long time guy wrote:
One Post wrote:
Ray Meyer and the DePaul final four team is the peak of both Chicago college basketball, and possibly the peak of urban school college basketball.
To the latter point maybe the 3 final 4 Big East teams, but the end of DePaul was the harbinger of the end of urban school powerhouses in college basketball.
I thought that also but then Villanova came along to spoil the theory.
40 years ago the following schools were CBB powerhouses: Houston, DePaul, Marquette, St. John’s, Memphis, Temple, probably another urban school or two that I am forgetting. Exactly none of those teams is relevant now, although Calapari had Memphis humming a few years ago.
Sure Nova is rocking like Memphis was a decade ago, but the fact that one urban team is enjoying success doesn’t negate the general fact that CBB power has transitioned from urban schools to essentially power 5 state flagship schools.
The reasoning behind the decline in the city schools is easy to track. You can pin it all on one thing, ESPN. Before ESPN if you wanted your friends and family to see you play you had to go to a school close to your home and since most bball players come from urban areas it made sense that there were so many great city schools around the country. Once ESPN showed off and college ball took off that barrier was erased. You can now go to basically any major conferenc school in the country and get a guarantee that 90% of your games will be on some form of national television. Chicago kids no longer are stuck with DePaul, New York kids don't need St. Johns etc etc.
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