In College Basketball, the fan bases are just as crucial to the teams as the players. So, just like the players, we learn to love some fanbases as much as we hate others. So here are the top five most loved and hated fan bases in College Basketball.
Which college basketball fanbases are the best and which ones are the worst?
Hated – West Virginia Mountaineers
You don’t want to travel to Morgantown, West Virginia. It’s cold, you constantly have to walk up hills, and if you have to play the WVU Coliseum, it’s going to be a long night with the fans yelling the entire game. When Bob Huggins was the coach, he was known for running a full-court press defense, and West Virginia became known as “Press Virginia.” For opposing teams, that meant all 14,000 fans screaming while you were playing a tenacious defense and trying to get the ball up the floor. It’s never fun in the mountains of West Virginia if you aren’t a Mountaineer.
Loved – Gonzaga Bulldogs
The Gonzaga Bulldogs fans show up for their basketball team like no other fanbase. Every game in McCarthy Athletic Center is sold out, and their fans pack into the 6,000-capacity arena all the way to the roof. The Bulldogs aren’t like many of the schools they compete with for National Championships. They’re a small school whose main sport is basketball, not football. So, the Bulldogs fans do all they can to support the home team.
Hated – Maryland Terrapins
This fanbase might be the surprise of the list, but the Terrapins have one of the most rambunctious fanbases in college basketball. Their intensity gives the basketball team an advantage, but opposing teams hate their trips to College Park.
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The Terrapins student section sits behind the opposing team’s basket, and the tougher it gets for the away team, the louder Terps fans get.
Loved – Syracuse Orangemen
It’s constantly freezing cold in Syracuse during the winter but warm inside the Carrier Dome. The NY team from up north has one of the best fanbases in the country due to the lack of things to do in the area during the winter. However, the Orangemen’s most significant advantage is playing inside a football stadium, so the noise can be twice as bad as in other stadiums.
Hated – UCLA Bruins
Unlike the first two teams on the list, UCLA isn’t hated for their crazy environments. Most hate UCLA because of their attachment to the past. UCLA is one of the most historic basketball programs in history. Between 1967 and 1973, they won consecutive National Championships, but they’ve only won two since 1975 and 1995. So the Bruins haven’t won a title in three decades, but when UCLA recruits a new basketball star, the narrative becomes “UCLA is back” *Cough Cough* when Lonzo Ball stepped on to campus in 2016.
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Loved – Illinois Fighting Illini
The Orange Krush, better known as the Illinois student section, is one of the kinder fan bases in College Basketball. Don’t get me wrong, they provide a fantastic atmosphere for their team every week and are a charity group. In 1988, the Orange Krush Foundation was started. The fanbase works together to raise money for other charities and uses the rest to travel to away games, cheer on the Illini, and receive other awards.
Hated – Kansas Jayhawks
To research why people hate Jayhawks fans, visit Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks’ home court is easily one of the top two toughest places to play in college basketball, and it’s not two. When you walk, an opposing fan should prepare for two hours of yelling, and it doesn’t matter if you’re up 30 or down 10. They don’t stop.
Loved – Kentucky Wildcats
If there was a College Basketball team that could be considered “America’s Team,” it just might be Kentucky. Big Blue Nation is not just a college fanbase; Kentucky fans are scattered worldwide. Some of their biggest fans consist of celebrities like Drake, George Clooney, and Ashley Judd.
Hated – Duke Blue Devils
If you combined all the reasons people hate other college basketball fan bases and put them in a pot, you’d get all the reasons people hate Duke. It’s easy for Blue Devils’ fans to say, “Everyone Hates Duke” because, yes if you’re not a fan, you likely hate them. The nickname for Blue Devils fans is the “Cameron Crazies” because they fill up the Cameron Indoor Arena student section every game and do whatever they can to help their team win.
Loved – UNC Tar Heels
North Carolina is the #1 most loved fanbase in College Basketball. They show up for home games, but they’re also well known for traveling on road games to support the Tar Heels similarly. It would help to have an alumni like Michael Jordan, who became one of the top three basketball players ever after his time in Chapel Hill. You can take advantage of the Tar Heel colorway in fashion as Jordan attaches the famous colorway to most sneakers in the Jordan brand collection.
Also Read: 10 Most Disappointing College Basketball Teams in NCAA History
