Chapel Hill rated best town for college hoops fans

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Chapel Hill, N.C., is the best city for college hoops fans, according to a new survey from WalletHub, while Columbia ranks 62nd.

WalletHub compared the 289 U.S. cities with at least one Division I team using nine metrics: number of teams; performance level (calculated by dividing number of wins by total games played using the past three seasons’ averages); number of championships; number of regular-season wins; number of Hall of Fame head coaches; minimum college basketball season ticket price; fan engagement (measured by number of Twitter followers and Facebook likes per capita); number of coaches in the past 10 seasons; and arena capacity.

Cities were also ranked based on population size: large (more than 300,000 people); midsize (100,000 to 300,000); and small (fewer than 100,000).

Chapel Hill, while posting the highest metric score overall, also topped the small city category. Durham, N.C., was the top midsize city, a category in which Columbia, home to the University of South Carolina, ranked 14th. Charleston, home of the College of Charleston and The Citadel, ranked 32nd among midsize cities and 141st overall.

Spartanburg, site of D-I schools Wofford and USC Upstate, ranked 19th among small cities and 31st overall. Orangeburg, home of S.C. State University, ranked 32nd among small cities and 58th overall. Clemson ranked 43rd among small cities and 79th overall.

Among other S.C. cities, North Charleston, home to Charleston Southern, ranked 56th among midsize cities and 210th overall. Rock Hill, home of Winthrop, came in 59th among small cities and 107th overall, while Conway, home to Coastal Carolina, ranked 61st among small cities and 109th overall. Greenville, home to Furman, rated 103rd amid small cities and 196th overall.

Clinton, of the Presbyterian College Blue Hose, ranked 155th among small cities and 287th overall.

Columbia is home to the reigning national champion women’s basketball team, leading the country in attendance for the fourth straight year with 13,596 fans per game and coming off its fourth consecutive Southeastern Conference tournament title. The Gamecock men made their first Final Four trip in school history last season.

Los Angeles, which boasts the most national championships with 11, topped the large city category.