe was from Bala Cynwyd, so he grew up right ac**** from St. Joe's," Rigsby remembered. "He said to me, 'Wait until you see this.' I wasn't sure what he meant until I got to the game. I thought to myself, holy.... Right then, I understood."
The emotions that drive this rivalry come from many sources. The proximity of the universities is the most obvious. They are separated by only seven miles, most of them along a stretch of Lancaster Avenue.
But there is more. Much more.
There are countless families with ties to both schools. Vince Nicastro, Villanova's athletic director, received his master's in business administration from St. Joe's and worked on Hawk Hill for four years as director of tickets and promotions. Nicastro's wife, Liz, is a 1990 graduate of St. Joe's. Nicastro said there's a simple reason why the rivalry creates no marital stress.
"We learned a long time ago that your loyalties lie with the folks who are paying you," he said with a laugh. "We clearly know where our bread is buttered, so obviously we'll be rooting for the Cats.
"But there are so many families who went to both schools, and I think the generations of families having split loyalties has helped foster this rivalry."
It's a rivalry that can turn loving families into the Hatfields and McCoys. Expressing concern that what they might say could cause at least a mild domestic disturbance, one family with split loyalties politely declined to be interviewed. Too touchy a subject.
Another dimension to the rivalry is an undercurrent of class warfare that became rooted in the mid-1950s, when the Big Five was formed and Villanova and St. Joe's began playing annually.
Villanova's campus is located on the posh Main Line. For the most part, it has had a more affluent student body, drawn from a wider geographic area. St. Joe's is in the Wynnewood section of the city. Until fairly recently, it was largely a commuter school. It's not uncommon to hear St. Joe's people complain that Villanova people think they're better than them. It's not uncommon to hear Villanova partisans say those from St. Joe's are simply jealous.
"I would agree that it's an underlying issue between the schools," said John Griffin, who played for St. Joe's from 1974 to 1978 and coached the Hawks from 1990 to 1995. "I didn't have a feel for that when I started at St. Joe's. As someone from the working class, I had a chip on my shoulder about anyone who I perceived as privileged. But none of that dawned on me when we played Villanova. But when I listened to certain people at St. Joe's, well, let's just say you would pick up on that flavor."
"There's a perception by some that Villanova people think they're better than everyone else, that they're uppity," Rigsby said. "I don't know why the perception is there, but it is. I don't think it's true."
Yet that perception from St. Joe's vantage point intensified when Villanova joined the Big East, won the national championship in 1985, and, citing conference commitments, decided not to play the other Big Five teams on a round-robin basis. Villanova had a national profile. The Big East gave it more visibility. Its recruiting base expanded, and it attracted more and more blue-chip prospects. Playing in the lower-profile Atlantic Ten Conference and with a smaller athletic budget and more modest facilities, St. Joe's couldn't attract the same caliber of players as Villanova.
At that time, Villanova decided its Big Five home games would be played at its new on-campus facility. Rollie Massimino was blamed for breaking up the Big Five, taking the game out of the storied Palestra, former home of all City Series games. For five seasons during the 1990s, Villanova and St. Joe's didn't meet. As far as St. Joe's people were concerned, Villanova had "big-timed" them.
By the time Rigsby went to Villanova, he sensed the game always seemed to mean more to the Hawks than to the Wildcats. "Frankly, we felt like we had little to gain and a lot to lose by playing St. Joe's," said Rigsby, who went 4-0 against the Hawks when he played. Some years, the Hawks would get so fired up they'd shave their heads for the 'Nova game. The Wildcats figured their conference was tough enough, so who needed to deal with this aggravation?
"I used to think that maybe our players got too hyped up for Villanova," Griffin said. "I remember one game when Geoff Arnold [of St. Joe's] was face-guarding Stewart Granger - and that was before the tip-off."
Lately, though, the dynamics of the rivalry have changed. Tonight's game means everything to Villanova.
"I can only go back to 1974, and I can say this St. Joe's game means more to Villanova than any since," Rigsby said. "The roles have reversed. They're the favorite. We're the underdog. Mostly, though, it's because they've become a top-ranked team, and that's what makes it so important."
