Winners
| Awarded for | the most outstanding men's basketball player in the Philadelphia Big 5 |
|---|---|
| Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Herb Good Basketball Club |
| History | |
| First award | 1956 |
| Most recent | Eric Dixon, Villanova |
| Website | Philadelphia Big 5 |
The Robert V. Geasey Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding men's basketball player in the Philadelphia Big 5, an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The trophy does not represent the entire regular season's most valuable player, the award goes simply to the best basketball player for Big 5 games played that season. It has been given since 1956 and is granted by the Herb Good Basketball Club. Members of the Philadelphia Big 5 are La Salle University, the University of Pennsylvania, Saint Joseph's University, Temple University and Villanova University.
| † | Co-Players of the Year |
| * | Awarded a national player of the year award: the Naismith College Player of the Year or the John R. Wooden Award |
| Player (X) | Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Player of the Year award |
| School | Winners | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Villanova | 27 | 1962, 1963†, 1964†, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969†, 1972†, 1973, 1981, 1982†, 1983†, 1985, 1986, 1995, 1996, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024 |
| Temple | 17 | 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1979†, 1983†, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008†, 2011, 2013 |
| Saint Joseph's | 14 | 1959, 1963†, 1964†, 1967, 1982†, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008†, 2009, 2016 |
| La Salle | 11 | 1969†, 1970, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 |
| Penn | 8 | 1972†, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979†, 2007, 2012, 2023 |
Villanova University is a private Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Pennsylvania and one of two Augustinian institutions of higher learning in the United States.
The Big 5 is an informal association of six college athletic programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is not a conference, but rather a group of NCAA Division I basketball schools who compete for the city’s collegiate championship.
Jerold Taylor "Jay" Wright Jr. is a former American college basketball coach. He served as the head coach of Villanova University from 2001 until 2022. Wright led the Villanova Wildcats to six Big East Conference championships and 16 NCAA tournament appearances in 21 seasons as head coach. Under Wright, Villanova reached four Final Fours and won two national championships in 2016 and 2018.
The Big East Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year award is given to the men's basketball player in the Big East Conference voted as the top performer by the conference coaches. It was first awarded at the end of the league's inaugural season of 1979–80.
Francis Joseph Dunphy is an American college basketball coach, who is the head coach of the La Salle Explorers of the Atlantic 10 Conference. He is the former men's basketball coach at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania. He succeeded John Chaney in 2006 and was succeeded by Aaron McKie in 2019. In June 2020, Dunphy was named interim athletic director of Temple. In 2022, he was named the men's basketball coach of the La Salle Explorers.
The La Salle Explorers men's basketball program represents La Salle University in college basketball.
The Villanova Wildcats men's basketball program represent Villanova University in men's college basketball and competes in the Big East Conference of NCAA Division I. Their first season was the 1920–21 season. Named the Wildcats, Villanova is a member of the Philadelphia Big Five, five Philadelphia college basketball teams who share a passionate rivalry.
The Saint Joseph's Hawks are the athletic teams that represent Saint Joseph's University of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Hawks compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference and of the Philadelphia Big 5. The school also has intramurals and extramurals, the latter of which compete with the City 6. The school is mostly known for its men's basketball team. The Hawk became the school's mascot in 1929. It first flapped its wings at a basketball game in 1956 in a win over La Salle University. The Saint Joseph's school colors are crimson and gray.
The Temple Owls men's basketball team represents Temple University in the sport of basketball. The Owls compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference. They play their home games in the Liacouras Center on the university's main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and are currently led by head coach Adam Fisher. Temple is the sixth-most winningest NCAA Division I men's college basketball program of all time, with 1,978 wins at the end of the 2022–23 season. Although they have reached the NCAA Tournament over thirty times, they are one of nine programs with that many appearances to have not won the Tournament and one of four to have never reached the National Championship Game.
The Saint Joseph's Hawks men's basketball team represents Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I, and the team competes in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Saint Joseph's competes as well as part of the Philadelphia Big 5. Their home court is the Hagan Arena. The team is coached by Billy Lange, who was hired on March 28, 2019, after Phil Martelli was fired as head coach on March 19, 2019, after 24 seasons.
The 2009-10 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team represented Villanova University in the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Villanova was led by head coach Jay Wright. The Wildcats participated in the Big East Conference and played their home games at The Pavilion with some select home games at the Wachovia Center. They finished the season 25–8, 13–5 in Big East play. They were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Big East men's basketball tournament by Marquette. They received an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, earning a 2 seed in the South Region, where they were upset by 10 seed Saint Mary's in the second round.
The 2017–18 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team represented Villanova University in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Jay Wright in his 17th year, the Wildcats played their home games at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as members of the Big East Conference. The Wildcats finished the season 36–4, 14–4 in Big East play to finish in second place. They defeated Marquette, Butler, and Providence to win the Big East tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the East region, their third No.1 seed in four years. They defeated Radford, Alabama, West Virginia, and Texas Tech to advance to the Final Four for the second time in three years. In the National Semifinal, they defeated Kansas before defeating Michigan in the National Championship game to win their second national championship in three years. They won every game of the tournament by a double-digit margin and the team's tournament run is widely considered the most dominant ever along with being called among the best seasons of all time.
The 1993–94 NCAA Division I men's basketball season concluded in the 64-team 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament whose finals were held at the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Arkansas Razorbacks earned their first national championship by defeating the Duke Blue Devils 76–72 on April 4, 1994. They were coached by Nolan Richardson and the NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player was Arkansas' Corliss Williamson.
Collin Gillespie is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Grand Rapids Gold of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats. Gillespie was named Big East co-Player of the Year in 2021 and won it outright the following year.
The 2019–20 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team represented Villanova University in the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Jay Wright in his 19th year, the Wildcats played their home games at the Finneran Pavilion on the school's campus in the Philadelphia suburb of Villanova, Pennsylvania and Wells Fargo Center as members of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 24–7, 13–5 in Big East play which put them in a three-way tie for first place. As the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament, they were slated to play DePaul in the quarterfinals, but the Tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the rest of the NCAA postseason. The team officially finished ninth in the Coaches Poll and tenth in the AP Poll, which served as de facto selectors during the season.
Jermaine Samuels Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats.
Justin Moore is an American college basketball player for the Villanova Wildcats of the Big East Conference.
Marvin O'Connor is an American former professional basketball player. He played high school basketball at Simon Gratz in his native Philadelphia, winning the Philadelphia Public League title as a senior in 1997. After his freshman year in college at Villanova, O'Connor transferred to Saint Joseph's, where he was an all-conference selection in all of his three seasons there, and won the Robert V. Geasey Trophy as the best basketball player in the Philadelphia Big 5 in 2001. He went undrafted in the 2002 NBA draft and spent his only professional season with KK Partizan in Serbia, playing in the 2002–03 Euroleague. He is a member of the St. Joseph's Hawks Hall of Fame and of the Big 5 Hall of Fame (2013).
The 2021–22 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team represented Villanova University in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Jay Wright in his 21st and final year of coaching, the Wildcats played their home games at the Finneran Pavilion on the school's campus in the Philadelphia suburb of Villanova, Pennsylvania and Wells Fargo Center as members of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 30–8, 16–4 in Big East play to finish in second place. They defeated St. John's, UConn, and Creighton to win the Big East tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 2 seed in the South region. They defeated Delaware, Ohio State, Michigan, and Houston to advance to the Final Four. There they lost to eventual national champion Kansas.
Eric Julius Dixon is an American college basketball player for the Villanova Wildcats of the Big East Conference.
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