Winter Athletic Life at the USNWR Top 30 Nat'l Unis

College Search & Selection
21

<p>When I look at the football scene at a college, I see the quality of play and the win-loss record AND I see the scene that surrounds the games. Frankly, for many women and men who attend college football games, it is the "scene" that surrounds these games that is more intriguing and more fun.</p>

<p>For the winter sports, it seems that the focus turns more to what is going on the competitive field, but the size of the crowd still can have a major impact on the actual experience. So I did a little digging on men's basketball programs of the USNWR Top 30 and found the following information on their recent home attendance. The numbers may be a little low in some cases because the early season games aren't great match-ups, but these can give some idea of the "scene" that exists at the men's basketball games at these colleges. In some cases, when the team is playing well and is competitive on the national level, it can be positively electric and has a significant impact on the vibe of the campus. (It should be noted that some venues have limited capacity and thus are not truly reflective of the amount of interest on a given campus, eg, Duke)</p>

<p>Again, please feel free to add the information on other colleges. Thanks.</p>

<p>MEN'S BASKETBALL (341 Division I Teams ranked and compete)<br>
College , Attendance at last home game</p>

<p>Duke , 9314 fans
U North Carolina , 18,318 fans
UCLA , 10,420 fans
Georgetown , 12,653 fans
Vanderbilt , 12,065 fans
U Virginia , 12,609 fans
Notre Dame , 8977 fans
USC , 3856 fans
Stanford , 7329 fans
Wake Forest , 10,147 fans
UC Berkeley , 7590 fans
U Michigan , 8716 fans
Brown , 797 fans
U Penn , 3871 fans
Yale , 1001 fans
Cornell , 1221 fans
Northwestern , 3785 fans
Princeton , 2614 fans
Harvard , 1008 fans
Dartmouth , 1127 fans
Columbia , 1993 fans
Rice , 648 fans</p>

<p>MEN'S BASKETBALL (408 Division III Teams compete) </p>

<p>Division III Teams in the USNWR Top 30 , Attendance at last home game</p>

<p>Caltech na
MIT 120 fans
U Chicago 31 fans
Wash U 300 fans
Johns Hopkins 200 fans
Emory na
Carnegie Mellon 205 fans
Tufts 250 fans</p>

22

<p>Wow, big gate at the D-III's. Division III site:</p>

<p>D3hoops.com:</a> The definitive resource for Division III men's and women's basketball</p>

23

<p>well...we are well into statistical minutiae.....and I think that defeats the purpose of this thread....for kids to know that SOME high ranking schools also have a vigorous sports environment. That is fine. But its not unique to the Top 30. But somehow I think that kids looking for colleges will know which schools have storied sports histories and strong academics as well. They dont need CC to tell them that. And people dont go to Tufts for sports....they just dont...unless they are playing for a team at Tufts. Ditto for WashU and Emory and CMU. Hopkins is a HUGE lacrosse school,and kids already know that. NCAA champions numerous times. </p>

<p>Do people know that Wake Forest is ranked number one in mens soccer this season? Not likely. That they were the women's field hockey champions for two years? Not likely. That they are NCAA golf champions several times over? Not likely. But they know they are a huge basketball school and a recently successful football program. </p>

<p>Kids will find what they want. If they want sports and strong academics they know where to go: Vandy, Wake, Duke, UNC, UVa, Maryland, and Michigan. If they just want sports there are HUNDREDS of schools to look at. If they just want academics and dont care about sports....well the list is a bit shorter.</p>

24

<p>Catfishin
I enjoy your obvious knowledge about sports. However, I don’t think that the knowledge and understanding of sports and college life extends as far as you might think and I suspect many students have not given nearly enough thought to what their non-academic college life will be like. I look forward to your thoughts on the issue of how collegiate athletics positively affects the social lives of the undergraduate student and which colleges, in your opinion, do this well. </p>

<p>As for the Division III info/minutiae, I understand your point, but I provide the information because I don’t want to be insensitive to supporters of those schools. You may not care a lot, but some folks do, and students considering those colleges might learn a little about what to expect on that college’s campus. </p>

<p>One final point-I completely agree with your view that a great athletic scene is not unique to the USNWR Top 30. Far, far from it. But what is potentially unique is that combination of great academics and a great athletic scene. All of the USNWR Top 30 are great academic institutions, but only a few can make the same claim athletically and understanding the degree to which each school accomplishes that might have great importance for a top student choosing among various undergraduate experiences.</p>

25

<p>Women's basketball is also a popular sport on many college campuses (no sexist comments, please!). Here is what I found out about the women's basketball programs for both Division I and Division III colleges of the USNWR Top 30:</p>

<p>WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (328 Division I Teams compete) </p>

<p>AP Ranking (11/27/07) , College</p>

<p>4 , U North Carolina
6 , Stanford
11 , Duke
12 , UC Berkeley
22 , Notre Dame
23 , Vanderbilt</p>

<pre><code> College
</code></pre>

<p>Not Ranked<br>
NR , U Virginia
NR , USC
NR , UCLA
NR , U Michigan
NR , Wake Forest
NR , Dartmouth
NR , Northwestern
NR , Harvard
NR , Georgetown
NR , Rice
NR , Princeton
NR , Yale
NR , Brown
NR , Columbia
NR , U Penn
NR , Cornell</p>

<p>WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (434 Division III Teams compete) </p>

<p>D3hoops.com ranking, Division III Teams in the USNWR Top 30</p>

<p>9 , Wash U
18 , U Chicago
NR , Caltech
NR , MIT
NR , Johns Hopkins
NR , Emory
NR , Carnegie Mellon
NR , Tufts</p>

26

<p>Why consider only men's hockey? Women play college hockey too.</p>

27

<p>Holy Cross Men's Basketball attendance at the Hart Center so far this season:
Nov 10 3,078 for Hofstra
Nov 20 2,562 for Harvard
Nov 26 2,547 for Ohio Univ</p>

<p>For total in Nov 2007 of 8,187 or 2,728 per game</p>

28

<p>not bad for a college with an enrollment of 2700 students</p>

29

<p>Here are the numbers of colleges that play ice hockey (mens and womens) and how that compares to basketball:</p>

<p>Total Division I and Division III</p>

<p>749 colleges Men’s Basketball
136 colleges Men’s Ice Hockey</p>

<p>762 colleges Women’s Basketball
81 colleges Women’s Ice Hockey </p>

<p>Within the USNWR Top 30 National Universities</p>

<p>30 colleges Men’s Basketball
10 colleges Men’s Ice Hockey</p>

<p>30 colleges Women’s Basketball
7 colleges Women’s Ice Hockey</p>

30

<p>Surprisingly for such a small school of 2700 students, Holy Cross fields Division 1 teams in Men's Basketball, Women's basketball, Men's Hockey, and Women's hockey. The Holy Cross Hart Center (on campus) has basketball arena, hockey rink. swimming pool, rowing tanks, and strength conditioning equip all in one integrated complex.</p>

31

<p>Re: women's hockey and USNWR top 30, both Harvard and Dartmouth have top 10 teams. Middlebury and Amherst are top 10 in D3.</p>

<p>Fascinating attendance stats for the men's basketball. I am amazed that Brown got nearly 800 people to a basketball game, and Columbia almost 2000. That is certainly not the reputation of the places: completely apathetic to intercollegiate sports. Both places I would have expected better turnout for a poetry slam at a bohemian coffee house than a sporting event.</p>

<p>Is this UNDERGRADUATE attendance, or total? I remember Harvard indicating that it had a respectable turnout at its football games because they had made an effort to get local people in Cambridge and Alston to buy tickets but that the Harvard students could not care less.</p>

32

<p>what about boston college? were not top 30 in US news but im pretty sure last year the ranking was somewhere around #35. football is obviously huge here but basketball and hockey get a lot of fans too. hockey is great and from what ive heard were really good most years. last night was the game against BU and that was crazy. basketball were not one of the best DI schools but right now were 6-0 and (i think?) we make it to the NCAA tournament at least most years.</p>

33

<p>afan,
Thanks for your comments on the basketball attendance numbers. College athletics have grown a lot over the last few decades and many people affiliated with the schools enjoy these athletic events immensely. This can also be true for Ivy athletics and it would seem that the Ivy colleges want to tap into this student/alumni/fan interest, eg,</p>

<ol>
<li> Harvard hosted its first-ever night football game this fall.</li>
<li> Yale welcomed over 57,000 fans to its season ending football contest vs Harvard</li>
<li> Cornell hockey played recently in front of a sold-out (18,000+) Madison Square Garden</li>
</ol>

<p>There will likely be more examples in the future of major events like these that can have a galvanizing effect on the life of an undergraduate. Plus, they’re fun! As I have regularly posted, colleges that can offer great academics, great social life and great athletic life make for a very appealing four years. </p>

<p>Re college hockey, here are some stats that I recently uncovered. </p>

<p>MEN'S ICE HOCKEY (59 colleges compete in Division I and 20 are ranked weekly and 77 colleges play Division III)</p>

<p>Rank* College
*ranking provided by US College Hockey Online
2 U Michigan
7 Notre Dame
15 Harvard</p>

<p>Other USNWR Top 30 colleges that compete</p>

<pre><code> College

Princeton
Yale
Dartmouth
Brown 
Cornell
MIT 
Tufts (Div III)

</code></pre>

<p>20 out of the USNWR Top 30 do not play men’s ice hockey.</p>

<p>WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY (81 colleges compete in Division I and 10 are ranked weekly by USCHO)</p>

<p>Rank* College
*ranking provided by US College Hockey Online
2 Harvard
8 Dartmouth</p>

<p>Other USNWR Top 30 colleges that compete in Division I</p>

<pre><code> College

Princeton
Yale
Brown 
Cornell
MIT

</code></pre>

<p>23 out of the USNWR Top 30 do not play women’s ice hockey.</p>

<p>beanieboo,
I was hoping that someone would bring up Boston College. Their athletic scene is terrific and is truly a lot of fun for their students. (Also, IMO, BC is very underrated academically and far more selective than is recognized.) I hope you will keep us posted on the activities and the crowds at various BC winter sporting events.</p>

34

<p>Women's college basketball has improved drastically over the past decade. While not as strong a draw as the men, the women's game has some surprisingly strong attendance at the USNWR Top 30 colleges. Here are their average attendance numbers from the 2006-07 season:</p>

<p>WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (328 Division I Teams compete) </p>

<p>College , Avg Home Attendance in 2006-07</p>

<p>Notre Dame , 6364 fans
Duke , 5852 fans
U North Carolina , 4815 fans
Vanderbilt , 4513 fans
U Virginia , 3668 fans
Stanford , 3206 fans
USC , 1933 fans
UC Berkeley , 1656 fans
UCLA , 1621 fans
U Michigan , 1556 fans
Wake Forest , 1139 fans
Dartmouth , 1107 fans
Northwestern , 822 fans
Harvard , 629 fans
Georgetown , 570 fans
Rice , 538 fans
Princeton , 523 fans
Yale , 428 fans
Brown , 385 fans
Columbia , 321 fans
U Penn , 288 fans
Cornell , 216 fans</p>

<p>WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (434 Division III Teams compete) </p>

<p>Division III Teams in the USNWR Top 30 , Attendance at last home game</p>

<p>Wash U , 257 fans
Emory , 200 fans
U Chicago , 165 fans
Tufts , 150 fans
Carnegie Mellon , 119 fans
MIT , 113 fans
Johns Hopkins , 75 fans
Caltech , na</p>

35

<p>Here is some data on hockey attendance at the USNWR Top 30 colleges that play men's ice hockey:</p>

<p>College , Attendance at last home game</p>

<p>U Michigan , 6781 fans
Cornell , 4179 fans
Dartmouth , 4009 fans
Yale , 3312 fans
Notre Dame , 2711 fans
Harvard , 2461 fans
Brown , 1956 fans
Princeton , 1207 fans
Tufts (Div III) , 350 fans
MIT , na</p>

<p>20 out of the USNWR Top 30 colleges do not play men's ice hockey.</p>

36

<p>Here are the top 64 teams in men's Division 1 basketball per the Sagarin ratings as of today:</p>

<p>1 North Carolina<br>
2 Duke<br>
3 Kansas<br>
4 Texas<br>
5 Memphis<br>
6 UCLA<br>
7 Tennessee<br>
8 Xavier-Ohio<br>
9 Louisville<br>
10 Pittsburgh<br>
11 Michigan State<br>
12 Butler<br>
13 West Virginia<br>
14 Georgetown<br>
15 Washington State<br>
16 Wisconsin<br>
17 Texas A&M<br>
18 Indiana<br>
19 Gonzaga<br>
20 Vanderbilt<br>
21 Oregon<br>
22 BYU<br>
23 Clemson<br>
24 Marquette<br>
25 Arizona<br>
26 Florida<br>
27 Arkansas<br>
28 Ohio State<br>
29 Villanova<br>
30 Illinois<br>
31 Stanford<br>
32 Creighton<br>
33 Providence<br>
34 Virginia<br>
35 Notre Dame<br>
36 Southern California<br>
37 California<br>
38 Miami-Florida<br>
39 Oklahoma<br>
40 Connecticut<br>
41 Mississippi<br>
42 Florida State<br>
43 Kentucky<br>
44 Boston College<br>
45 Southern Illinois<br>
46 Missouri<br>
47 San Diego State<br>
48 Rhode Island<br>
49 Miami-Ohio<br>
50 Baylor<br>
51 Missouri State<br>
52 Saint Mary's-Cal.<br>
53 NC State<br>
54 Davidson<br>
55 UNLV<br>
56 Oklahoma State<br>
57 Syracuse<br>
58 Georgia Tech<br>
59 Northern Iowa<br>
60 Winthrop<br>
61 Holy Cross<br>
62 George Mason<br>
63 Mississippi State<br>
64 Minnesota</p>

37

<p>I don't know if you saw it, but there was a MAJOR upset a few days ago in mens college basketball when Harvard of the Ivy League beat up on U Michigan of the Big Ten, 62-51. I missed it, but a friend sent me this link earlier today.</p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://mvictors.com/?p=424%5DI"&gt;http://mvictors.com/?p=424]I&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

38

<p>Not sure how much of a shot that was when Penn loses by 35 points.</p>

<p>Michigan is #106 and Harvard #201 in the Sagarin rankings. Big upset!</p>

39

<p>Here are the top 64 teams in men's Division 1 basketball per the Sagarin ratings as of today:</p>

<p>1 North Carolina<br>
2 Duke<br>
3 Kansas<br>
4 Texas<br>
5 UCLA<br>
6 Memphis<br>
7 Pittsburgh<br>
8 Georgetown<br>
9 West Virginia<br>
10 Xavier-Ohio<br>
11 Washington State<br>
12 Tennessee<br>
13 Louisville<br>
14 Butler<br>
15 Michigan State<br>
16 Wisconsin<br>
17 Texas A&M<br>
18 Indiana<br>
19 Oregon<br>
20 BYU<br>
21 Clemson<br>
22 Vanderbilt<br>
23 Marquette<br>
24 Gonzaga<br>
25 Arizona<br>
26 Florida<br>
27 Ohio State<br>
28 Illinois<br>
29 Providence<br>
30 California<br>
31 Arkansas<br>
32 Villanova<br>
33 Stanford<br>
34 Notre Dame<br>
35 Creighton<br>
36 Miami-Florida<br>
37 Southern California<br>
38 Oklahoma<br>
39 Mississippi<br>
40 Connecticut<br>
41 Virginia<br>
42 Florida State<br>
43 UNLV<br>
44 Boston College<br>
45 Kentucky<br>
46 Southern Illinois<br>
47 Missouri<br>
48 Syracuse<br>
49 Rhode Island<br>
50 San Diego State<br>
51 Baylor<br>
52 Saint Mary's-Cal.<br>
53 Miami-Ohio<br>
54 NC State<br>
55 Winthrop<br>
56 Holy Cross<br>
57 Missouri State<br>
58 Georgia Tech<br>
59 Maryland<br>
60 Davidson<br>
61 LSU<br>
62 Minnesota<br>
63 Oklahoma State<br>
64 Mississippi State</p>

40

<p>catfishin'--There is no such thing as Division I-A or Division I-AA. All Division I schools are Division I in all sports they play at the varsity level, though some Division III schools are historically grandfathered into D-I competition for specific sports (i.e., Johns Hopkins for lacrosse.) In football (only) there are two divisions for purposes of post-season play: the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision. These were previously, for about a decade, called Division I-A and Division I-AA but this was only for football and did not and does not apply to any other collegiate sports.</p>

<p>The Ivy League offers the largest Division I sports programs in the country, with Harvard leading the nation in the number of varsity sports at this level.</p>

<p>To further illuminate, this is from the NCAA website:</p>

<p>"What's the difference between Divisions I, II and III?</p>

<p>Division I</p>

<p>Division I member institutions have to sponsor at least seven sports for men and seven for women (or six for men and eight for women) with two team sports for each gender. Each playing season has to be represented by each gender as well. There are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria. For sports other than football and basketball, Division I schools must play 100 percent of the minimum number of contests against Division I opponents -- anything over the minimum number of games has to be 50 percent Division I. Men's and women's basketball teams have to play all but two games against Division I teams; for men, they must play one-third of all their contests in the home arena. Schools that have football are classified as Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) or NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Football Bowl Subdivision schools are usually fairly elaborate programs. Football Bowl Subdivision teams have to meet minimum attendance requirements (average 15,000 people in actual or paid attendance per home game), which must be met once in a rolling two-year period. NCAA Football Championship Subdivision teams do not need to meet minimum attendance requirements. Division I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their athletics program, and there are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that a Division I school cannot exceed. </p>

<p>Division II</p>

<p>Division II institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women, (or four for men and six for women), with two team sports for each gender, and each playing season represented by each gender. There are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria -- football and men's and women's basketball teams must play at least 50 percent of their games against Division II or Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) or Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) opponents. For sports other than football and basketball there are no scheduling requirements. There are not attendance requirements for football, or arena game requirements for basketball. There are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that a Division II school must not exceed. Division II teams usually feature a number of local or in-state student-athletes. Many Division II student-athletes pay for school through a combination of scholarship money, grants, student loans and employment earnings. Division II athletics programs are financed in the institution's budget like other academic departments on campus. Traditional rivalries with regional institutions dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs.</p>

<p>Division III</p>

<p>Division III institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women, with two team sports for each gender, and each playing season represented by each gender. There are minimum contest and participant minimums for each sport. Division III athletics features student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability and athletic departments are staffed and funded like any other department in the university. Division III athletics departments place special importance on the impact of athletics on the participants rather than on the spectators. The student-athlete's experience is of paramount concern. Division III athletics encourages participation by maximizing the number and variety of athletics opportunities available to students, placing primary emphasis on regional in-season and conference competition."</p>