NCAA Attendance 2014
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_basketball_RB/reports/Attend/14att.pdf
Let's look at what is now the top twenty in the rpi and the comparable attendance ratings:
Rpi/Att
1/1. Tennessee
2/4. Notre Dame
3/8. Baylor
4/10. South Carolina
5/22. Iowa
6/18. Maryland
7/XX.Arizona State
8/5. Connecticut
9/3. Louisville
10/9. Kentucky
11/20. Duke
12/XX. Oregon State
13/XX. Florida State
14/47. Dayton
15/XX. Washington
16/XX. Princeton
17/35. North Carolina
18/XX. FGCU
19/XX. George Washington
20/13. Oklahoma
21/23. Stanford
22/33. James Madison
23/XX. Chattanooga
24/42. California
25/14. Texas A&M
There are your top 25 rpi teams as of now. You might think that of the final sixteen seeds, they would be in this group. Now, you would love to have your seeds match your sites, if possible. And, you would love to have high attendance. All teams in the top 17 attendance figures draw an average of over 5,000. The top 24 gather at least 4,000. If your attendance is not ranked (those with an XX) you draw fewer than 2,426.
Some of your top attendance teams likely won't be seeded very high, if they make it into the tournament at all:
6. Purdue
7. Michigan State
11. Nebraska
12. New Mexico
15. Ohio State
16. Gonzaga
17. Penn State
18. Middle Tennessee
You might want to go with just your top sixteen. But, do you want low attendance schools like Arizona State, Oregon State, and Florida State included? Although Stanford probably won't be seeded, might they not be a better host, or Cal? Are you going to take a chance on the committee seeding Princeton? They will be undefeated, most likely.
Pulling sixteen good hosts that might match the seeds isn't an easy task. Right now, it's all about getting the attendance. Would A&M have good host attendance if they were in a bracket in Dayton?
