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The Big 5 Classic, officially known as the Toyota Big 5 Classic for sponsorship reasons, is an annual early-season college basketball tournament and showcase featuring the six member schools of the Philadelphia Big 5—Drexel, La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph's, Temple, and Villanova. The tournament begins in November with pod play and concludes on the first weekend in December with triple-headers for the men's and women's competitions.
History
Before 2023, the Big 5 members played each other once annually in a round-robin format, determining the champion as the school(s) with the best record in Big 5 play. In January 2023, administrators from the five member schools agreed on a new format for the men's Big 5 play. This included the creation of the concluding triple-header, the Big 5 Classic, and the addition of Drexel University to the series. The motivation behind this change was to "resuscitate" the Big 5, as the series had experienced declining attendance figures in the preceding years.
In the new format, the six schools are divided into two pods of three teams each. Throughout November, round-robin play occurs within each pod, with each team playing the other two teams in their pod in campus-site games. After pod play, the series moves to Xfinity Mobile Arena for the Big 5 Classic, a single-day, triple-header event with three games, held on the first Saturday in December. The first game is the 5th place game, featuring the two teams that finished third in each pod; the second game is the 3rd place game, featuring the two teams that finished second in each pod, and the final game is the championship game, featuring the two teams that finished first in each pod. The winner of the championship game is the champion of the Big 5 for that season. If all three teams in a pod finished tied at 1–1, the tiebreaker is the first NET ranking of the season, which is typically released five days before the championship tripleheader.
In June 2024, the athletic directors of the Big 5 member schools introduced the women's edition of the Big 5 Classic. The women's showcase follows the same pod and scheduling structure as the men's, however, the women's Big 5 Classic is held on the day before, the first Friday in December, and takes place at the Finneran Pavilion in Villanova, Pennsylvania. In 2025, the women's Big 5 Classic was moved to the first Sunday in December, one day after the men's edition.
Brackets
Men
2023
Campus-site games
Campus-site games were hosted by the team listed second below.
Pod 1 November 7 ESPN+Drexel61La Salle67November 14 NBCSP, FloHoopsTemple66Drexel64November 29 ESPN+La Salle99Temple106*** * – Denotes overtime period
Pod 2 November 10 NBCSP, ESPN+Penn61Saint Joseph's69November 13 NBCSP, ESPN+No. 21 Villanova72Penn76November 29 FS1Saint Joseph's78No. 18 Villanova65