Arkansas Razorbacks Have Always Been Ratings Juggernaut Despite Haters

It's amazing how much the world has forgotten about the dominance of Arkansas basketball, and even more stunning the level of unwillingness many college basketball have to believe facts that show the Razorbacks in a positive light as a major program.

A recent post showing the most watched basketball teams according to Nielsen through mid-January shows the Hogs ranked No. 3 overall alongside all the usual suspects one would expect to draw large numbers. Two of the Razorbacks' previous opponents, Duke and Michigan State top the list having had the benefit of drawing large numbers with Arkansas fans in tow.

Most-watched men’s college basketball teams through January 18, via @nielsen📺

Read: https://t.co/gUf9nMGduK pic.twitter.com/oDt9jw9Z05
— On3 NIL (@On3NIL) January 26, 2026

Still, it was the comments section to this graphic where everyone was in disbelief of the Razorbacks having such large numbers that it became clear the basketball world hasn't not only been paying attention, it's completely forgotten. People were borderline outraged that Arkansas was on the list, and the Hogs were the only team drawing negative commentary.

They couldn't believe Arkansas draws numbers. The commenters were completely flummoxed and could not reconcile the Razorbacks having big numbers in any way that didn't involve desperate Kentucky fans hate-love watching Calipari.

Nevermind the Thanksgiving Day network showdown between Arkansas and Duke alone brought more than 6.8 million eyeballs. The anticipated showcase of freshman stars Darius Acuff and Cam Boozer help draw the largest men's college basketball viewership in 33 years.

To further solidify things, the Hogs' Thanksgiving Day game last season against Illinois drew 5.1 million and became the second most watched college basketball game since 2008. The common denominator in this equation is Arkansas, so like it or not, people watch the Razorbacks in large numbers.

It should be noted that Tennessee shows up on the list also as another school that would have benefited from large numbers brought on by playing the Hogs. In fact, considering the Volunteers' placement, it's likely they wouldn't have made the list if they hadn't already played Arkansas, Kansas and Kentucky to go with several other high profile games like Alabama, Illinois and Houston.

Still, it's weird that college basketball fans don't think of Arkansas as anywhere near the same level as the blue bloods the program has occupied space with through the highest of highs and muted lows. The Razorbacks have bounced back relatively close to their true form as of late, although they're just a step shy of the old days of consistently being ranked in the Top 5 under Nolan Richardson.

The Hogs have been to a pair of Elite 8s and a pair of Sweet 16s that generated huge numbers over the past five years with high profile NCAA Tournament games against Kansas, St. John's, Gonzaga and Duke, all of which were either No. 1 or No. 2 seeds, that included knocking offer No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga to reach the Elite 8 in 2022.

Of those, the only game Arkansas lost was to Duke in the Elite 8 during Mike Krzyzweski's farewell season.

There were even big iconic wins during the regular season over the likes of No. 10 Missouri and No. 6 Alabama in Eric Musselman's second season followed by wins over No. 1 Auburn and No. 3 Kentucky the following year that featured iconic court stormings.

Even in his final season, which was a total train wreck, Musselman pulled off an upset of No. 7 Duke during the regular season and an upset of No. 1 Purdue in one of the most NCAA Tournament feeling exhibition games of all time.

Other than the game against the Blue Devils, Arkansas pulled off huge upsets in front of large audiences. However, recent success can be written off as overlooked because the Razorbacks didn't carry huge Top 10 level rankings until the final polls.

Even still, no matter how good or bad Arkansas and Kentucky are each season, their large, basketball crazed fan bases combine for a minimum of 2 million views like clockwork. In 2022 they drew just short of 2.4 million and had 2.9 million watching during what is widely considered part of the dark period of Arkansas basketball in 2015, although the Hogs' program was slowly climbing its way back to fan expectations.

But that doesn't account for what went on from the 1970s through the late 1990s where Arkansas dominated college basketball as one of a handful of teams that consistently held Top 3 spots. Duke, Michigan, UNLV, Kansas, North Carolina, Kentucky and Arkansas ran the sport with the Hogs spending much of that time at either No. 1 or No. 2.

The Hogs went to four Final Fours and a pair of national championship games during that stretch, including the 1994 year when the Hogs exploded onto the scene in their inaugural SEC season with a new 19,000+ seat arena, a statement blowout of Kentucky in Rupp Arena and a national championship win over Duke to cap it off.

Even if fans kind of forgot about the Razorbacks because they simply haven't been paying attention to college basketball this decade, they could look at the attendance figures and make a correlation to help it all make sense.

The Top 3 in college basketball for quite some time now with a little slight shuffling among the three here or there is consistently Syracuse, Kentucky and Arkansas. After that, there's a bit of a drop to No. 4, but those three always average just over 19,000 per game.

Last season the SEC led all conferences in average attendance at 10,455. Arkansas and Kentucky carried a lot of that weight with the Hogs pulling in 19,200 per game, nearly twice that amount.

In 2022 and 2023, the Razorbacks were in their typical No. 3 spot overall with a slightly lower average of 19,051 overall. What that means is 324,000 people showed up to watch men's basketball in Bud Walton that year and it was a slightly down couple of years compared to where the program is currently.

If the haters need a reason to believe the support is real, Bud Walton may be the only college arena in America with seats going at a reported $350,000 give or take a thousand dollars or so one way or the other.

Even when things were at their worst during the decline that followed the departure of Richardson through the arrival of Musselman, the Razorbacks only fell to No. 11 in the country at just shy of 16,000 per game. At their worst, the Hogs were still drawing twice what most quality Division I arenas pull when they sell out.

So, despite all the hate from casual basketball fans on the internet who just don't appear to know any better, Arkansas has consistently been one of the elite programs for viewership and a driving force for negotiations when the SEC tries to maximize its money from ESPN come contract time.

The Hogs were doing this well before Kentucky fans decided to jump on and become pseudo Razorbacks fans as well, so spare the false shock. For nearly a half century, Arkansas has been a dominant force in college basketball viewership no matter who has a problem believing the facts.

Hogs News: