When you think of elite college basketball, one city comes to mind: East Lansing.
For decades, Tom Izzo has led the Michigan State basketball program to unprecedented success, winning 10 Big Ten titles and six Big Ten Tournament titles, making eight Final Fours, and winning the 2000 National Championship.
Long story short, East Lansing has been home to some elite talent and teams.
For years before Mark Dantonio took over the football program, Michigan State was known as a "basketball school" and the phrase "wait until basketball season" was often muttered by fans during letdown football seasons. Dantonio did change that narrative, but with the Spartans falling back on some hard times on the field, Izzo's program has been forced to step up.
And it has as the Spartans are 18-2 on the season and 9-0 in conference play.
East Lansing is rocking again and there's arguably no place better in the world during March Madness, especially when the Spartans are on a deep run. The weather warms up, the birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and Michigan State basketball is playing its best basketball of the season.
Just how special is East Lansing as a college basketball town? Well, according to WalletHub, it's the seventh-best college basketball city in America.
WalletHub says it used a formula that combined nine key metrics ranging from number of teams per city and winning percentage of each to stadium capacity and social media management. After crunching the numbers, Michigan State came in at No. 7 in the country and No. 2 in the Big Ten behind only Los Angeles.
Why is Los Angeles No. 1? Both USC and UCLA have winning records this season and they have huge fanbases. While neither is a world-beater on the court, they get the advantage here for having multiple teams.
UConn, Duke, Kentucky, and Kansas are all on the list as their campuses are included right ahead of East Lansing while Michigan State is just ahead of North Carolina.
If anything, I'd argue East Lansing should be a tad higher on the "best college basketball cities" list.