The NCAA March Madness tournament is down to the final four teams; Miami, UConn, Florida Atlantic, and San Diego State all have found themselves on the verge of competing for a national championship.
This tournament has seen upsets, close battles, Cinderella stories and much more, but is it safe to say this tournament has lived up to the hype?
The numbers for this year’s tournament have been record breaking. The Sports Business Journal (SBJ) reported that the NCAA Tournament had the most watched first round ever.
SBJ’s Austin Kapp reported that “The men’s NCAA Tournament had its most-watched first round on record on Thursday and Friday, with CBS, truTV, TBS and TNT averaging 9.2 million viewers (the combination of four windows each day). Friday was the best first round on record with an average of 9.3 million across the four windows during the day on the four networks.”
SBJ’s report also mentions that these numbers beat Zion Williamson and Duke’s featured run in 2019, back when Williamson was the most hyped prospect to enter the NBA since LeBron James, as well as, having certain games up 2% in total viewers from 2022.
Many have deemed this year’s tournament as one of the most ‘bracket busting’ tournaments ever. Many fans have lost hope in the game of basketball due to the NBA’s recent product over the last five years, but this tournament can be a sign of hope for fans who still enjoy the pureness of the game.
As this tournament continues Saturday, two teams will end the evening with a chance at glory in Monday’s national championship game, with one, then, being crowned as the national champion.
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