UNC Ranked Fourth in Home Men's Basketball Attendance for 2015-16

Say what you want about the noise level–or lack of it–inside the Dean Smith Center on game day.

People still continue to fill it up.

The NCAA released its official attendance numbers from the 2015-16 men’s basketball season, with UNC coming in fourth at an average of 18,326 fans per home game.

When all games are included however–home, road and neutral site–no team was a more powerful draw than the Tar Heels.

In all, UNC had a combined attendance of 781,614–beating out second place Kentucky (694,871) by a significant margin.

Only Kentucky, Syracuse and Louisville drew larger crowds to their home arenas, with each of those schools bringing in crowds of more than 20,000 a night to see them play.

The Tar Heels posted a 15-1 record in front of their fans at the Dean Dome this past season. (Todd Melet)

In fact, the same four basketball-crazed schools have held the top four spots on that list in some order on the NCAA’s list every year since 2011.

That trend also doesn’t seem to be in too much jeopardy either, as UNC and Syracuse are each coming off Final Four runs–while Kentucky and Louisville are consistently among the top teams in America every year.

Despite missing out on the NCAA Tournament, ACC rival NC State still had good enough showings at the PNC Arena in Raleigh to finish eighth nationally in home attendance.

Duke sold out each of its 18 home games at Cameron Indoor Stadium–as usual–but the size of the venue (only 9,314 seats) kept the school buried back in 48th.

Whether they eat wine and cheese or Bojangles from the concession stands–people are showing up to support their teams.

Maybe Tar Heel wide receiver Bug Howard was right after all when he suggested boosting attendance at Kenan Stadium by having the men’s basketball team scrimmage at halftime.

If anything, what these numbers confirm is that yes, people would come out in droves to see that.