BYU basketball: Attendance wanes but Cougars still tops for non-major programs

BYU basketball is still the top dog for non-major attendance, and still fares extremely well nationally -- but attendance at the Marriott Center did drop considerably in the 2015-16 season, according to the NCAA's official men's basketball attendance report.

BYU ranked 14th nationally at 14,699 fans per game, the best mark among non-power programs. New Mexico was 23rd (13,030) and Dayton 25th (12,941) to round out the top-25 and the list of non-powers.

Utah ranked 24th at 12,997.

While BYU sits atop the non-power perch, the Cougars' attendance dipped considerably from the 2014-15 season. BYU ranked 9th nationally two seasons ago with a per-game average of 16,125 fans. That's a drop of nearly 1,500 fans per game.

That number included a decreased maximum capacity after the Marriott Center underwent a complete renovation, which included individual seats in the entire lower bowl in lieu of bleacher seats. Still, capacity went from 20,900 to 19,000, so there were plenty of seats still available.

Kentucky owned the top spot nationally at 23,361 fans per game. Syracuse (21,592) and Louisville (20,859) rounded out the top-3 nationally as the only schools to eclipsed 20,000 per game.