The NCAA released men's basketball attendance figures for the 2014-15 season, and Cougar faithful had an impact.
BYU averaged 16,125 fans per basketball game last season, good for ninth in the country. That's better than power programs like Arizona, Ohio State, and a program with burgeoning interest, Nebraska.
That figure for BYU is up even from last season, when 15,875 fans attended each game on average, which was good for 11th nationally. Overall, just more than a quarter-million fans attended games in the Marriott Center in the 2014-15 season: 258,002 total fans over 16 home games.
Both the total number and the increase are impressive for BYU, considering the Cougars are a perennial bubble team and draw only one big name to Provo during conference play. BYU joins Creighton and New Mexico as the only non-Power 5 schools in the top 20.
The continued interest in BYU basketball is timely and hopefully fans are rewarded (not that we deserve it -- it would just be really awesome) as the golden age of basketball recruiting will hopefully lead to all-time heights. BYU's rosters will soon be loaded with top-100-rated talents.