The journey of the Indiana State Sycamores, who were snubbed from the NCAA Tournament, caught the attention of college basketball fans as they battled their way to the 2024 NIT Championship Game against the Seton Hall Pirates.
While Seton Hall soured the Cinderella story by coming from behind and winning the final, audiences watched the NIT Championship in numbers that we haven’t seen in quite some time.
According to ESPN, the Seton Hall-Indiana State showdown garnered 1.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched NIT game since 2013 and the most-watched NIT championship since 2010.
Fans tuned in Thursday for the ’24 @NITMBB Championship between @SetonHallMBB & @IndStBasketball
🏀 Champ game viewership up 280% YOY
🏀 1.4M viewers | Most-watched NIT game since ’13
🏀 Most-watched NIT Champ since ’10
🏀 Tourney viewership up 18% YOY | Most-watched since ’16 pic.twitter.com/At2SQsbQeh— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) April 5, 2024
That number is also up 280% over last year’s championship game between the UAB Blazers and North Texas Mean Green, which garnered 370,000.
Best Robbie Avila nickname? 🏀🤓 pic.twitter.com/plwqifRyhP
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 4, 2024
While the Sycamores and star player Robbie Avila, affectionately known as “Cream Abdul-Jabbar” and “Larry Nerd,” captured the attention of the college basketball world, especially after being spurned by the NCAA Tournament, it didn’t hurt that the championship game was hard-fought and came down to the final moments.
Seton Hall holds off Indiana State in a wild finish at Hinkle Fieldhouse to win the NIT Championship!
The Pirates finished on a 9-0 run to secure the title. 🏀🏴☠️ pic.twitter.com/4Zaf10cb63
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) April 5, 2024
Per ESPN, NIT viewership was 18% from the previous year and was the most-watched NIT since 2016.
It’s some much-needed good news for the tournament in a year when many of the top programs opted out of participating and Fox Sports announced a new 16-team postseason tournament that will include teams from some of the larger conferences.
The takeaway, of course, is that it helps when you have a great story to build a narrative around. Not to mention, the trendy team making it all the way to the title game certainly pays off.
[ESPN]
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.