These Illinois Cities Among 'Best For College Basketball Fans'

ACROSS ILLINOIS — March Madness kicks off in less than a week, with Selection Sunday taking place March 17. In anticipation of the NCAA basketball tournament, personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2019's Best Cities for College Basketball Fans, consisting of data compared across nearly 290 U.S. cities using nine key metrics. Four Illinois cities were ranked in the top 100, using metrics ranging from the number of teams per city and the winning percentage of each to stadium capacity and social-media engagement, according to WalletHub. The metrics are:

• Number of College Basketball (Division 1) Teams
• Performance Level of College Basketball (Division 1) Team(s)
• Number of Basketball (Division 1) Championship Wins
• Number of College Basketball (Division 1) Conference Regular Season Championship Wins
• Number of Hall of Fame Head Coaches
• Minimum Season Ticket Price for a College Basketball (Division 1) Game
• College-Basketball Fans Engagement
• Number of Coaches in Past 10 Seasons
• College-Basketball Stadium Capacity

Champaign earned the best rank for the state at No. 40.

Here they are:

40: Champaign: Overall score = 31.62

52: Chicago: Overall score = 29.98

53: Carbondale: Overall score = 28.42

100: Normal: Overall score: 26.24

When it comes to ranking cities by their size regarding college basketball fun, Chicago was ranked No. 12 for large cities, and for small cities you'll see Champaign sitting at No. 23, Carbondale ranked 39th, and Normal ranked 61st.

However, WalletHub did note that the Villanova Wildcats have the highest current winning percentage among college basketball teams, 88.80 percent which is 6.6 times higher than the Chicago State Cougars, the team with the lowest at 13.54 percent.

>> March Madness Stats & Facts infographic

In a similar recent WalletHub report, 2018’s Best & Worst Cities for Basketball Fans, Chicago was ranked No. 8, with two other Illinois cities in the top 60. Several other Illinois cities didn't do so well in the rankings, so we'll let you check those out when you're ready.

8: Chicago, IL
Total score: 41.35
NBA Rank: 9
NCAA Rank: 111

55: Champaign, IL
Total score: 16.03
NBA Rank: 28
NCAA Rank: 34

60: Rosemont, IL
Total score: 15.11
NBA Rank: 28
NCAA Rank: 40

The first four games of March Madness take place Tuesday and Wednesday, March 19 and 20, before the first and second rounds take off.

>> More details via WalletHub