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UConn Men's Basketball: Huskies Rank 37th in Attendance in 2014-15, American Lags Behind

Memphis leads American, but conference falls behind in conference rankings.

By Tim Fontenault
The NCAA included UConn's four games in the American Athletic Conference tournament toward the Huskies' attendance in 2014-15.
The NCAA included UConn's four games in the American Athletic Conference tournament toward the Huskies' attendance in 2014-15.
David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

The NCAA numbers include four games that should never count for attendance numbers, but UConn still ranked 37th in the nation in average attendance in 2014-15.

UConn drew an average of 10,687 fans in the follow-up campaign to its fourth national championship. The Huskies ranked 29th in total attendance with 213,738 fans taking in a game at Gampel Pavilion or the XL Center.

The Huskies improved on their attendance from the 2013-14 season. UConn averaged 10,134 fans, ranking 40th in the nation, en route to the national title. The Huskies have not cracked the top 30 since ranking 26th during the 2011-12 season.

Attendance numbers may have been affected by the NCAA's decision to factor in UConn's four American Athletic Conference tournament games, which were played at the XL Center. UConn's second round game in the American against USF drew 5,431 fans.

Taking the tournament numbers out of the equation does not change much for UConn. The Huskies would jump ahead of Wichita State into 36th with an average attendance of 10,957.

Syracuse and Kentucky were close at the top. The Orange claimed the top spot in average attendance at 23,854. Kentucky, which played one more home game than Syracuse, led in total attendance with 447,874.

Memphis checked in with the highest attendance in the American, ranking 21st in the nation with an average of 13,915. After UConn and Memphis, however, the drop is significant.

Here is how the American drew in 2014-15 (using UConn's official NCAA numbers, which include the tournament, for whatever reason):

  1. Memphis: 13,915
  2. UConn: 10,687
  3. Cincinnati: 9,334
  4. SMU: 6,944
  5. Tulsa: 4.765
  6. East Carolina: 4,696
  7. UCF: 4,087
  8. USF: 3,401
  9. Houston: 2,635
  10. Tulane: 1,852
As a conference, the American drew 1,244,316 fans, an average of 6,284 per game. The conference ranked eighth in the NCAA, falling behind the Big 10, ACC, SEC, Big 12, Big East, Pac-12 and the Mountain West.

The average attendance in the American decreased by 2,492 fans in 2014-15, but that was the result of more re-alginment. Tulsa, East Carolina and Tulane joined the American while Louisville left for the ACC and Rutgers joined the Big 10. The three American newcomers combined to average 41.66 percent of Louisville and Rutgers' combined home average in 2014-15.

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