Other rivals include the Temple Owls, the La Salle Explorers, the Penn Quakers, who make up the rest of the Big 5.

Saint Joseph's basketball program was ranked 43rd best of all time by Smith & Street's magazine in 2005.

The Hawks defeated Boston College to advance to the Elite Eight before losing to eventual national champion Indiana.

The first St. Joseph's player to become a professional team coach was George Senesky, who led the Philadelphia Warriors from 1955 to 1958.

Ramsey then coached the Buffalo Braves from 1972 to 1976 before moving to the Portland Trail Blazers where he won the NBA championship in 1977.

His tenure in LA lasted only 14 games when he suffered major injuries in a bicycle accident.

Assistant Head Coach and another St. Joe alum Paul Westhead took over for the injured McKinney and led LA to the NBA Championship.

After four successful years with Indiana, Coach McKinney ended his career in a nine-game stint with the Kansas City Kings.

Hawk basketball standout Jim Lynam started his NBA coaching career in 1981 as an assistant in Portland.

Jim O'Brien began his NBA coaching career in 1987 as an assistant with the New York Knicks and then two years later the Boston Celtics.

He then left the Sixers and took the head coaching position with the Orlando Magic and retired after four seasons.

The 2003–2004 Saint Joseph's University Hawks were the last Division I College Basketball team to finish the Regular Season undefeated before the Wichita State Shockers did so in 2013–14 .

Saint Joseph's ended the regular season with a 27–0 record and secured a #1 national ranking and a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Hawks advanced to the Elite Eight with wins over Liberty, Texas Tech, and #17 Wake Forest.

However, they did receive a bid to the NIT and advanced to the Championship game before losing to South Carolina, 60–57.

Following the NCAA appearance in 2014, the Hawks looked to build on their success in 2014–15, but suffered a setback, finishing the season with 13–18 record.

The main rival has been the Villanova University Wildcats which is locally referred to as the Holy War.

Because games against Drexel University are in-city, the two teams are sometimes considered rivals but Saint Joseph's leads the all-time series 43–6.