The citys six Division I college basketball teams all felt the rigors of conference play this week.
And it wasnt pretty.
Drexel dropped two more CAA games to fall to 1-3 in a league it was picked to win; Penn wasnt competitive in its conference opener to nemesis Princeton; Villanova lost its first Big East game of the season (although the Wildcats played No. 7 Syracuse relatively close); and Temple, St. Joes and La Salle all lost their Atlantic 10 openers (before bouncing back to win their second league games).
There were, however, still some good things that happenedwhich well explore in this weeks City 6 awards and power rankings.
Player of the week
Temple sophomore Anthony Lee has been one of the seasons best breakout performers, and this week he continued to show why.
In the Owls midweek loss to Xavier, Lee went for 15 points and seven rebounds. He followed that up with 20 points and 10 reboundsfor his third career double-doublein Saturdays victory over Saint Louis.
Perhaps the best part? Lee shot a combined 14 for 24 (58 percent) in the two games. For the season, hes shooting 54 percentone of the most efficient outputs in the city.
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Game of the week
St. Joes came up short in its conference opener against Butler on Wednesday, but if the game was any indicator of what we can expect from the Atlantic 10 this season, were in for a treat.
In a matchup between the preseason favorite (St. Joes) and the nationally ranked newcomer (Butler) at a packed Hagan Arena, the visiting Bulldogs used the hot shooting of star senior Rotnei Clark (who injured his neck in Butlers win) to prevail.
Not only was the game played in a great atmosphere but it was also a crisp contest with very few turnovers and fouls.
Play of the week
With just over two minutes remaining in Temples game against Saint Louis on Saturday, Owls senior Khalif Wyatt was caught in the corner, tried to draw contact in the air, got hit and made a very difficult off-balance leaning three-pointer.
The play helped preserve a tenuous Temple lead and send the Owls to a hard-fought 64-54 victory.
Wyatt would later call the play luckywhich was kind of like another play in Temples winwhich leads us to our quote of the week.
Quote of the week
I don't want to call itit was a left-hand ... seven-and-a-half-foot layupTemple head coach Fran Dunphy, trying to describe a Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson basket in the second half of Temples win over Saint Louis
Stat of the week
La Salle senior Ramon Galloway missed 22 shots in the Explorers loss to Charlotte on Wednesday. According to ESPN Stats & Info, it was the most missed baskets in a regulation game since Western Kentuckys Courtney Lee missed that many in a 2008 NCAA tournament game vs. UCLA.
Games to watch this week
Its back to the conference grind Wednesday with Villanova hosting Pitt in whats always a fun matchup at the Pavilion; Temple hitting the road to face George Washington; and La Salle hosting Dayton with guard Tyreek Duren needing just two points to hit the 1,000-point milestone.
The next day, St. Joes goes on the road to take on a VCU team that leads the nation in steals per game.
And a busy Saturday includes a Big 5 matchup at the Palestra between St. Joes and Penn.
Power rankings
1. Temple (11-4): The Owls did a very nice job to snap their two-game losing streak this past weekend against a very tough Saint Louis team. Now they have a chance to build a little winning streak with winnable games against George Washington and St. Bonaventure this week.
2. Villanova (11-5): The Wildcats have a lower Pomeroy rating and RPI than both La Salle and St. Joes but are getting bumped up after an impressive road win at South Florida, a team that has given them all kinds of trouble in the past couple of years. Villanova then followed that up with a nice showing at Syracuse in what may be its last visit to the Carrier Dome. The schedule gets no easier for Villanova, which hosts Pitt on Wednesday and goes to Providence on Saturday, all before facing three straight nationally ranked opponents.
3. La Salle (11-4): The Explorers have a batch of impressive shooters but when theyre not shooting well, things could get ugly. La Salle learned that in its league-opening loss at Charlotte, as it shot 4 for 29 from three-point range. The Explorers didnt shoot well from long distance again Saturday but still picked up a solid win over Richmond. Theyll need to make more shots and have Ramon Galloway healthy to get through a tough week unscathed, as they host Dayton on Wednesday and travel to Xavier on Saturday.
4. St. Joes (9-5): Playing Butler was a tough matchup but it was still a game the Hawks couldand maybe even shouldhave won at home. They did a good job responding by beating Duquesne, but things will get tougher this week as they face VCU without one of their better players in Halil Kanacevic, who left the country because of a death in the family.
5. Drexel (5-11): Once high-scoring guard Chris Fouch was lost for the season because of a broken ankle, the Dragons were in a position where they couldnt afford any more injuries. That hasnt been the case with leading scorer Damion Lee going down and big men Dartaye Ruffin and Daryl McCoy also missing recent gameswhich is one reason why the Dragons are 1-3 in the CAA. Drexel is off until Saturday when it has a road game against William & Mary.
6. Penn (2-13): An earlier-than-usual start to the Ivy League season against Princeton could not have come at a worse time for the Quakers, whose two best players are either out with mono (Fran Dougherty) or slumping (Miles Cartwright). Penn will try to snap its eight-game losing streakand finally win the programs 1,700th gameThursday at NJIT, before facing St. Joes in a road game at the Palestra on Saturday.
Dave Zeitlin covers college sports for CSNPhilly.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @DaveZeitlin.