Gonzaga left off list of best fan bases in college basketball

Andy Katz ranked the top 10 fan bases in men's basketball and the Zags did not make the cut

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Gonzaga men’s basketball fans have made the McCarthey Athletic Center one of the most imposing home-court advantages in college basketball. 

In addition to selling out every home game since it opened in 2004, no team has a higher winning percentage at home over the last six seasons than the Bulldogs, who are 90-3 at The Kennel in that span and once won 75-straight there during a five-year stretch from 2018-2023. The 6,000-seat arena has earned national recognition for its unmatched atmosphere from analysts and broadcasters who’ve experienced the Kennel Club firsthand for nationally televised games.

NCAA basketball insider Andy Katz was among the notable personalities in the sport who’s had high remarks for The Kennel, which came in at No. 4 in his rankings of the top places to watch men’s college basketball from 2022. 

Despite boasting one of the best venues in the sport, Gonzaga fans were left off Katz’s latest rankings of the 10 fan bases in college basketball heading into the 2024-25 season. Kentucky topped the list at No. 1, as Rupp Arena had the highest total attendance in 2022-23 (357,721 total attendance) and the Wildcats social media team is ranked near the top of the sport in overall following. UConn and Kansas — the last two champions in the sport — were No. 2 and No. 3 respectively in Katz’s hierarchy, followed by Duke and Purdue, the latter of which had a lot of attention surrounding it with two-time National Player of the Year in Zach Edey on the roster.

Illinois, North Carolina, Indiana, Arkansas and Iowa State all cracked the top 10, while Auburn earned a spot on the list as an honorable mention. With the exception of Iowa State, all of those schools ranked inside the top 10 for total attendance in 2022-23. 

Of course, Gonzaga isn’t going to contend for one of the top spots in total attendance numbers (which was 102,333 in 2022-23, up from 96,000 the year prior) which might have cost it a spot in Katz’s fan base rankings. Six of his top 10 fan bases all ranked in the top 10 of attendance in 2022-23, with the exceptions being Duke, UConn, Purdue (which was No. 11) and Iowa State (No. 22). 

When considering social media following, the official Gonzaga men’s basketball account on X has around 230,300 followers. Of the fan bases mentioned, that’s more followers than the official men’s basketball accounts for Illinois (174,600), Purdue (162,500), Auburn (144,300) and UConn (129,000).

The talent and coaching speak for themselves on the floor, but another key component that’s baked into Gonzaga’s unparalleled run over the past two decades is the support of the 6,000-plus fans at every home game, especially the 1,200 students in the Kennel Club.

“I don’t think it’s matched in any other gym I’ve been in,” said Gonzaga men’s basketball alum and a key contributor to the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1995, Jason Rubright, on the Kennel Club. “The enthusiasm, the passion that the students have and it’s just, a really cool thing to be part of the Kennel Club. They’re basically the sixth man.”