Week 4 NCAA Basketball Attendance: Neutral Site Attendance Hell

Thanksgiving week means a week full of bad ideas. Overeating, taking an accidental four-hour nap on the couch in front of your extended family, discussing politics at the Thanksgiving Day table. But all those ideas are better than one other idea that a lot of college basketball ADs have: Thanksgiving week neutral site tournaments for small conference teams. Always a bad idea, if attendance is any indicator Let’s take a look:

Number of games drawing fewer than 1,000 fans: 39 (Season total: 128)

Here are the 3 lowest attended games of last week:

3. Prairie View A&M vs Lamar – A true home game and the lowest attended on-campus game of the week, Prairie View hosted Lamar in front of 183 folks, eventually losing 91-83. That 183 number seems to be generous, though, when you look at the crowd shot (I see four fans):

Image courtesy PVPanthers.com

2. Bethune-Cookman vs Nicholls State – A neutral site game, hosted by renowned basketball powerhouse Samford, on Black Friday. No surprise that only 167 showed up to see Nicholls State edge out Bethune-Cookman 76-69. Of course, if you were to ask Nicholls, they were apparently playing in a much more packed house…. Also against McNeese State. A screenshot of their game recap:

nicholls-vs-bethune-cookman

1. Binghamton vs LBSU – Hosted by Dunk City, Florida Gulf Coast University, a Thanksgiving Day game with two teams from some of the farthest geography away from Florida? What could possibly go wrong. A mere 108 people showed up to see Binghamton come back for the upset, and judging from the Twittersphere, that number seems to be overstated:

J.C. Show and Binghamton beat Long Beach St. on a neutral floor seen by a dozen people in stands, but big win for Bearcats. Baby steps.
— Ray Curren (@currenrr) November 25, 2016

With only 108 in attendance, that becomes the third least attended college basketball game of the season. With Thanksgiving week typically being one of the lowest attended of the year, we may be through the thick of it, at least until Christmas and New Years.

So now, as always, the miscellany:

Biggest group of people to see a loss at home this week: BYU (vs Utah Valley) 16,003.

Smallest group of people to see a win at home this week (including neutral sites): Binghamton (vs LBSU), 108.

Smallest group of people to see a win at home this week (on campus): Southern Utah (vs Life Pacific), 350.

Smallest Power Conference attendance (including neutral sites): LSU (vs Old Dominion), 1,060.

Smallest Power Conference attendance (on campus): Washington State (vs San Jose State), 2,308.

Average attendance this week: 3,347 (down 1,520 [33.8%] since 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
11/24/2016	America East	Binghamton	72	LBSU	64	102	Alico Arena	4500	2.3%
11/25/2016	MEAC	Bethune-Cookman	69	Nicholls	76	167	Pete Hanna Center	4974	3.4%
11/25/2016	SWAC	PV A&M	83	Lamar	91	183	William Nicks Building	6500	2.8%
11/26/2016	SWAC	Grambling St	110	Savannah State	104	200	The Arena at Northwest FL St	2200	9.1%
11/26/2016	Western Athletic	UT Rio Grande	71	St Francis (BKN)	61	200	The Arena at Northwest FL St	2200	9.1%
11/25/2016	MEAC	Norfolk State	59	Sacred Heart	61	223	Orleans Arena	7471	3.0%
11/26/2016	Big Sky	N Arizona	63	Jacksonville St	76	244	Thomas & Mack Center	18776	1.3%
11/25/2016	Northeast	Robert Morris	62	Hampton	48	250	SECU Arena	5250	4.8%
11/27/2016	Big West	UC Irvine	66	ETSU	72	291	Sanford Pentagon	3250	9.0%
11/26/2016	West Coast	San Francisco	77	Sacramento St	59	300	Reese Court	6000	5.0%
11/27/2016	Big Sky	Sacramento St	61	Denver	72	300	Reese Court	6000	5.0%
11/25/2016	Northeast	St Francis (BKN)	97	Savannah State	91	320	The Arena at Northwest FL St	2200	14.5%
11/26/2016	Big Sky	Southern Utah	101	Life Pacific	56	350	Centrum Arena	5300	6.6%
11/28/2016	SWAC	Grambling St	102	Jarvis Christian	56	373	Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center	7500	5.0%
11/26/2016	Big West	UC Irvine	37	Milwaukee	54	379	Sanford Pentagon	3250	11.7%
11/25/2016	Western Athletic	UT Rio Grande	101	Grambling St	93	380	The Arena at Northwest FL St	2200	17.3%
11/26/2016	America East	Maine	96	ME-Presque Isle	45	403	Cross Insurance Center	5800	6.9%
11/26/2016	Patriot League	American U	62	St Francis (PA)	69	432	Bender Arena	4500	9.6%
11/26/2016	MEAC	NC A&T	49	Jacksonville	66	481	Corbett Sports Center	5700	8.4%
11/25/2016	Sun Belt	Ga Southern	83	Florida A&M	72	491	Savannah Civic Center	9600	5.1%
11/26/2016	MAAC	Monmouth	86	S Carolina St	62	530	Hart Center	3600	14.7%
11/26/2016	Southland	Incarnate Word	79	Rice	87	530	McDermott Convocation Center	2000	26.5%
11/25/2016	Southern	Furman	98	Hiwassee College	48	571	Timmons Arena	4000	14.3%
11/25/2016	Southland	Sam Houston	69	Idaho	62	625	Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum	6110	10.2%
11/25/2016	Horizon League	Milwaukee	62	ETSU	86	626	Sanford Pentagon	3250	19.3%
11/28/2016	Sun Belt	UL Monroe	77	SF Austin	72	635	Fant-Ewing Coliseum	7085	9.0%
11/28/2016	Ivy League	Brown	91	Bryant	90	636	Pizzitola Sports Center	2800	22.7%
11/26/2016	Southern	Samford	93	Bethune-Cookman	65	686	Pete Hanna Center	4974	13.8%
11/27/2016	Colonial Athletic	Northeastern	73	Kent State	70	701	Matthews Arena	6000	11.7%
11/28/2016	Ohio Valley	Tenn Tech	80	Hiwassee College	47	708	Hooper Eblen Center	9282	7.6%
11/27/2016	Conference USA	FIU	74	Binghamton	57	710	FIU Arena	6000	11.8%
11/26/2016	Patriot League	Navy	70	Penn	68	787	Alumni Hall	5710	13.8%
11/27/2016	Southern	Samford	103	Nicholls	106	802	Pete Hanna Center	4974	16.1%
11/26/2016	Ohio Valley	E Illinois	72	South Alabama	62	835	Lantz Arena	5300	15.8%
11/27/2016	West Coast	Saint Mary’s	76	UAB	63	862	Orleans Arena	7471	11.5%
11/27/2016	Atlantic 10	Duquesne	78	Cleveland State	71	887	A.J. Palumbo Center	4406	20.1%
11/28/2016	MEAC	Morgan State	61	High Point	62	892	Hill Field House	4250	21.0%
11/26/2016	Ohio Valley	Tennessee St	96	Reinhardt	64	894	Gentry Center	10500	8.5%
11/26/2016	Southern	VMI	53	Campbell	67	912	Cameron Hall	5020	18.2%
11/27/2016	Big South	Winthrop	60	UNH	65	922	Winthrop Coliseum	6100	15.1%
11/28/2016	Summit League	Fort Wayne	107	Siena Heights	59	923	Hilliard Gates Sports Center	2300	40.1%
11/27/2016	Colonial Athletic	Drexel	78	La Salle	89	931	Daskalakis Athletic Center	2532	36.8%
11/28/2016	Western Athletic	UMKC	86	SE Missouri St	75	976	Municipal Auditorium (MO)	7300	13.4%
11/28/2016	Big South	Campbell	92	Allen	60	979	Pope Convocation Center	3095	31.6%
11/26/2016	Northeast	Wagner	67	Rider	70	1001	Spiro Sports Center	2100	47.7%
11/26/2016	West Coast	San Diego	51	New Mexico St	56	1008	Jenny Craig Pavilion	5100	19.8%
11/25/2016	Colonial Athletic	Hofstra	89	Medaille College	56	1012	Mack Sports Complex	5124	19.8%
11/26/2016	Horizon League	Detroit Mercy	81	Manhattan	84	1012	Calihan Hall	8295	12.2%
11/28/2016	Big South	Longwood	86	Dartmouth	80	1018	Willett Hall	2522	40.4%
11/27/2016	West Coast	Pepperdine	85	Portland State	91	1021	Firestone Fieldhouse	4500	22.7%
11/26/2016	Big Sky	E Washington	85	Denver	80	1026	Reese Court	6000	17.1%
11/26/2016	Ohio Valley	SIU ED	61	IUPUI	58	1028	Vadalabene Center	4157	24.7%
11/26/2016	Atlantic Sun	Kennesaw St	71	Chattanooga	88	1031	KSU Convocation Center	4792	21.5%
11/25/2016	Western Athletic	UMKC	97	Ark Monticello	82	1045	Municipal Auditorium (MO)	7300	14.3%
11/25/2016	Conference USA	UTSA	63	Texas State	48	1057	UTSA Convocation Center	4080	25.9%
11/24/2016	SEC	LSU	66	Old Dominion	60	1060	Imperial Arena	3500	30.3%
11/26/2016	MAC	Bowling Green	90	Morgan State	58	1074	Stroh Center	4700	22.9%
11/26/2016	MAC	Miami (OH)	81	W Illinois	72	1083	Millett Hall	6400	16.9%
11/26/2016	MAAC	Fairfield	75	Army	74	1083	Webster Bank Arena	10000	10.8%
11/27/2016	Big Sky	E Washington	96	San Francisco	90	1088	Reese Court	6000	18.1%
11/26/2016	Atlantic 10	Fordham	63	UT-Arlington	67	1096	Rose Hill Gymnasium	3470	31.6%
11/26/2016	Ivy League	Columbia	81	Colgate	78	1148	Levien Gymnasium	3408	33.7%
11/26/2016	Horizon League	Youngstown St	84	Canisius	90	1174	Beeghly Center	6500	18.1%
11/28/2016	SEC	Kentucky	115	Arizona State	69	1200	Imperial Arena	3500	34.3%
11/28/2016	MEAC	Coppin State	73	Chestnut Hill	76	1200	Physical Education Complex	4100	29.3%
11/25/2016	Atlantic 10	VCU	85	LSU	74	1201	Imperial Arena	3500	34.3%
11/26/2016	Ivy League	Dartmouth	69	Marist	75	1215	Edward Leede Arena	2100	57.9%
11/27/2016	Big East	Seton Hall	52	Stanford	66	1216	ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex	5000	24.3%
11/27/2016	Colonial Athletic	Delaware	84	Bryn Athyn	51	1275	Bob Carpenter Center	5000	25.5%
11/27/2016	Southland	Abil Christian	71	Howard Payne	55	1275	Moody Coliseum (Abilene)	4600	27.7%
11/26/2016	Ohio Valley	Austin Peay	82	Spalding	63	1277	Dave Aaron Arena	9000	14.2%
11/26/2016	Ohio Valley	E Kentucky	92	Berea College	64	1300	McBrayer Arena	6500	20.0%
11/25/2016	Colonial Athletic	Towson	88	Stony Brook	63	1322	SECU Arena	5250	25.2%
11/27/2016	Summit League	South Dakota St	81	Milwaukee	58	1346	Sanford Pentagon	3250	41.4%
11/24/2016	Big East	St John’s	69	VCU	75	1362	Imperial Arena	3500	38.9%
11/27/2016	Summit League	South Dakota	72	Montana	67	1399	The DakotaDome	10000	14.0%
11/25/2016	Conference USA	North Texas	80	Niagara	71	1411	UNT Coliseum	10040	14.1%
11/25/2016	Southern	UNCG	90	BelmntAb	54	1459	Greensboro Coliseum	21273	6.9%
11/26/2016	America East	UMass Lowell	78	LIU Brooklyn	82	1472	Costello Athletic Center	2100	70.1%
11/25/2016	Patriot League	Holy Cross	73	S Carolina St	57	1554	Hart Center	3600	43.2%
11/25/2016	Ivy League	Princeton	108	Rowan	46	1559	Jadwin Gymnasium	6854	22.7%
11/27/2016	Patriot League	Holy Cross	77	Monmouth	80	1565	Hart Center	3600	43.5%
11/27/2016	Conference USA	North Texas	81	Hartford	78	1566	UNT Coliseum	10040	15.6%
11/25/2016	Big Ten	Michigan State	77	Wichita State	72	1569	Imperial Arena	3500	44.8%
11/24/2016	Big Ten	Michigan State	58	Baylor	73	1597	Imperial Arena	3500	45.6%
11/24/2016	Missouri Valley	Wichita State	52	Louisville	62	1604	Imperial Arena	3500	45.8%
11/25/2016	Big 12	Baylor	66	Louisville	63	1655	Imperial Arena	3500	47.3%
11/26/2016	Southern	ETSU	71	South Dakota St	59	1688	Sanford Pentagon	3250	51.9%
11/26/2016	Summit League	Fort Wayne	79	Miss Valley St	54	1789	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	13000	13.8%
11/26/2016	MAC	W Michigan	80	Cent Arkansas	63	1844	University Arena (MI)	5421	34.0%
11/25/2016	Pac 12	Stanford	65	Indiana State	62	1876	ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex	5000	37.5%
11/24/2016	SEC	Florida	81	Seton Hall	76	1949	HP Field House	5000	39.0%
11/27/2016	Mountain West	Colorado State	80	Alcorn State	58	2023	Moby Arena	8745	23.1%
11/27/2016	Conference USA	LA Tech	74	MD-E Shore	53	2027	Thomas Assembly Center	8098	25.0%
11/26/2016	Great Northwest	Alaska Anchorage	74	Drake	69	2030	Alaska Airlines Center	5000	40.6%
11/24/2016	MAAC	Iona	64	Drake	53	2039	Alaska Airlines Center	5000	40.8%
11/27/2016	Sun Belt	Arkansas State	97	Lehigh	89	2074	ASU Convocation Center	10475	19.8%
11/26/2016	Horizon League	N Kentucky	74	NC Central	82	2141	The Bank of Kentucky Center	9400	22.8%
11/26/2016	Big West	UC Davis	66	Oakland	79	2150	Alaska Airlines Center	5000	43.0%
11/26/2016	America East	Vermont	67	Yale	65	2173	Patrick Gymnasium	3228	67.3%
11/25/2016	Great Northwest	Alaska Anchorage	65	Oakland	71	2180	Alaska Airlines Center	5000	43.6%
11/25/2016	Big Ten	Iowa	41	UVA	74	2196	The Arena at Northwest FL St	2200	99.8%
11/26/2016	The American	Memphis	100	Iowa	92	2196	The Arena at Northwest FL St	2200	99.8%
11/26/2016	Big East	Providence	52	UVA	63	2196	The Arena at Northwest FL St	2200	99.8%
11/28/2016	Big East	USF	71	Kennesaw St	69	2196	USF Sun Dome	10411	21.1%
11/25/2016	MAC	Akron	84	Air Force	75	2263	Savannah Civic Center	9600	23.6%
11/27/2016	West Coast	Gonzaga	73	Iowa State	71	2305	ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex	5000	46.1%
11/26/2016	Big Sky	Montana State	91	Delaware State	66	2307	Brick Breeden Fieldhouse	7250	31.8%
11/25/2016	Big West	UC Davis	64	Drake	58	2308	Alaska Airlines Center	5000	46.2%
11/27/2016	Pac 12	Washington St	76	San Jose State	88	2317	Friel Court	12058	19.2%
11/26/2016	Atlantic 10	G Washington	68	Penn State	74	2378	Charles E. Smith Center	4338	54.8%
11/26/2016	Southern	Mercer	63	Akron	65	2391	Savannah Civic Center	9600	24.9%
11/26/2016	Ohio Valley	Murray State	91	Alabama A&M	54	2401	CFSB Center	8602	27.9%
11/24/2016	ACC	Miami	67	Stanford	53	2436	HP Field House	5000	48.7%
11/24/2016	Big 12	West Virginia	89	Illinois	57	2451	Barclays Center	17732	13.8%
11/26/2016	Horizon League	Green Bay	77	Cent Michigan	89	2799	Resch Center	10200	27.4%
11/27/2016	Colonial Athletic	Charleston	72	USC Upstate	60	2892	TD Arena	5100	56.7%
11/27/2016	Horizon League	Wright State	75	North Florida	67	2975	Nutter Center	10400	28.6%
11/26/2016	Horizon League	Wright State	83	North Dakota	79	3024	Nutter Center	10400	29.1%
11/27/2016	Sun Belt	LA-Lafayette	84	Texas Southern	73	3027	Cajundome	13500	22.4%
11/26/2016	Colonial Athletic	William & Mary	79	Liberty	70	3039	Kaplan Arena	8600	35.3%
11/25/2016	Horizon League	Wright State	68	CSU Bakersfield	64	3123	Nutter Center	10400	30.0%
11/26/2016	The American	UCF	67	Seattle	51	3133	CFE Arena	9465	33.1%
11/27/2016	Horizon League	Valparaiso	79	Ball State	73	3166	Athletics-Recreation Center	5000	63.3%
11/26/2016	The American	Houston	83	Cornell	53	3223	Hofheinz Pavilion	10000	32.2%
11/28/2016	Southern	The Citadel	97	Presbyterian	83	3278	McAlister Field House	6000	54.6%
11/25/2016	Atlantic Sun	FGCU	68	LBSU	67	3291	Alico Arena	4500	73.1%
11/26/2016	Atlantic 10	UMass	70	Harvard	66	3320	William D. Mullins Memorial Center	9493	35.0%
11/25/2016	Mountain West	Colorado State	67	SE Louisiana	59	3381	Moby Arena	8745	38.7%
11/27/2016	Missouri Valley	Illinois State	81	FerrisSt	67	3704	Redbird Arena	10200	36.3%
11/25/2016	Big 12	West Virginia	77	Temple	81	3713	Barclays Center	17732	20.9%
11/25/2016	Pac 12	USC	78	SMU	73	3713	Galen Center	10258	36.2%
11/27/2016	Missouri Valley	Missouri State	64	North Dakota St	50	3765	JQH Arena	11000	34.2%
11/28/2016	Pac 12	Oregon State	84	SOregon	59	4010	Gill Coliseum	9604	41.8%
11/25/2016	Big Ten	Rutgers	77	Hartford	75	4028	Louis Brown Athletic Center	8000	50.4%
11/25/2016	Mountain West	Boise State	82	Presbyterian	56	4061	Taco Bell Arena	12480	32.5%
11/28/2016	SEC	Missouri	52	NC Central	62	4123	Mizzou Arena	15061	27.4%
11/28/2016	Conference USA	Charlotte	80	Appalachian St	72	4153	Halton Arena	9105	45.6%
11/26/2016	Atlantic 10	George Mason	80	JMU	77	4192	EagleBank Arena	10000	41.9%
11/28/2016	Summit League	Oral Roberts	65	Tulsa	79	4230	Mabee Center	11300	37.4%
11/25/2016	Big 12	Oklahoma	72	Abil Christian	64	4451	Lloyd Noble Center	11528	38.6%
11/26/2016	ACC	Georgia Tech	82	Tulane	68	4479	McCamish Pavilion	9191	48.7%
11/27/2016	America East	Albany	81	Siena	72	4538	SEFCU Arena	4538	100.0%
11/25/2016	Atlantic 10	URI	82	Belmont	73	4626	Ryan Center	7657	60.4%
11/26/2016	SEC	Missouri	84	Northwestern St	60	4669	Mizzou Arena	15061	31.0%
11/26/2016	Atlantic 10	Davidson	79	Charlotte	57	4949	John M. Belk Arena	5223	94.8%
11/25/2016	Pac 12	Oregon State	58	Fresno State	63	5005	Gill Coliseum	9604	52.1%
11/26/2016	Big Ten	Maryland	69	Kansas State	68	5011	Barclays Center	17732	28.3%
11/27/2016	Big East	Georgetown	85	Howard	72	5258	Verizon Center	18506	28.4%
11/25/2016	ACC	Clemson	83	High Point	74	5500	Littlejohn Coliseum	9000	61.1%
11/26/2016	Big East	Cincinnati	91	Lipscomb	68	5724	Fifth Third Arena	13176	43.4%
11/25/2016	Big 12	Texas Tech	91	Idaho State	58	5906	United Supermarkets Arena	15020	39.3%
11/28/2016	ACC	FSU	75	Minnesota	67	5993	Donald L. Tucker Center	12100	49.5%
11/28/2016	SEC	Miss St	65	Northwestern St	59	6070	Humphrey Coliseum	10575	57.4%
11/25/2016	Big Ten	Northwestern	86	Bryant	66	6322	Welsh-Ryan Arena	8117	77.9%
11/28/2016	Big Ten	Northwestern	65	Wake Forest	58	6386	Welsh-Ryan Arena	8117	78.7%
11/25/2016	MAC	Ohio	68	Tenn Tech	57	6388	Convocation Center (OH)	13010	49.1%
11/25/2016	SEC	Miss St	73	Lehigh	87	6697	Humphrey Coliseum	10575	63.3%
11/26/2016	ACC	Notre Dame	91	Chicago State	60	6804	Purcell Pavilion	9149	74.4%
11/27/2016	Pac 12	Colorado	75	Wofford	60	6854	Coors Events Center	11064	61.9%
11/25/2016	ACC	Pitt	76	Morehead State	63	7025	Petersen Events Center	12508	56.2%
11/25/2016	SEC	Georgia	77	Gardner-Webb	59	7069	Stegeman Coliseum	11200	63.1%
11/24/2016	SEC	Ole Miss	86	Montana	81	7358	The Pavilion at Ole Miss	9500	77.5%
11/28/2016	Big 12	West Virginia	108	Manhattan	61	8190	WVU Coliseum	14000	58.5%
11/27/2016	Pac 12	Cal	67	SE Louisiana	55	8387	Haas Pavilion	11877	70.6%
11/26/2016	ACC	Syracuse	50	South Carolina	64	8733	Barclays Center	17732	49.2%
11/26/2016	ACC	Duke	93	Appalachian St	58	9314	Cameron Indoor Stadium	9314	100.0%
11/26/2016	Big Ten	Michigan	64	Mt St Mary’s	47	9410	Crisler Center	13751	68.4%
11/25/2016	Big Ten	Minnesota	57	S Illinois	45	9603	Williams Arena	14625	65.7%
11/26/2016	Big East	Xavier	64	Northern Iowa	42	10028	Cintas Center	10250	97.8%
11/26/2016	Big Ten	Purdue	79	NJIT	68	10479	Mackey Arena	14846	70.6%
11/26/2016	Big East	Marquette	101	Houston Baptist	79	11740	BMO Harris Bradley Center	17845	65.8%
11/28/2016	SEC	Arkansas	89	Mt St Mary’s	76	13321	Bud Walton Arena	20320	65.6%
11/28/2016	Pac 12	Utah	59	Butler	68	14332	Jon M. Huntsman Center	15000	95.5%
11/25/2016	Big Ten	OSU	111	Marshall	70	14355	Value City Arena	18809	76.3%
11/26/2016	ACC	NC State	79	Loyola (CHI)	77	15141	PNC Arena	18680	81.1%
11/26/2016	West Coast	BYU	101	Utah Valley	114	16003	Marriott Center	22700	70.5%
11/25/2016	Big 12	Kansas	95	UNC Asheville	57	16300	Allen Fieldhouse	16300	100.0%
11/26/2016	Big East	Creighton	82	Loyola (MD)	52	16907	CenturyLink Center Omaha	17100	98.9%
11/27/2016	Big Ten	Indiana	85	Miss Valley St	52	17222	Assembly Hall (Indiana)	17472	98.6%
11/27/2016	Big Ten	Wisconsin	95	PV A&M	50	17287	Kohl Center	17230	100.3%
11/25/2016	SEC	Kentucky	111	UT Martin	76	23324	Rupp Arena	23500	99.3%