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NCAA Tournament

Track the trends of web searches for ‘Syracuse basketball’ over the teams’ tournament runs

Logan Reidsma | Senior Staff Photographer

Tyler Roberson collects a miss and flushes down two of six first-half points.

By Delaney Van Wey

Last night, Syracuse was a No. 1 trending topic on Twitter and a No. 1 trending sports topic on Google.

Over the month of March, the Orange’s historic run in the NCAA Tournament has caused online interest in the topic “Syracuse basketball” to surge. See what events caused spikes in web searches for the term:

March 13: Syracuse University’s men’s basketball team earned a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday, causing the first bump in online interest during the team’s tournament run.

After a loss to Pittsburgh during the ACC Tournament on March 9, another day of high online interest, SU’s fate in the tournament was uncertain.



 

March 18: The men’s and women’s teams started their tournament runs off with a pair of wins in the Round of 64.

The No. 4 seed SU women’s team crushed Army, 75-56, in the Carrier Dome to kick off what has become an unprecedented run for the team. The SU men’s team defeated Dayton, 70-51, to move on to the Round of 32.

 

March 20: “Syracuse basketball” saw a spike in searches after both the men’s and women’s teams win in the Round of 32.

For the first time in program history, the women’s team advanced to the Sweet 16 after taking down No. 12 Albany in the Carrier Dome. The crowd was the third largest ever for a women’s basketball game in the Dome.

The men’s team followed with the domination of Middle Tennessee State. The game ended 75-50.

 

March 25: Both SU teams won their Sweet 16 games on Friday, which caused a rise in web searches.

The women’s team had a major upset against No. 1 seed South Carolina, ending the game 80-72. They moved on to their first-ever Elite Eight. Later that day, the men’s team pulled out a 63-60 win over Gonzaga in a nail-biter.

 

March 26: Eyes across the country were on SU as the only team with both its men’s and women’s teams still in the NCAA Tournament. Although no games were played that day, online searches soared in anticipation of Sunday’s games.

The men’s team was in Chicago preparing for Sunday’s Elite Eight game and talking to the press during Media Day. The women’s team was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, preparing to face the Tennessee Volunteers.





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