Philadelphia Gets Robbed in Ranking Among College Basketball Cities
Philadelphia’s college basketball tradition is one of the best in the country. Six teams all within a handful of miles from each other. Over the years, the teams have risen and fallen on a local and national scale, but you always know the students for each team will show up to The Palestra or Wells Fargo Center to cheer for their team and rip the other. It’s led to some great rivalries in the ‘Big 5’.
The rivalries are so strong that there are some alumni from the schools that actively root against these other Philly schools when they reach the NCAA tournament. Is it a jealousy thing? Maybe, but that’s sports. You want your team to be the top dog amongst your peers. Over the years the Philadelphia schools have had some great NCAA tournament moments. Jameer Nelson and Delonte West taking St. Joe’s to the brink of a Final Four. La Salle’s Tyrone Garland and his Southwest Philly Floater sent La Salle from a bubble team to the Sweet 16. Of course, a highlight real of Philly college basketball highlights doesn’t exist without Kris Jenkins’ buzzer-beater to win the National Championship.
I only listed recent history. There is so much more to the Philadelphia college basketball tradition though. All that history and Philadelphia still gets shafted on these rankings of top college basketball cities. The rankings aren’t coming from a hub of sports information. WalletHub does put out some pretty good ranking usually, but when it comes to the breakdown of cities’ basketball traditions, they miss the mark.
Philadelphia gets the number two slot on the list, while Los Angeles gets the number one spot. Really? Sure UCLA & USC. Outside of those two programs, Los Angeles doesn’t give a damn about college basketball. No UCLA student or fan is actively arguing against USC. There is really no comparison to Los Angeles and Philadelphia as college basketball cities. When John Wooden was coaching UCLA, in the ’60s and ’70s? Fine. Los Angeles can have the title then. Not now.
I’m curious if one of the people doing the ranking heard the argument from some fans of certain schools that Villanova isn’t a Philadelphia team and shouldn’t take their success into account. Yes, it’s outside the city limits. A way to gauge it is, if you’re on vacation away from the area and someone asks where you’re from, what do you tell them? Chances are you say Philadelphia, even if you’re from Montco, Delco, or Bucks. No one in Texas, Italy, or Ireland knows your little town’s name. They do know Philadelphia. Check out how WalletHub came up with its rankings here.
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