Is this because most people thought we'd lose?

UKnCincy_rivals

All-Conference
Aug 2, 2008
3,504
4,024
0
Both.

And it helped that we were playing against another large school. Our Friday game drew 3.86M viewers while Illinois’ game against Xavier drew 3.22M. So, Illinois wasn’t too far behind in viewership.

But people do like to watch UK and watch UK if there’s a chance for us to be upset. Of the highest rated first round games since 2011, 4 of the 10 involved UK. And notice which games made the list.

 

BC_Wader

All-American
Aug 13, 2021
4,607
8,534
0
The Louisville market is always at the top of the ratings for the tournament whether Kentucky is playing or not.
 

RalphDaltonFan

Heisman
Apr 3, 2002
60,109
41,372
113
Brand name is elite but you also had viewers who were waiting for the game to end to tune into 60 Minutes after. My grandparents used to watch "their channel" if they had a show on and station never changed. Have to believe they weren't alone in that mindset.