Ranked in Rifle and Basketball

West Virginia Mountaineer mascot Jonathan Kimble is known to basketball fans for firing gunpowder from his musket during West Virginia home games. But he is also known for continuing the Mountaineer mascot tradition of hunting with the same musket. While both Ohio State and NC State have nationally-ranked basketball and rifle teams, there may be no bigger difference in the cultures behind the two sports that show the divide in the current debate over the 2nd Amendment.

The country was founded when the founding fathers overthrew a British government with arms, and they enshrined that right in the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, with Thomas Jefferson even suggesting it was something that needed to be done fairly regularly or the government would grow too powerful.

However, the rural culture that has developed over the 237 years since also relied on the gun as the basic protection of the family from intruders and predators, and the only way to add protein to the family’s diet. Even today, rural residents often do not have the luxury of immediately available police protection, as it can take some time for the sheriff to get to areas of the county.

As American cities grew over time, the urban culture that was so well presented in the movie classic Hoop Dreams did not have any access to hunting or open fields. In the limited space available, the culture often centered around hoops put up on small areas of asphalt basketball courts.

With the suburbs in the middle, the current debate over protection of the 2nd amendment is to some degree a clash of those two cultures. Perhaps the best chance for an understanding of the 2nd amendment may start in places that have access to both cultures. While NC State and Ohio State are the only two universities with ranked teams in both rifle and basketball right now, Memphis, Murray State, Kentucky and West Virginia have had powerhouse programs in the past. The following are the current rankings in both sports as each heads toward their national championships in March:

Rnk	AP Basketball Rankings	NCAA Rifle Team Rankings
1	Louisville	West Virginia
2	Indiana	TCU
3	Duke	Kentucky
4	Kansas	Alaska-Fairbanks
5	Michigan	Jacksonville State
6	Syracuse	Army
7	Arizona	Nebraska
8	Gonzaga	Murray State
9	Minnesota	Air Force
10	Florida	Memphis
11	Ohio State	Mississippi
12	Creighton	Nevada
13	Butler	Navy
14	NC State	NC State
15	San Diego State	Ohio State
16	Kansas State	Tennessee-Martin
17	Missouri	Akron
18	Michigan State	Columbus State
19	New Mexico	Morehead State
20	Notre Dame	UTEP
21	Oregon
22	VCU
23	Illinois
24	UCLA
25	Marquette