Which NCAA Teams Are Eyes on This March Madness

Now we’ve reached the conclusion of the NCAAB regular season; attention has turned to college basketball’s premier tournament, affectionately known as March Madness, one of the biggest events with online sportsbooks of the year, with heightened activity around NJ Sportsbook promos looking to gain new customers, as betting on MM is almost equal to the Superbowl.

Last year’s tournament saw an incredible 18.1m people tune in to see the Kansas Jayhawks’ narrow 72-69 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels, with fans hoping for yet-more excitement and drama this time around. 

But, with the world watching, which college basketball teams have drawn the most attention since the start of this season? We decided to find out!

To determine which NCAAB teams have the most eyes on them, we’ve created an index that compares each college’s Wikipedia page views, TV viewership, Google searches, and TikTok views since November 7th, 2022. So, without further ado, read on to find out where your favorite teams rank…

1. Kentucky Wildcats

Taking top spot as the NCAAB team with the most people’s attention, with an index score of 8.84 out of 10, we have the Kentucky Wildcats. This comes despite the University of Kentucky team being considered longshots for the title - with basketball betting odds of +5000 - though the school does have a rich history in the tournament. 

Delving into the data, since the start of the season, the Wildcats rank second for overall Wikipedia page views (122,931), have drawn the second-highest number of TV viewers (20.69m), have generated the third-highest rate of Google searches (8.54m), and boast the biggest TikTok audience (29m views). 

2. Duke Blue Devils

flickr user adamglanzman, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The Duke Blue Devils take a close second, with an index score of 8.45, thanks to the impressive number of Wikipedia page views (144,751) and total Google searches (12.39m) the team has achieved since the start of the regular season. In fact, no other team has recorded more in either category, while the Blue Devils also rank fourth when it comes to TV (18.25m) and TikTok (14.54m) viewership.

Looking ahead to the tournament, the Blue Devils are ranked as outsiders for the title, with odds of +5000, just like the Wildcats – though, their last victory has come more recently than their Kentucky competition. 

3. Kansas Jayhawks

Last year’s champion and one of the favorites for this season’s tournament, with impressive odds of around +800, the Kansas Jayhawks also rank among the most captivating NCAAB teams. And with a greater TV pull than any other college (20.73m), as well as Wikipedia page views exceeding 100,000 since the start of the season, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

Overall, the 2022 March Madness winner scored 5.61 across our index, with only a relatively low rate of Google searches (4.05m) and TikTok views (6.50m) since the start of the season preventing the team from ranking higher.

Dirk, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons 

4. Indiana Hoosiers

With an index score of 5.27, the Indiana Hoosiers also earn a place on our list of NCAA teams with the most attentive audiences. While the Hoosiers might rank just outside the top five teams for Wikipedia page views (77,332), TV viewership (16.28m), and total Google searches (5.95m) since November 2022, they do place among the five-most popular teams on TikTok (9.16m).

However, with tournament odds of +4000, the Bloomington-based school are unlikely to add to their five titles, which would extend their disappointing winless run to 36 years.

5. North Carolina Tar Heels

Ryanhuntmuzik, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The third-most successful team in NCAAB history, with an impressive six March Madness victories – the last of which came as recently as 2017 – the North Carolina Tar Heels round out the top five teams on our index with a score of 5.01. While performing well for Wikipedia page views (108,592) and TV viewership (19.1m), however, the college scores relatively poorly for overall Google searches (2.91m) and TikTok views (3m) since the start of the season. 

Despite winning the tournament three times since 2005, the most victories of any team in the same period, and reaching last season’s Final Four, the Tar Heels are given the slimmest chance of success of all teams to make our list, with odds of +10,000.

Which other teams make the top 15?

Placing just outside the top five, we have Sweet Sixteen regulars the Purdue Boilermakers, with an index score of 4.64, followed by four-time NCAAB champions the UConn Huskies (4.46), while the Alabama Crimson Tide and serial runner-up Michigan Wolverines score 4.32 and 4.31, respectively. 

Finally, completing our top ten, we have the Gonzaga Bulldogs (4.14), who’ve enjoyed two finals in the previous five tournaments. Interestingly, 11-time NCAAB winner and one of the favorites for this year’s tournament the UCLA Bruins (4.13) just missed out. 

With the regular season over and the excitement of March Madness finally upon us, it’s time to start thinking about who might go all the way. To keep up to date with all things college basketball, including how to fill your March Madness bracket, head on over to our blog. 

Methodology:

For this campaign, we created an index combining four metrics:

• Wikipedia Page Views: How many hits each NCAAB team received on their Wikipedia since the 7th November.
• TV Viewing Figures: Combined television figures of all games that received over 200k viewers, as per: ShowBuzzDaily.
• Total Google Searches: A sum of all the Google searches made for each team since the 7th November. 
• TikTok Views: A sum of the total TikTok views which included hashtags of the team’s name – since the 7th November. Tik Tok Creative Centre.

Each metric was equally factored and summed to get a score out of 10. The higher the score, the more ‘eyes’ on the team.  

Please note: The data above is accurate as of 9^th March. These figures will likely increase during the build up to (and during) the tournament.

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