CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With the NCAA tournament tipping off on March 14, rabid fans across the country will sport their school colors and pray they get to see their team featured in that famous "One Shining Moment" montage.
But when it comes to diehard fans, WalletHub decided to stack each city against each other to see who would lift that trophy.
WalletHub has ranked Durham, North Carolina, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, as No. 1 and No. 8 respectively in its report of 2023's Best Cities for College Basketball Fans. Durham, which is home to the Duke Blue Devils, won the No. 1 spot with a score of 55.37. Chapel Hill, which is where the UNC Tar Heels play, scored 49.81.
The top 10 were as follows:
- Durham, NC (where Duke plays)
- Lawrence, Kansas (where University of Kansas plays)
- Storrs, Conn. (where UConn plays)
- Lexington, Ken. (where University of Kentucky plays)
- Los Angeles, Calif. (where both UCLA and USC play)
- East Lansing, Mich. (where Michigan State plays)
- Philadelphia, Pa. (where Villanova -- as well as Saint Joseph's, Temple, La Salle and Penn -- play)
- Chapel Hill, NC (where UNC plays)
- Fayette, Miss. (closest school is Alcorn State University)
- Loretto, Pa. (closest school is St. Francis University)
Buies Creek (No. 34), Boiling Springs (No. 43) Cullowhee (No. 69), Davidson (No. 104), Boone (No. 120), Greensboro (No. 135), Charlotte (No. 146), High Point (No. 195), Raleigh (No. 197), Elon (No. 207), Asheville (No. 222), Greenville (No. 247), Winston-Salem (No. 249), and Wilmington (No. 276) were the rest of the North Carolina cities that made the rankings.
WalletHub said its scores are determined by different metrics, such as the number of teams per city, stadium capacity, social media engagement and winning percentage.
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Interesting fact, of the eight championships featuring 1-seed face-offs, five of them featured a team from North Carolina:
- 1993 - UNC vs. Michigan (UNC won)
- 1999 - Duke vs. UConn (UConn won)
- 2005 - UNC vs. Illinois (UNC won)
- 2015 - Duke vs. Wisconsin (Duke won)
- 2017 - UNC vs. Gonzaga (UNC won)
UNC has made 21 Final Four appearances, which is the most by any team in NCAA history.
When it comes to South Carolina teams, the following teams made the list:
- Clemson (No. 49)
- Spartanburg (No. 56)
- Conway (No. 61)
- Columbia (No. 78)
- Rock Hill (No. 90)
- Greenville (No. 127)
- Orangeburg (No. 141)
- Charleston (No. 176)
- Clinton (No. 179)
- North Charleston (No. 188)
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