Since we last watched our City 6 teams play, Philadelphia has endured 7 straight months of Chip Kelly, #FireRuben and #ThisStartsNow.  But we made it through, with a month to go until the college basketball tip-off.  Last season, we saw Villanova win the Big East and get a number 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but fall in the second round to a strong NC State team, and a Temple team that played well down the stretch, but fell to Miami in the NIT Semifinal. 

We also saw La Salle find a new star in Jordan Price, and Saint Joseph's DeAndre' Bembry blossom into a future NBA prospect.  Drexel had a rough start, going 2-11 at the beginning, but finished a respectable 9-7, even ripping off a 6-game win streak.  They lost Damion Lee as a transfer to Louisville, so the hunt for a number one option on offense begins.  Penn finished 9-19, but they have a new coach in Steve Donahue, who was an assistant at Penn for 10 years before becoming the head coach at Cornell and Boston College. 
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There's a lot to look forward to this season, but I'll start with a preseason ranking/summary of each City 6 program.

Keeping in line with their last matchup together, the Drexel Dragons got off to a quick star and defeated the Hofstra Pride once again by a final score of 74-63.  This win brings the Dragons to a record of 14-11 on the season and 6-6 in the CAA.  Senior guard Frantz Massenat led the way for Drexel with 24 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals on 7-12 shooting.  Massenat had himself an excellent all around game for the Dragons and has been their clear go to guy this season.

For those who watched, you can agree with me that it was an incredible game from both squads.  VCU came after La Salle with full intensity in their Havoc defense, which is just a term people made up to describe the full court press set up the Rams are known for.  VCU has their Havoc defense, Shaka Smart, who is considered one of the best coaches in all of college basketball, and talented young players such as Juvonte Reddic, Treveon Graham and Briante Weber.  But despite all that the Explorers had going against them, they equaled their opponents' intensity and fought their way back after being down by double digits early in the first half.

In keeping the theme of the day for Philadelphia sports today, Drexel failed to pick up a win against the CAA conference leading Blue Hens, and now fall to 10-8 on the season.  Frantz Massenat picked up where he left off last game by finishing with 20 points, good enough to lead the Dragons in scoring.  In fact, Massenat had a terrific outing and finished with a double-double.  He finished with 10 of the team's 15 assists.  

Drexel had a big win today over North Carolina....Wilmington. Although not the famous UNC, UNCW is a quality opponent nonetheless. The Dragons handled them with a final score of 79-63. Guard Frantz Massenat had a huge game, finishing with 30 points and 8 assists. Massenat has had a decent season up to this game, but came up huge in today's win. Wilson also had a solid game off the bench, scoring 16 points in 18 minutes. Fouch finished with 14 points as well. These 3 players alone nearly out scored UNC Wilmington themselves. Getting solid contributions from the bench and from their star players will go a long way towards Drexel's case for the NCAA Tournament.

After seeing their four game win streak snapped against St. Joe's last Wednesday, Drexel was able to start a new winning streak Sunday afternoon, by defeating the Saint Francis Red Flash 59-49.  The win improves the Dragons to 8-3 on the season, and keeps them undefeated at home with a 4-0 record at the John A. Daskalakis Center. 

In a heated battle between the Saint Joseph's Hawks and the Drexel Dragons, it was Saint Joe's who walked away victorious.  After trailing Drexel 27-23 at halftime, the Hawks rallied and went on an impressive run throughout the second half, scoring 52 as opposed to the Dragons' own 28 second half points. 

It was a tough break for the Owls in OT, as they failed to stop the Longhorns in the last few seconds en route to the 81-80 overtime loss.  It was a good job, good effort from both teams, but in the end, it was Texas who walked away victorious.  

After a hearty pep talk from Mickey Mouse and Co, the Hawks went out there looking to rebound from their tough loss to LSU yesterday.  The pep talk seemed to have worked as St Joe's got off to a terrific start in defeating the Saints 78-66.

After finally reaching the close of the Charleston Classic, which saw the Owls play three games in four days, they finished the tournament on a bright note, with a win over the University of Alabama Birmingham Blazers, 87-66.  Temple was led by Dalton Pepper, who scored a team high 24 points.  Pepper also provided the Owls with 7 rebounds and 3 assists.