Attendance at NCAA men’s college basketball games hit an all-time high during the 2005-06 season, spurred by record crowds in Division I.

The total of 30,939,715 college basketball fans in all three divisions combined topped the record of 30,760,510 set in 2004. The new mark includes a record 25,808,346 fans that saw Division I games. The previous Division I high was 25,548,468, also set in 2004.

The average crowd for a game involving a Division I team this past season was 5,426, up 92 people a game from the previous year. For all NCAA teams combined, the average crowd was 2,351, an increase of 24 fans a game from 2005.

Both Divisions II and III attendance dropped slightly from the previous year, as well as the Division I championship tournament attendance, but the increase in Division I home attendance was enough to set an overall record.

Kentucky reclaimed its familiar spot of leading all 326 Division I teams in home attendance with 341,445 Wildcat fans attending 15 games in Rupp Arena, an average of 22,763 per contest. Last year’s leader, Syracuse, fell to No. 2 with 21,587 fans per game at the Carrier Dome, while North Carolina finished third at 20,239. Kentucky had led the nation every year from 1996 to 2004 before the Orange took the top spot in 2005.

For the 30th straight season, the Big Ten Conference set the standard for conference attendance, as 2,277,085 fans pushed the turnstiles during the 2006 season for a 12,581 per-game average. The Atlantic Coast Conference with newly added member Boston College attracted almost the identical number of fans for the season at 2,277,076 to finish second with an 11,273 average. The difference in per-game average can be attributed to the ACC having 12 teams to the Big Ten’s 11, and the ACC having 21 more sessions or games.

Besides the Big Ten and ACC, two other conferences topped the two million mark in attendance. The Big East Conference had 2,964,418 fans attend and the Southeastern Conference totaled 2,205,302 spectators for its home games. The SEC averaged 11,082 fans a game while the Big East enjoyed an average of 11,061.

The Big Ten established the conference record mark for average attendance in 1990 at 13,449 spectators per game, and the accumulative mark of 2,342,022 was set in 2001.

The Big 12 was the only other league to top the 10,000 mark per game with an average of 10,121, an all-time high for the conference. Two other conferences set personal bests in attendance per game: the Missouri Valley Conference with 7,716 and the West Coast Conference at 2,933.

In total attendance, six other leagues reached the one million mark: the Big 12, Pacific-10, Mountain West, Missouri Valley, Atlantic 10 and Conference USA. Five conferences reached personal all-time highs in total attendance: the ACC, Big East, Colonial, Missouri Valley and West Coast. Two of them, the MVC and WCC, had highs in both total and average attendance.

Four teams topped the 300,000 mark in total home attendance. Besides Kentucky, Syracuse and North Carolina, Louisville also joined the club at 402,963 total fans. Louisville finished fourth in average attendance, while Tennessee rounded out the top five. NCAA champion Florida finished 31st in average attendance at 10,851 a game.

Syracuse attracted the most fans, including home, road and neutral-site games, with a total of 640,949. Kentucky and Louisville were second and third, respectively. With the help of three SEC tournament games and six NCAA tournament games, Florida jumped to No. 4 in the category.

A total of 26 Division I teams saw an increase in attendance from the previous year of more than 1,000 fans per home game, compared to just 16 schools the year before. Tennessee attracted 17,954 spectators per game this past season, 5,729 more fans per game than in 2005 to lead the way for largest increase.

Memphis also realized a large increase at the gate with 5,280 more fans a game. Eight schools saw increases of 2,000 or more in 2006, compared with only three the previous year. Those other schools with at least 2,000 more spectators a home game were Creighton, Georgetown, Indiana, UNI, Vanderbilt and Marquette.

Divisions II and III

Northern State claimed its first Division II attendance crown after just missing the title last season. The Wolves totaled 70,499 fans over 18 games in 2006 and averaged 3,916 a game. Winston-Salem (3,529) and Morehouse (3,183) were the only other schools to finish above 3,000 fans a game.

In Division III, the top three finishers held their ground for the fourth straight year as Hope once again claimed the top spot for attendance. Hope finished at 2,928 spectators a game. Illinois Wesleyan was second with 2,470 and Calvin again finished third at 2,089 fans a game. It was the eighth title overall for Hope since the NCAA began tracking attendance for Divisions II and III in 1977.

The top conference in Division II for the 26th consecutive year was the North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, with 197,739 spectators and a 1,920 average. The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association moved closer to the top spot by more than 400 spectators a game as the league averaged 1,858 fans for every home contest. The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association took third at 1,547. A total of six D-II conferences averaged at least 1,000 fans per home game for the season.

The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association topped all the Division III conferences with a 1,234 average per game to take its 15th consecutive attendance title. The state of Wisconsin was well represented in the top three conferences as the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin finished second and the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference took third.