SJU and La Salle stand in Penn's way

Before the Penn men's basketball team turns its attention to next Friday night's Ivy League opener against Dartmouth, a little matter called the Big 5 city series needs to be resolved. With a pair of home tilts against local rivals Saint Joseph's and La Salle on the platter, the Quakers are poised to turn a trick that has been accomplished only twice before in program history: back-to-back undefeated runs through the Big 5 schedule. The Quakers rolled past Temple, 71-46, in the Big 5 Classic at the Palestra on Dec. 7. Three nights later, they cooled a surging Villanova team, 72-58, at the First Union Center. The Hawks come to the Palestra on Saturday night in what suddenly appears to be the city's marquee matchup of the season. Simply put, coach Phil Martelli's team has been the surprise of the year -- following one of the more disappointing seasons on Hawk Hill in recent memory. All summer long, Martelli heard the questions. Coming off a season of decidedly lost opportunity and having graduated over 5,000 points and 2,200 rebounds, how would the Hawks bounce back? The coach's response is the one-two punch of Jameer Nelson and Delonte West. Together, they form one of the brightest backcourt tandems in the nation. While much has been written about the plucky Nelson, who leads the Hawks in both scoring and assists, West has been the one turning heads during a stellar breakthrough campaign. The lanky sophomore spent much of last season on the bench, playing behind preseason All-American Marvin O'Connor. But he's emerged as a worthy replacement for the departed star and an equally worthy complement for Nelson. This past week, West poured in a career-high 26 points against Temple. The performance was good enough to garner him Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors. Boasting a gaudy 13-2 record, Martelli's bunch has won five of six games in the conference and is perched comfortably atop the Atlantic 10 East. Uptown, it's been a different story for Billy Hahn's inexperienced and oft-overmatched La Salle side, who visits the Palestra on Tuesday night. But despite somewhat lukewarm results -- the Explorers are 8-7, and their 2-3 mark is fourth in the A-10 West -- there's no denying the excitement that Hahn's young group of recruits has brought to a program that had fallen on hard times. In freshmen Gary Neal, Steven Smith and Jermaine Thomas, the coach has brought to Olney the best assembly of sheer talent since the days of Lionel Simmons, Doug Overton and Tim Legler. The Explorers have taken home Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week honors five times this season. Neal, twice honored, leads the Explorers in scoring, averaging 17.4 points per game. Smith and Thomas are second and third. Along with Hahn's big three, freshmen David Bell and Dzaflo Larki have contributed. Through Sunday's game, the La Salle freshmen have accounted for a whopping 78 percent of the team's scoring. Perhaps the most welcome change for the Explorer faithful -- even more so than the sudden wealth of individual standouts -- is the team's blossoming offense. Through fifteen contests, the Explorers are averaging 71 points per game, a significant improvement for a program mired in a perpetual offensive slump.

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