8 March 2023
LAWRENCE, Kan. — It’s March and the madness of college basketball is right around the corner.
Later this week the Big 12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments tip off in Kansas City. In two weeks, T-Mobile Center will host the Men’s Midwest Regional games.
Fans attending the games may be in the best area to watch college basketball, according to a new ranking.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, ranked the best cities for college hoops fans.
It ranked Lawrence, Kansas, the home of the Jayhawks as the second best city for fans who love college basketball. Lawrence jumped two spots, up from No. 4 in the same ranking last year.
The company ranked Durham, North Carolina, home of the Duke Blue Devils as the top city for fans.
WalletHub said it analyzed information from 290 cities provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, ESPN, NCAA.org, and each team’s website and social media accounts.
The analysis crunched information from the following nine areas:
Number of D1 college basketball teams
Performance level of D1 college basketball teams
Number of D1 college basketball championship wins
Number of D1 college basketball conference regular season championship wins
Number of Hall of Fame Head Coaches
Minimum season ticket price
Fan engagement
Number of coaches over past 10 seasons
Stadium/Arena capacity
This is the top 10 list, according to WalletHub’s latest ranking.
Durham, NC
Lawrence, KS
Storrs, CT
Lexington, KY
Los Angeles, CA
East Lansing, MI
Philadelphia, PA
Chapel Hill, NC
Fayette, MS
Loretto, PA
This is how the Big 12 Conference stacks up against the rest of the country when it comes to college basketball cities.
1. Lawrence, Kansas
University of Kansas Jayhawks
11. Morgantown, West Virginia
University of West Virginia Mountaineers
24. Norman, Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma Sooners
27. Stillwater, Oklahoma
Oklahoma State University Cowboys
51. Ames, IA
Iowa State University Cyclones
64. Waco, Texas
Baylor University Bears
94. Manhattan, Kansas
Kansas State University Wildcats
108. Lubbock, Texas
Texas Tech University Red Raiders
271. Fort Worth, Texas
Texas Christian University Horned Frogs
287. Austin, Texas
University of Texas Longhorns
The full ranking is available at WalletHub.com.