The most mad college basketball fans
It’s an understatement to say that fans of some NCAA men’s basketball teams can get intense. Here are some of the maddest fans in honor of March Madness, according to the opinions of some Tribune News Service contributors.
University of North Carolina Tar Heels
The Tar Heels still get some love from the rest of the country thanks to launching the career of Michael Jordan, but they have plenty of reasons for folks to dislike them, including the fact that most fans were pretty quick to overlook or even defend the school’s NCAA violations.
Arizona State Sun Devils
The New York Times did the math, and the fans who are the most effective at making opponents miss free throws in all of college basketball are Arizona State and their Curtain of Distraction. The curtain remains closed throughout the game until a visiting player sets up to shoot a free throw. Right as the player is about to shoot, the curtain flies open to reveal anything from twerking farm animals to a hairy shirtless man riding a wrecking ball to a celebrity cameo. Most away teams already shoot 1 percentage point worse on the road, but the Curtain lives up to its name and bumps that rate for visiting teams to 9 percentage points.
Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas Jayhawks fans aren’t annoying because of any particular in-game antics. With no other powerhouse programs geographically near them, they reign supreme and unchallenged in their region and through most of their season. Even when they suffer a major upset or defeat, they’re not too fazed because they have a history of greatness and will probably be great for the foreseeable future.
Syracuse Orange
‘Cuse fans have been known to pelt rival fans with water bottles at the Carrier Dome.
Kansas State Wildcats
When you call your arena the “Octagon of Doom,” you’re setting yourself up to be the villain. Kansas State fans are often accused of rooting against Kansas more than rooting for the Wildcats.
Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State’s basketball arena Hilton Coliseum was built to hold in sound. That, coupled with ISU attracting one of the nation’s largest crowds, makes it one of the loudest fan bases that opponents face. On top of this mythical “Hilton Magic,” fans are brutal in their booing of rival players and referees. They’ll boo every time a player touches the ball or even when a Cyclone gets correctly called for an obvious foul.
Pittsburgh Panthers
The Oakland Zoo cheering section, named for the neighborhood Pitt is located in, is one of the most intimidating in college basketball. The school’s largest university-recognized campus group, the Zoo is impressive in its coordination, from chants to various animal-themed costumes. The school paper prints a four-page report on opponents before games so fans can arm themselves with pointed insults. They’re considered so quintessential to Pitt’s success that the team incorporated the Zoo into the graphics on its debut Nike aerographic jerseys in 2011.
Washington Huskies
As Bleacher Report points out, in 2005 legendary coach Dick Bennett, who’s dealt with plenty of raucous fans in his career, got so miffed that he flipped off the Washington student section. Getting under a coach’s skin that way definitely qualifies the Dawg Pack as annoying. Plus, the marching band is known for playing six notes from the fight song to make a “nyah-nyah” effect when opponents make a mistake.
Arkansas Razorbacks
Arkansas' “Woooooooooo, Pig! Sooie!” might be the most annoying school cheer in all of college sports.
Florida Gators
The Florida men’s basketball program has two championships to its name and has consistently made it to the later rounds of the national tournament in recent years. While Gator fans are fervent when the iron is hot, they complain and then disappear when their team starts to lose. Massive dips and boosts in attendance have attested to that.
Oregon Ducks
According to GQ, Oregon Ducks fans are among the worst college basketball fans, first for throwing a half-eaten apple at legendary coach John Wooden and second for the extreme heckling of Kevin Love. Fans blatantly disregarded their own “Code of ConDUCKt” when Oregon native Love came to town playing for his ultimate school of choice, UCLA. Fans reportedly tracked down his personal cell phone number and left more than 30 voicemails, ranging from taunts to death threats, and then at the game hurled food and obscenities at his family.
San Diego State Aztecs
Aztec superfans have dubbed themselves The Show, and the devoted fan base can be credited with the invention of using cut-out “big heads” of celebrities to distract the opposing team on the free throw line.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Former Ohio State star turned ESPN commentator Kirk Herbstreit reportedly moved from Ohio to Nashville to escape football fans of “the” Ohio State University. But what about the basketball fans? Even with LeBron James as Ohio State’s basketball ambassador, despite not going to school there, fans are few and far between, as evidenced by low ticket sales and attendance numbers, even when the team is nationally ranked.
UCLA Bruins
It seems many UCLA fans are content to wax poetic about John Wooden and admire their full trophy case rather than support any of the program’s recent coaches, who’ve been met with unrealistic expectations. Take the case of Ben Howland: He was shown the door after 10 years as coach despite taking the Bruins to tournament appearances seven times, with three trips to the Final Four.
Indiana Hoosiers
Like UCLA, the Indiana Hoosiers have a legendary track record under a famous coach, in this case Bobby Knight. Hoosier fans clutch to the hope that they’re just a season away from being a powerhouse program again.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
When the Notre Dame men's basketball team played in the NCAA tournament after St. Patrick's Day in 2017, Fighting Irish coach Mike Brey joked: “I hope our fans can get out of jail by 8 a.m. tomorrow and get to our game because I know they're going to be rolling today. You know how those Irish fans are.”
West Virginia Mountaineers
West Virginia's college basketball fan base can perhaps cross the line when it comes to heckling and being obnoxious in the stands. Off the court, Mountaineers fans reportedly set a whopping 60 intentional fires to celebrate advancing to the second round of March Madness in 2005.
Maryland Terrapins
Maryland Terps fans are a rowdy bunch. In 2006, police used pepper spray to subdue a crowd gone crazy after a women’s basketball game. After Maryland lost a men’s 2001 Final Four game to Duke, fans in the stands threw a bottle at a rival player’s mother and hit her in the head. Terps fans then took to the streets, where they set a couch on fire and ripped up the goal posts from the soccer field and set them ablaze as well.
Duke Blue Devils
Duke's famed student section is known as the Cameron Crazies.
Kentucky Wildcats
The Kentucky Wildcats’ Big Blue Nation is definitely fanatical.
