NCAA Basketball Attendance Week 12: The Best and Worst

Numbers are down big this week, likely due to a major snowstorm that enveloped the east coast. That being said, this week has a first. A team making the list twice in the bottom 3 in attendance! This is almost as good as the US sweeping the podium at the Olympics. Almost.

First off, a sum of all the games with low attendance this week:

Number of games drawing fewer than 1,000 fans: 33

The top 3?

3. Bryant vs St. Francis (PA) – This game took place on Thursday night in Smithfield, RI, before the snow was coming down. Even still, the threat of the big snowstorm limited the crowd to a mere 365, with the rest presumably raiding their supermarket’s bread and milk aisles.  Here’s an action shot:

Unlike most low attendance numbers, this 365 looks fairly realistic, as you can see quite a few people in the crowd.  Those 365 were still sent home disappointed, however, after St. Francis (of Pennsylvania) took the game 71-65.

2. Drexel vs UNC-Wilmington – Meanwhile in Philly, this game was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, but was postponed due to weather. After the postponement, 332 people still managed to dig themselves out to see this one. The Dragons, who sit near the bottom of the Colonial Athletic Association’s standings, have nothing impressive to offer their fans this year, being only 3-16 (1-7 in the CAA), and Sunday was no different as the Seahawks of UNC-Wilmington scored 77 to Drexel’s 71.

1. Bryant vs Robert Morris – And finally, our big winner and second appearance in the top 3 this week, as 323 came out during the snowstorm to see the middling Bryant Bulldogs take on the Robert Morris Colonials. In what is turning out to be a tight NEC this year, this game could’ve put Bryant in the catbird seat for the conference title, but the Bulldogs fell short of Robert Morris by a score of 65-54.  The good news for Bryant? They’re playing the worst team in Division 1 next week: Central Connecticut State.

Here’s the miscellany for the week:

Biggest group of people to see a loss at home this week: NC State (vs Duke) 19,500.

Smallest group of people to see a win at home this week: Fairleigh-Dickinson (vs LIU-Brooklyn), 379.

Smallest Power Conference attendance: Boston College (vs Miami (FL)), 3,286.

Smalled Power Conference attendance at a home win: Washington (vs Colorado), 6,325.

Average attendance this week: 4,729 (down 1,165 (19.8%) over last week)

And as always, your full attendance numbers for the week: