The newest college basketball attendance numbers have been issued by the NCAA and it confirms what we already knew: Virginia was king of HBCU hoops in 2015. Three of the top five HBCUs attendance-wise hailed from Virginia, including two Division II schools.
Hampton led the way with HBCUs, averaging 4,359 fans per game in 11 contests. Tennessee State came in second with 2,500 fans per game, upping its 2015 average by 1,164 fans per contest. Texas Southern led the SWAC with 2,421.
Virginia State and Virginia Union were the top HBCUs at the Division II level, averaging more fans than every other school outside Hampton, Tennessee State and Texas Southern. Those two schools, along with Winston-Salem State, finished in the top 20 of D2 attendance.
Here are the Division I hoops attendance ratings, along with the top D2 attendance rankings:
2. Tennessee State 2,500 (10,050)
4. Virginia State 2,065
5. Virginia Union 1,999 (2,500)
7. UMES 1,871 (5,000)
10. Southern 1,787 (7,500)
11. Savannah State 1,732 (6,000)
12. Alabama State 1,600 (7,400)
13. NCCU 1,588 (3,000)
16. Mississippi Valley 1,269
17. Howard 1,285
18. Jackson State 1,240
19. Delaware State 1,223
21. Morgan State 1,008
22. Coppin State 950
25. Grambling State
26. South Carolina State 439
South Carolina State students should be ashamed. I know football is king in Orangeburg, but a 439 average attendance is unacceptable.
If I'm not mistaken, HIU has the biggest and newest facility in the MEAC. Which might have something to do with the attendance numbers. Go figure…………
Not sure how long Hamptons convocation center has been open but I think the newest facility amongst the HBCUs is Virginia State's new basketball arena (5100) which opened for one game at the END of this past basketball season. Most of VSU's attendance this past season was at Daniel Gymnasium (3200)