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Interesting that some states are not on the list. This makes sense, because college sports are not very big in some states. After growing up in the Boston area, where college sports are generally not followed with fanatical enthusiasm (and I notice MA is not on the list), I went to college in Ohio, and found that the widespread, rabid following of OSU's football team took some getting used to. It was just kind of different from what I was used to for the general population to be so crazy over a college team.
I was actually going to put in Boston College, but know that I think about it, all of New England doesn't seem to be big on college sports.
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I notice you said that some states are left off because it's so obvious that there's no need to bother listing them. That explains the absence of Nebraska, but I wonder then why OK, TX, MS, and AL weren't left off for the same reason. The same with PA.
I'll admit, Mississippi and Penn may be no brainers... but.... the other three states have MAJOR interstate rivalries. I've already mentioned Oklahoma before the list...
Alabama is a bigtime rival with Auburn. People have probably been kicked out of the family for going to the wrong school there.
As for Texas...... UT, A&M, and Tech! Ask someone in southeast Texas which one out of the three they root for (A&M). Or west Texas (Tech). The Longhorns represent the whole state for their dominance in athletics, but this is one of the biggest football states in the country, with 10 Div. I-A schools, it's a major honor for the Horns to be #1 (on MY list)
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Suggestions for other possibilities in a couple of states: In California, both USC and UCLA have some serious history. If you look at the very recent history of USC's football team, your selection of USC makes sense, but looking at the whole history . . . either a tossup, or I'd be inclined to go with UCLA because of the basketball program's lofty place in the history of college sports. Can you say, John Wooden? Walton? Abdul-Jabbar? And, speaking of basketball, I'd go with KU in Kansas. How many hoops national titles have the Jayhawks won? How many final-four appearances? Not to mention that one of their first coaches (their first coach?) was the guy who INVENTED basketball. Given that neither school has been huge in football in a long, long, long time, if ever, or really great in any other sport that comes to mind right away (though KU was a track power back when--'40's? '50's?), I'd say basketball, er, TIPS the balance in favor of KU.
Cali and Kansas were sort of a toss up. As a matter of fact, there were at least 4 toss ups on this list.
If you think the Louisville Cardinals are the #1 team in Kentucky you must be out of your mind... No offense, just saying. The UK faithful follow their team everywhere, if the team goes to Maui for the invitational the fans go to Maui. In Lexington and many other cities around the area shops close down when UK is on. It's an electric place to be, especially with UK football on the uprise.
National championships: NC 4, Duke 3. Final Four Appearances: NC 16, Duke 14. Aggregate NCAA tournament winning percentage: Duke .752 (first all-time), NC .708 (third). Pretty close. Given the fact that neither has been a power in nearly any other sport in almost more years than anyone can count, you base this mostly on hoops, and the stats show it's very close. Um, of course I did say NEARLY any other sport. All that ugliness surrounding the Duke lacrosse situation might have called some attention to the fact that Duke has a big-time tradition in that sport. Okay, it's not a huge sport nationally--more of an elite east coast kind of thing--but hoops is so close that an advantage for either school in any sport sort of tips the balance a little bit in their favor. Duke wins.
I based my statement not only by stats and numbers as you mentioned above, but also on appeal to average North Carolinians. True or not, generally speaking, in NC, Duke is associated with a lot of previliged, rich, out of state kids who couldn't get into an Ivy League school who don't stick around in NC after they graduate. Also their Basketball program didn't really peak until Coach K got there.
Also, don't forget about NC Soccer especially Women's soccer. A large percentage of the US national team comes from UNC including Mia Hamm who has retired now but was the face of US soccer.
So, UNC wins over Duke, not just by numbers and stats but also by general appeal to average local folks. This is the best rivalry in college sports in my opinion by the way!
Okay, I got this info from wikipedia. I don't know how accurate this is, but what's on there is on here.
Anyway, when I look at this, to me it's a toss up, but hey, I've never been to Kentucky. But when I worked at Subway, I worked with someone from Louisville... so I guess that had something to do with my choice.....
New York/New Jersey is Rutgers now. Kansas basketball is much bigger than Kansas State football. Everybody in Kentucky will forget about Louisville if Kentucky can have a huge football season. And the way Notre Dame is playing, they won't be the favorites for long.
The Director's Cup is awarded each year to the college athletic program with the most points, based on a scoring system that gives points for championships, runners-up, top 25 finishes, etc. in 20 men's and women's sports. Essentially it honors the most successful college athletic program, so you can see which schools in which states are most successful.
The Director's Cup is awarded each year to the college athletic program with the most points, based on a scoring system that gives points for championships, runners-up, top 25 finishes, etc. in 20 men's and women's sports. Essentially it honors the most successful college athletic program, so you can see which schools in which states are most successful.
I almost had a heart failure upon reading this......I dont know that Michael Jordan Dude, JJ Reddick, Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse, Grant Hill, Trageon Langdon, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, Corey Magette, Luol Deng......as you can see I am more of a Duke gal......
Also as far as Arizona I would go with the Wildcats any day
Look at your Duke list of players above and tell me, what have they done? Absolutely nothing, I never even heard Reddick's name all of last year. Can you name one NFL player from Duke? UNC may stink at Football but atleast we do have some great players in the NFL, Ron Curry, Julias peppers, Ektaban, Jeff Saturday, David Thornton, D. Bly, Willie Parker, etc... Like it or not, in NC, UNC>Duke.
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