First, I looked at the Google searches for established basketball powers but with little national exposure otherwise.
Villanova University is a prime example of this. Within the last 3 years, Villanova has gone on to win 2 championships. However, as a small catholic school, Villanova never sees national attention anytime other than when they’re on the basketball court. As you can see by the chart below, searches for “villanova acceptance rate” spiked during early April 2016 and 2018- the same years that they won the national championship.
This is also reflected in their admission numbers. According to The Vilanovan, after the championship title in 2016, the Villanova freshman class of 2021 became the most competitive and largest admission cycle in school history. While the win in 2016 would probably not affect high school seniors graduation in 2016, as most had already made their college decision, seniors graduating in 2017 could be influenced by March Madness.
Next, I looked at a cinderella story run: the 2012-2013 Florida Gulf Coast team. As a 15 seed, FGCU upset second seeded Georgetown in the first round on their way to a sweet sixteen berth. On their way to the sweet sixteen, FGCU won their games in a flashy style- trick shots, dunks and an energetic bench, earning the nickname “Dunk City”. Although only a small school only known by residents in the Tampa Bay area, searches for “FGCU Acceptance rate” climed all across the country. Ever since then, searches continue to rise.
Admissions for FGCU, according to an article by USA Today, skyrocketed following FGCU’s wild run. According to the article, applications to FGCU increased by 35.4%- a number of students the school could not handle.
As a control subject, I looked at the interest of nationally known schools with a minor basketball program. UC Santa Barbara is one of the most applied to schools in the nation but has never seen any basketball success. I compared the Google search trends for “UC Santa Barbara acceptance rate” as a metric for national attention. The search results seemingly rise and fall evenly throughout the year, indicating that basketball does not affect the admissions.
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