By David Cohen
With the 2015 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship tournament in the books, the last bits of social analysis are trickling in.
Despite falling short against Duke University in Monday night’s title tilt, the University of Wisconsin was the subject of the most mentions of any team in the Sweet 16, and the Badgers posted the largest fan-growth rate during the tournament, adding 27,005, according to real-time customer-engagement platform Engagor.
According to Engagor — which shared far more March Madness data in the infographic below — the 10 most-mentioned teams from March 24 through April 7 were:
- Wisconsin, 109,624
- University of Kentucky, 77,662
- Michigan State University, 22,100
- University of North Carolina, 20,308
- Duke, 17,704
- Wichita State University, 13,298
- University of Arizona, 12,929
- University of Notre Dame, 10,128
- Gonzaga University, 8,766
- University of Louisville, 8,417
Social listening tool Geofeedia created what it calls “geofences” around NCAA Tournament sites and campuses of the participating clubs, and Geofeedia‘s findings included:
- Social media activity at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis during the 2015 Final Four was up 547 percent compared with the 2014 Final Four at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
- There was a 117 percent year-over-year increase in social media activity in the area surrounding the Final Four venue, based on location-tagged posts.
- Duke dominated on-campus social media chatter, at 79 percent, but the in-stadium title went to Wisconsin, at 56 percent.
- Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski was the coach who generated the most buzz, while the most-talked-about player during the championship game Monday night was Wisconsin power forward Frank Kaminsky.