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Great college basketball can be enjoyed all across the country, from meccas such as Pauley Pavilion (Los Angeles) and Rupp Arena (Lexington, Ky.) to the hardcourt homes of Cinderella stories, like Hinkle Fieldhouse (Indianapolis). But which destinations are the very best for hoops enthusiasts?

That’s a tough question to answer, seeing as each city has its own unique basketball history and charm. Graduates also tend to favor their alma mater, while others may have an understandable allegiance to their hometown. But we can still try to quantify things as much as possible.

To find 2017’s top spots for NCAA hoops, WalletHub crunched the numbers on 291 U.S. cities using seven key metrics. They range from the number of teams per city and the winning percentage of each to stadium capacity and social-media engagement. You can find the results below, followed by a Q&A with a panel of leading college basketball experts. If you disagree with where the data led us, tell us why in the Comments section.

1. Main Findings
2. Rankings by City Size
3. Ask the Experts
4. Methodology

Main Findings

Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/32944/geochart.html" width="556" height="347" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:556px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="http://ift.tt/2lRNP8d;  

Overall Rank	City	Total Score	Effective	Annual	Difference	Annual	Adjusted
1	Alaska	5.69%	$3,066	-46.85%	$4,237	6
2	Delaware	6.02%	$3,246	-43.74%	$3,830	1
3	Montana	6.92%	$3,728	-35.37%	$3,561	3
4	Wyoming	7.45%	$4,015	-30.40%	$4,312	2
5	Nevada	7.72%	$4,161	-27.86%	$4,028	7

Ask the Experts

For additional perspectives on what makes for a great college basketball city and how residents can ramp up their fandom without breaking the bank, we posed the following questions to a panel of leading industry experts. You can check out their bios and responses below.

1. What, in your mind, makes a good college basketball fan?
2. What do you think is the best city for college basketball fans and why?
3. Do you have any tips for how basketball fans can enjoy the sport without breaking the bank?

Methodology

In order to identify the best and worst cities for college basketball fans, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 291 U.S. cities with at least one FBS or FCS team using seven relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for college basketball fans.

We calculated each city’s overall score using its weighted average across all metrics and used the resulting scores to calculate the overall rankings. Cities were also ranked based on population size, using the following groupings:

• Large Cities: More than 300,000 people
• Midsize Cities: 100,000 to 300,000 people
• Small Cities: Fewer than 100,000 people

 

Source:

from Wallet HubWallet Hub


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