Penn and Drexel meet this morning for an unusual breakfast-time clash on national television (ESPN, 10 a.m. ET). It might not be a traditional Philadelphia Big 5 rivalry but it's still one of our favorite intracity fixtures in college hoops.
The schools occupy adjacent swatches of West Philly real estate, separated only by Chestnut Street in the city's University City neighborhood. They've typically met on Penn's campus at the Palestra -- the venerable hoops cathedral on 33rd and Spruce -- with the Dragons always making the two-block "road trip" by foot for the opportunity to play in college basketball's most historic gym.
But as perennial outsiders to Philadelphia's Big 5 tradition -- the annual round-robin city series contested by La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph's, Temple and Villanova -- Drexel has made a conscious effort to carve out an identity of its own in recent years. So the Dragons insisted on hosting this morning's fixture for the first time in 21 meetings at their Daskalakis Athletic Center.
The game is sold out despite the strange tip-off time, during class and working hours.
Jonathan Tannenwald runs Soft Pretzel Logic, Philly.com's excellent college hoops blog. He'll be live blogging the action from the DAC this morning for those unable to catch the ESPN telecast.
After hitting the sack, off to the DAC [The Daily Pennsylvanian]
Live Blog: Penn at Drexel [Soft Pretzel Logic]
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