Michigan State basketball vs. Marquette was most-watched first-weekend game

Sunday evening’s Marquette vs. Michigan State basketball game was the most-watched of the NCAA Tournament’s opening weekend.

Sunday night’s Marquette vs. Michigan State basketball had a legit Final Four feel to it.

The Spartans, a 7-seed, and 2-seeded Marquette battled it out down to the wire and Michigan State picked up a nine-point win to move on to the Sweet 16 for the second time in the past four tournaments.

There’s a reason Tom Izzo is called Mr. March and he proved he’s deserving of that nickname over the first weekend and millions of people tuned in to see him in action.

Actually, Michigan State had the most-watched first-weekend game against the Golden Eagles, according to Kevin Pauga. Even further, our own ‘Great Lakes Fungi’ (expect analytical articles coming from them soon) compared the 10.9 million viewers from MSU’s second-round game to some previous Final Four matchups and you’d be surprised at which games the Spartans drew a bigger audience than.

For comparison, that's better than the 2021 (BAY v HOU), 2016 (NOVA v OU), and 2003 KU v MARQ) early Final Four games.

(FWIW my data only stretches back to around 2003 for the non- championship games.) pic.twitter.com/aH20dVFVGm

— Great Lakes Fungi ? (@GreatLakesFungi) March 21, 2023

Michigan State’s second-round game against Marquette drew more viewers than Villanova’s 2016 Final Four game against Oklahoma, Baylor’s 2021 Final Four game against Houston, and Kansas’ 2003 Final Four game against Marquette. That’s actually insane when you think about it.

This just goes to show how big of a brand Michigan State is. People tune in to watch Izzo in March and there was a good feeling that the Spartans were going to pull off the upset.

Thinking of all the big games from the first weekend, it’s somewhat shocking that Michigan State drew the most viewers. Here were some of the big-time matchups:

• Duke vs. Tennessee
• Arkansas vs. Kansas
• Kansas State vs. Kentucky
• Creighton vs. Baylor
• Miami vs. Indiana

Like I said: national brand.

Sure, it could have been aided by some Michigan fans hate-watching Michigan State basketball and hoping for the Spartans’ downfall, but we’ll take it. People like to watch Michigan State.