Kentucky Leads Nation In Fan Attendance Once Again

For the 16th time in 17 seasons, Kentucky is king of the college basketball world in terms of attendance.

The numbers released by the NCAA on Thursday show that the Wildcats drew an average of 23,721 fans per home game, bettering Syracuse’s mark of 23,618 by 103. UK also set the single-season record for overall fan attendance as 885,953 fans saw the eventual national champions play at home during the 2011-12 season.

The nation’s top ten teams in terms of attendance were as follows:

1. Kentucky (23, 721)
2. Syracuse (23,618)
3. Louisville (21,503)
4. North Carolina (20,159)
5. Wisconsin (17,181)
6. Creighton (16,665)
7. Tennessee (16,543)
8. Ohio State (16,511)
9. Indiana (16,462)
10. Kansas (16,445)

Some more notable statistics complied by Yahoo’s Jeff Eisenberg:

• Lowest per game attendance: 1. Chicago State (429), 2. NJIT (461) 3. Colgate (545)

• Highest per-game attendance among non-BCS-conference schools: 1. Creighton (16,665), 2. Memphis (16,234), 3. BYU (15,224)

• Lowest per-game attendance among BCS-conference schools: 1. South Florida (3,849), 2. Miami (3,936), 3. USC (3,970)

• Highest per-game attendance among non-Division I schools: 1. Northern State (3,382), 2. Hope (3,259), 3. Midwestern State (3,094)

• Largest average attendance increase from last year: 1. Creighton (+3,157), 2. Mississippi State (+2,309), 3. Temple (+2,239)

• Best average attendance per conference: 1. Big Ten (12,868), 2. Southeastern (11,513), 3. Big 12 (11,057)

For shame, Chicago State.

Overall, attendance for college basketball throughout the NCAA’s three divisions was the fifth-highest ever, and was just two percent shy of the record set in 2008.