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.