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.

We're into March, and it's official championship time in the 2024 men's college basketball season. Right now, games are being played that will help determine which teams will make it into the much-coveted NCAA tournament and March Madness. So, which teams should top your bracket?

The No. 1 seeds are no surprise, for the most part. There's no way any other teams will be able to top Purdue, Houston and Connecticut. But, the rest is up for grabs.

Before we get into the rankings, let's learn some fun facts about the NCAA Tournament. The very first March Madness started on March 17, 1939, according to BleacherNation.com. They also note that the first tournament in college basketball history had only eight teams. Oregon won the NCAA Division I Championship that year, with a 46-33 win over Ohio State. As for huge upsets, and I remember this one, during the 2018 NCAA Tournament, UMBC beat No. 1 seed Virginia 74-54. That marked the first time in NCAA history a No. 16 seed beat a number 1.

What are the odds of you getting a perfect bracket? Not good. Not good at all. According to the NCAA, you have a 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (9 quintillion) chance to make a perfect bracket. If you really know nothing about college basketball knowledge, your odds become 1 in 120.2 billion. So, don't bet the house or first born on your bracket. That's so crazy. For years, I was really good at doing brackets and even won in some bracket pools with coworkers and friends. But, then I stopped doing brackets for a few years, because I wanted to enjoy the game. Now, I'm back and ready to do a bracket again this year. My team, the Michigan State Spartans, have not been doing well lately. But, there's time, and hopefully they can turn things around. Fingers crossed.

Let's get into our March Madness 2024 power rankings.

Marquette has performed consistently well all season, and they have been falling around the No. 10 mark when ranked against the other NCAA teams. When their defense is weak, their offense is strong, and you can flip that, too. Now, if they can get both going at once, we'll have something extra special.

I remember the Coach K era of the Duke Blue Devils, so it's definitely not the same watching Duke without him in action. But, they're still a solid team with legacy. They're especially strong this year.

The Creighton Bluejays have some star players in Trey Alexander, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Baylor Scheierman. What's even better is that these players seem to be getting better as the season progresses. That's especially true of the latter.

The Iowa State Cyclones have been strong all season, and they're not letting up now. They also have a star player in Demarion Watson, who kind of broke out of nowhere later in the season.

While the North Carolina Tar Heels aren't quite at the level of Purdue, UConn and Houston, meaning they aren't a No. 1 seed, they're close. They have great stats and when they shine, they really shine. They could surprise everyone in the tourney.

The Tennessee Volunteers are having a great season, and star player Jonas Aidoo is largely to thank. But, Aidoo has fallen a bit short lately. Hopefully he's just resting up for a big tourney season.

The Arizona Wildcats are one of the big teams to beat in 2024. They've been dominating both in offense and defense. There's no question that the Cats should be contenders for the Final Four.

The Houston Cougars will be a No. 1 seed, and they've earned it. They have an incredible record and are very difficult to trip up. Will they go all the way? Time will tell. But, their most recent wins were all close, so there's that.

The UConn Huskies have a solid coach in Dan Hurley, and he's really helped shape this team into champions. The Huskies have a legacy, and he's carrying that forward. They could absolutely go all the way this year.

Okay, so Purdue has some weaknesses. But, I follow the Big Ten closely (since Michigan State is in there), and they just always seem to pull off a win. The Boilermakers could really make this their year. Fletcher Loyer and Zach Edey are some of their stars.