NCAA Basketball Attendance, Conference Championship Week: Still Three Below 1000!

Conference tournaments wrapped up this week, and with it our weekly column comes to a wrap. Next week we’ll have a review of the full season, but there was still some great #content this week. Despite many of the smaller conferences, including AMSTS’ arch-enemy Conference USA not reporting attendance, some of the lower attended games were not reported. We won’t let that stop us from having a bottom three, so let’s get right to it:

Number of games drawing fewer than 1,000 fans: 3 (Season total: 727)

Here are the 3 lowest attended games of last week:

Northern Colorado vs Northern Arizona– In the first round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament, the 5th seeded Bears hosted the 12th seeded Lumberjacks with only 986 in attendance at the Reno Events Center. Even with being heavy favorites in the first round, few showed up to see the team advance by a margin of 82-59. Northern Colorado went all the way to the semi-finals where they took the eventual champion Montana Grizzlies to overtime. Your action-dunk shot:
Don't jump! ? #SCtop10 (via @unco_mbb) pic.twitter.com/N1vK1Ydc2I
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 7, 2018

Lamar vs Central Arkansas – The first round of the Southland saw the Cardinals of Lamar face off against the Sugar Bears of Central Arkansas. With 970 in Katy, Texas to watch the game, the 7th seeded UCA took the 67-57 victory to advance before being eliminated in the next round by eventual champions Stephen F. Austin. An action shot:

Western Michigan vs Akron – And at the bottom spot this week, an opening round matchup in the MAC Conference Tournament. Western Michigan hosted Akron in front of only 897 of their home fans. Those who weren’t in attendance were the big winners as the Broncos got sent home with the L in a nailbiter, 79-78. Akron went on to lose in the next round to Eastern Michigan.

So now, what happened to everyone else? Let’s go ahead with the miscellany:

Smallest Power 5 Conference attendance: Stanford (vs Cal), 8,619.

Average attendance this week: 8,160 (of those that reported… that would be up 2,691 [49.2%] from last week)

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

Date	Conference	Home Team	Home Score	Away Team	Away Score	Attendance	Venue	Capacity	% Full
3/5/2018	MAC	W Michigan	78	Akron	79	897	University Arena (MI)	5421	16.5%
3/7/2018	Southland	Lamar	57	Cent Arkansas	67	970	Leonard E. Merrell Center	7200	13.5%
3/6/2018	Big Sky	N Colorado	82	N Arizona	59	986	Reno Events Center	7000	14.1%
3/8/2018	Big Sky	Weber State	55	N Colorado	80	1110	Reno Events Center	7000	15.9%
3/9/2018	SWAC	AR-Pine Bluff	71	Southern	65	1325	DELMAR FIELDHOUSE	5400	24.5%
3/10/2018	Big Sky	Montana	82	E Washington	65	1378	Reno Events Center	7000	19.7%
3/9/2018	Sun Belt	Ga Southern	63	UL Monroe	55	1462	Lakefront Arena	10000	14.6%
3/8/2018	Western Athletic	Grand Canyon	77	UMKC	74	1508	Orleans Arena	7471	20.2%
3/8/2018	Western Athletic	Utah Valley	81	CSU Bakersfield	74	1508	Orleans Arena	7471	20.2%
3/5/2018	MAC	Miami (OH)	68	Ohio	55	1752	Millett Hall	6400	27.4%
3/8/2018	Southland	SF Austin	86	Cent Arkansas	64	1839	Leonard E. Merrell Center	7200	25.5%
3/5/2018	MAC	Cent Michigan	81	Bowling Green	77	1910	McGuirk Arena	5300	36.0%
3/10/2018	SWAC	AR-Pine Bluff	69	Texas Southern	84	1933	DELMAR FIELDHOUSE	5400	35.8%
3/8/2018	MAC	Ball State	73	Kent State	76	2023	Quicken Loans Arena	20562	9.8%
3/5/2018	MAC	Kent State	61	N Illinois	59	2024	MAC Center	6327	32.0%
3/6/2018	America East	UMBC	75	Hartford	60	2234	RAC Arena	4024	55.5%
3/6/2018	Northeast	Wagner	61	LIU Brooklyn	71	2330	Spiro Sports Center	2100	111.0%
3/6/2018	SWAC	Texas Southern	90	Alabama State	76	2481	H&PE Arena	8100	30.6%
3/9/2018	Southland	Nicholls	66	SF Austin	78	2545	Leonard E. Merrell Center	7200	35.3%
3/8/2018	MAC	E Michigan	67	Akron	58	2605	Quicken Loans Arena	20562	12.7%
3/6/2018	America East	Vermont	70	Stony Brook	51	3266	Patrick Gymnasium	3228	101.2%
3/10/2018	America East	Vermont	62	UMBC	65	3266	Patrick Gymnasium	3228	101.2%
3/10/2018	Southland	SE Louisiana	55	SF Austin	59	3279	Leonard E. Merrell Center	7200	45.5%
3/5/2018	MAAC	Iona	83	Fairfield	71	3329	Times Union Center	15229	21.9%
3/7/2018	Patriot League	Bucknell	83	Colgate	54	3946	Sojka Pavilion	4000	98.7%
3/5/2018	Colonial Athletic	Northeastern	79	UNC Wilmington	52	4099	North Charleston Coliseum	11475	35.7%
3/9/2018	MAC	Toledo	64	E Michigan	63	4625	Quicken Loans Arena	20562	22.5%
3/7/2018	Mountain West	Wyoming	74	San Jose State	61	4994	Thomas & Mack Center	18776	26.6%
3/6/2018	SWAC	AR-Pine Bluff	77	Miss Valley St	73	5305	H. O. Clemmons Arena	4500	117.9%
3/7/2018	Atlantic 10	G Washington	78	Fordham	72	5333	Capital One Arena	20356	26.2%
3/10/2018	MAC	Buffalo	76	Toledo	66	5633	Quicken Loans Arena	20562	27.4%
3/8/2018	Atlantic 10	George Mason	80	UMass	75	6483	Capital One Arena	20356	31.8%
3/8/2018	Atlantic 10	Saint Louis	70	G Washington	63	6514	Capital One Arena	20356	32.0%
3/8/2018	Mountain West	Fresno State	52	San Diego State	64	6753	Thomas & Mack Center	18776	36.0%
3/9/2018	Atlantic 10	Saint Joe’s	68	George Mason	49	7321	Capital One Arena	20356	36.0%
3/7/2018	MEAC	Bethune-Cookman	77	Morgan State	78	7523	Norfolk Scope Arena	11000	68.4%
3/6/2018	Horizon League	Wright State	74	Cleveland State	57	7595	Little Caesars Arena	20491	37.1%
3/9/2018	Atlantic 10	Davidson	78	Saint Louis	60	7664	Capital One Arena	20356	37.6%
3/8/2018	The American	Memphis	79	USF	77	7856	Amway Center	20000	39.3%
3/6/2018	Colonial Athletic	Charleston	83	Northeastern	76	7945	North Charleston Coliseum	11475	69.2%
3/6/2018	West Coast	Gonzaga	74	BYU	54	8030	Orleans Arena	7471	107.5%
3/10/2018	Mountain West	New Mexico	75	San Diego State	82	8456	Thomas & Mack Center	18776	45.0%
3/9/2018	The American	Tulsa	64	Memphis	67	8491	Amway Center	20000	42.5%
3/7/2018	Pac 12	Stanford	76	Cal	58	8619	T-Mobile Arena	18000	47.9%
3/10/2018	The American	Wichita State	74	Houston	77	8644	Amway Center	20000	43.2%
3/10/2018	Atlantic 10	St Bonaventure	70	Davidson	82	8756	Capital One Arena	20356	43.0%
3/8/2018	MEAC	NC A&T	70	Norfolk State	64	9010	Norfolk Scope Arena	11000	81.9%
3/6/2018	ACC	Syracuse	73	Wake Forest	64	10612	Barclays Center	17732	59.8%
3/6/2018	Summit League	South Dakota St	97	South Dakota	87	11114	Denny Sanford Premier Center	12000	92.6%
3/8/2018	SEC	Missouri	60	Georgia	62	15129	Scottrade Center	22000	68.8%
3/8/2018	Pac 12	UCLA	88	Stanford	77	15182	T-Mobile Arena	18000	84.3%
3/9/2018	SEC	Kentucky	62	Georgia	49	16364	Scottrade Center	22000	74.4%
3/7/2018	Big East	Georgetown	77	St John’s	88	16866	Madison Square Garden	19812	85.1%
3/8/2018	Big East	Creighton	68	Providence	72	17647	Madison Square Garden	19812	89.1%
3/10/2018	Big 12	Kansas	81	West Virginia	70	17718	Sprint Center	18972	93.4%
3/7/2018	ACC	NC State	87	Boston College	91	17732	Barclays Center	17732	100.0%
3/7/2018	ACC	Virginia Tech	65	Notre Dame	71	17732	Barclays Center	17732	100.0%
3/8/2018	ACC	UVA	75	Louisville	58	17732	Barclays Center	17732	100.0%
3/8/2018	ACC	Clemson	90	Boston College	82	17732	Barclays Center	17732	100.0%
3/8/2018	ACC	Duke	88	Notre Dame	70	17732	Barclays Center	17732	100.0%
3/8/2018	ACC	Miami	65	UNC	82	17732	Barclays Center	17732	100.0%
3/7/2018	Big 12	Texas	68	Iowa State	64	17752	Sprint Center	18972	93.6%
3/8/2018	Big 12	Kansas	82	Oklahoma State	68	17903	Sprint Center	18972	94.4%
3/10/2018	ACC	UVA	71	UNC	63	18157	Barclays Center	17732	102.4%
3/10/2018	SEC	Tennessee	84	Arkansas	66	18729	Scottrade Center	22000	85.1%
3/8/2018	Big East	Villanova	94	Marquette	70	19812	Madison Square Garden	19812	100.0%
3/10/2018	Big East	Villanova	76	Providence	66	19812	Madison Square Garden	19812	100.0%