Ranking of Favorite Teams- College Basketball
Posted by deaconcat08 on February 9, 2010
While at a Super Bowl Party last night wearning a Saints t-shirt and Mardi Gras beads, I was asked by a fellow guest if I was a Saints fan or if I was just cheering for them tonight. I responded that because of my love for the city as well as great underdog stories, they were definitely my third favorite team in the league. The guest then laughed and said “Third favorite? Do you have a ranking of all the teams?”. I actually don’t have such a list, but after thinking about it for a minute, I decided that I definitely should. Such a list would prevent me from “bandwagon jumping” and overstating my fanhood for certain teams in the midst of good seasons. It should be noted, however, that any rankings of this nature are subject to change depending on a team’s acquisition and disposal of certain players and coaches, as well as for any Cinderella and underdog storylines that emerge. Based on these considerations, I will now publish my favoritism rankings for all NFL, NHL, college basketball, and college football teams (yes, the college rankings def. change depending on the sport). The reason there is no NBA or MLB rankings is that I don’t have a favorite team in either sport, and you can’t exactly make a list if there is nothing to put at the top. Also, I’d like challenge other fans to make similar lists, as they will likely help you better understand yourself as a sports fan and why you gravitate to certain types of teams. Furthermore, these rankings will hopefully help you understand any fan bias that unintentionally comes out in my columns.
While compiling my college basketball list, I realized that with over 300 different teams in Division 1 it would be impossible to differentiate all of them. I mean does anyone without a special connection have a preference between Eastern Washington and Quinnipiac? Because of this, I decided just to list my favorite team and least favorite team from each of the conferences. Here are the results:
America East- Favorite: Maine, Least Favorite: Binghamton
Atlantic 10- Favorite: Charlotte, Least Favorite: UMass
ACC- Favorite: Wake Forest, Least Favorite: Duke (it disgusts me just to type that 4-letter word)
Atlantic Sun- Favorite: USC Upstate, Least Favorite: East Tennessee State
Big 12- Favorite: Texas Tech, Least Favorite: Kansas
Big East- Favorite: South Florida, Least Favorite: West Virginia
Big Sky- Favorite: Northern Arizona, Least Favorite: Weber State
Big South- Favorite: High Point, Least Favorite: Radford
Big Ten- Favorite: Northwestern, Least Favorite: Michigan State
Big West- Favorite: UC Irvine, Least Favorite: Pacific
Colonial- Favorite: Drexel, Least Favorite: Georgia State
C-USA- Favorite: UTEP, Least Favorite: Memphis
Independents- Favorite: Winston-Salem State, Least Favorite: SIU-Edwardsville
Great West- Favorite: North Dakota, Least Favorite: Chicago State
Horizon- Favorite: Youngstown State, Least Favorite: Cleveland State
Ivy- Favorite: Princeton, Least Favorite: Dartmouth
Metro Atlantic- Favorite: Rider, Least Favorite: Manhattan
MAC- Favorite: Buffalo, Least Favorite: Miami-OH
MEAC- Favorite: North Carolina A&T, Least Favorite: Morgan State
Missouri Valley- Favorite: Evansville, Least Favorite: Missouri State
Mountain West- Favorite: UNLV, Least Favorite: Utah
Northeast- Favorite: Mount St. Mary’s, Least Favorite: Monmouth
Ohio Valley- Favorite: Jacksonville State, Least Favorite: Austin Peay
Pac-10- Favorite: Arizona State, Least Favorite: UCLA
Patriot- Favorite: Army, Least Favorite: Holy Cross
SEC- Favorite: Kentucky, Least Favorite: Tennessee
Southern- Favorite: Elon, Least Favorite: Chattanooga
Southland- Favorite: Texas-San Antonio, Least Favorite: McNeese State
SWAC- Favorite: Prairie View, Least Favorite: Grambling State
Summit- Favorite: Centenary, Least Favorite: Oakland
Sun Belt- Favorite: Western Kentucky, Least Favorite: Arkansas-Little Rock
West Coast- Favorite: Portland, Least Favorite: Saint Mary’s
WAC- Favorite: Idaho, Least Favorite: Fresno State
Also, keep in mind that as the ultimate sports sentimentalist, so I love the mid-major conferences. Therefore, I will still probably be cheering for my least favorite teams from some of the little conferences if they go dancing in March.