:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/35634278/20130406_sed_av3_075.0.jpg)
For the second straight year, the folks at Emory Sports Marketing Analytics have created a formula to rank the best fans in college basketball. For the second straight year, Louisville tops those rankings.
The key point in the analysis is that we are looking at support after controlling for team quality. Some of our critics seem to think that selling out a 16,000 seat arena when your team regularly wins 30 plus games and makes deep tournament runs is amazing support. Reality Check - pretty much any major school would be able to sell out under these conditions.
Our overall top 15 schools are listed in the table below. Louisville repeats last year's 1st place finish. The rest of the top five are Duke, Arizona, Texas and Xavier. Other notables include Kentucky in 7th, North Carolina in 11th and Indiana in 12th. We fully realize that Kentucky fans will once again be incensed by these rankings.
Nah, I'm sure BBN will take it in stride. Just know that I'm sipping coffee out of my "Two-Time No. 1 Fan Mug" as I read your rant on Twitter. Although I suppose you couldn't possibly know that since you responded immediately to the tweet without bothering to click on the succeeding link and read the short post to fully understand what it's about, as is your custom.
Also, for those who were wondering about the validity of these rankings, DePaul finished last in the Big East. So, yeah, I'd say this is a pretty legit exercise.
Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday, fellow No. 1 fans.
