Submitted by SnoopRion69 t3_y1qgpu in philadelphia

I just moved from North Carolina, so I'm a huge Tar Heels fan who doesn't want to root for Villanova for reasons I won't talk about!

I'd love to adopt one of three of the big five (honestly Penn and is out too) and get loud at the Palestra. How do I get into Philadelphia college ball and who should I root for? Once again, Villanova is OUT

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JKBFree t1_iryyea2 wrote

Temple.

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SnoopRion69 OP t1_irz08jn wrote

How do I get into Temple? Are there Temple locals?

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tastycakebiker t1_irz4x9a wrote

Enormous alumni base in Philly, being Phillys largest school. Although outside of a handful of alumns and hardcore fans, the city kinda ignores temple unless they’re making big headlines

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ventnorphan t1_irzpm1d wrote

Go to games at all of them, plus Drexel, that'll tell you which you like most. Since Villanova is out, the tickets for any of the other five schools will be really inexpensive.

You also don't have to choose one. There are plenty of people who root for all of the local schools, it's not like a Duke/Carolina thing. If anybody gets to the Sweet 16, the whole city gets on their bandwagon.

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aintjoan t1_irz0taj wrote

Pick one of the five, and then cheer for Drexel too, because it's fun (that's who gets added to make up the "city six").

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NoREEEEEEtilBrooklyn t1_is106i2 wrote

St. Joes or Temple. Temple is my personal flavor, but St. Joes has a much better mascot and their arena is much more fun to watch a game at. Temple has cheaper seats and probably a better team this year. Temple is also way easier to get to.

Penn is also an option, but the atmosphere at the Palestra has been ass for years unfortunately.

If you truly want a shit experience, go to Drexel or LaSalle games. That’s a ball of sadness.

My best advice I guess is to go to a game at each stadium to see who you like. Experiment a little.

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zpepsin t1_is0o6eh wrote

There's a doubleheader at the Palestra this year. Games there are awesome. Drexel also plays Penn this year (closest stadiums in NCAA sports). They used to play every year but had a little spat because Drexel wanted to alternate stadiums, but Penn wanted it permanently at the Palestra. St. Joe's games aren't bad either. Haven't been to Gola and it's been a while since I got to Liacouras. The Dac and Hogan feel like glorified high school gyms but they have a charm like that. Whenever it's a Big 5/City 6 game it's always a great time.

Recruiting is also interesting in Philly. With some of the best high school prospects in the country, Villanova gets first dibs, but they're so good they might only want one or two top ones. The next best locals usually will pick Temple. St. Joe's/La Salle are the next picks based purely on basketball. Penn gets to wave around shiny ivy league degrees, so a completely different but every once in a while effective recruiting tool. Drexel gets the short end of the stick, since they're behind Penn in education, and also middle of the pack skill wise (they haven't been consistent bracket buster territory since 2013). So Drexel has to go national/international, however they did just get a solid local 2023 pickup I believe.

You don't even really have to adopt a team. I used to live next to the Palestra and would go to watch whoever was playing. It's a blast.

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Trafficsigntruther t1_is25j6j wrote

> I'm a huge Tar Heels fan who doesn't want to root for Villanova for reasons I won't talk about!

That 3 was a dagger.

I’ll add that if you are used to watching ACC play, watching Big 5 is like watching high school basketball.

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Mister-Knowledge t1_isot5q6 wrote

I’m not saying that they are twins or related but UNC’s recruit Simeon Wilcher looks a lot like Caleb Love.

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TheOGinBC t1_is2qzn6 wrote

Get fucked. Go Cats

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