Yesterday, SMU removed itself from the list of the unbeatens, the last of America’s 351 teams to do so. Give Larry Brown credit: at least he is consistent with his coaching philosophy. He wants his team shooting 2’s (despite the fact that the Mustangs have made 41% of their 3’s this season) and he doesn’t want his opponent to do so. With the players SMU has, Brown can use just about any strategy he wants and win, but against Temple on Sunday he witnessed the Owls make 14-of-29 3’s to open up a comfortable lead in the second half.
The SMU loss also concludes the season’s unbeaten tweets. This season, I produced individual tweets for every team in the nation and it was received with mixed reviews. Many people flashed their twitter police badges, demanding an end to the unbeaten tweets, and many followers were lost. I’m particularly going to miss Boog Sciambi. (Why was Northern Arizona the tipping point, Boog?)
Banksy was criticized for vandalizing public places at the beginning of his career but is now widely celebrated as an artistic genius. In the end, vandalizing timelines was all worth it. Performance art and what not. The people who weren’t unfollowing were liking and retweeting and that provided some insight into hoops’ fans tweeting habits.
The most retweeted and liked tweet was when Duke lost. It received 832 retweets and 800 likes. Surprisingly, that shattered the mark set by the Kentucky tweet during last season’s Final Four. The second most popular tweet, was, well, Kentucky, which got 373 retweets and 497 likes.
In total, there were 7,586 retweets and 10,832 likes. Obviously, a retweet is putting more skin in the game because you’re publicly endorsing the tweet for all the world to see. In this light, Duke was also extreme. It was the only team to have more retweets than likes among the ten most popular tweets.
There are a lot of factors that went into to how much attention each tweet received. First and foremost was the general hatred of the team by the tweeting public. But other things like the visibility of the game and the shock factor of the loss played into it as well. Duke is perhaps the most hated team in the land, but it helped that they lost to Kentucky in one of the most-viewed games of the season so far. And sure, Wisconsin has its detractors, but losing to Western Illinois on the first day of the season was even more special for the tweeter looking to get a dig in on the Badgers. (Western Illinois is currently on a nine-game losing streak, by the way.)
But timing was important, too. UCLA’s opening night loss to then-unknown Monmouth occurred well after most of the nation went to bed. Thus its tweet ranks just 19th. Who a team lost to also played a role. It didn’t help Duke that Kentucky fans were willing to enjoy the Blue Devils’ misery. But more obscure teams found their tweets getting more attention than you’d expect based on name recognition alone. Grand Canyon, Utah Valley, and Chattanooga are got a nice boost as fans from Louisville, BYU, and Iowa State, respectively, acknowledged their own accomplishments.
Actually, it appears the fans of the winning team are much more willing to like the tweet of its victim than actually retweet it, while true haters tended to retweet. Both Utah Valley and Chattanooga were among teams with the highest ratio of likes to retweets, while Duke and Louisville led in ratio of retweets to likes.
There are other oddities, too. Mercer’s loss to Davidson, which dropped the unbeaten count to 69, received the 54th-most attention for whatever reason. And without this experiment, I would have never known the feelings that Abilene Christian’s fan base has towards Incarnate Word, whose tweet got the 63rd-most attention after losing to Purdue.
Actually, Purdue fans probably deserve most of the credit for that. They seemed to get a special thrill out of ending opponents’ unbeaten dreams, as the totals for North Carolina A&T, Old Dominion, Florida and Pitt are all inflated.
It was Saint Francis Brooklyn that had none of these things going for it. With three retweets and four likes, the Terriers edged out San Jose State for the tweet that was most ignored. In the middle of a Saturday afternoon filled with college football, almost nobody cared that the Terriers lost their season opener to Boston College. BC basketball fans are a rare breed at this point and the Terriers lack of college basketball history hasn’t attracted a hated rival. At least not one with fans who were motivated to mock 0-1 St. Francis on a Saturday afternoon.
For the historical record, here’s the entire list of retweets and likes generated by each team’s first loss. Ranking is determined by the sum of retweets and likes, with a 30% discount given to likes.
Rank Order Team RT Like 1 145 Duke 832 800 2 18 Kentucky 373 497 3 71 Indiana 262 290 4 93 North Carolina 241 255 5 265 Wisconsin 187 231 6 0 SMU 176 231 7 4 Michigan St. 130 208 8 26 Pittsburgh 124 206 9 140 Kansas 108 158 10 305 North Carolina St. 119 134 11 184 Virginia 115 123 12 310 Arizona St. 100 130 13 22 Louisville 112 105 14 2 Oklahoma 95 128 15 24 Maryland 69 149 16 29 Dayton 81 120 17 350 Vermont 81 115 18 23 Cincinnati 70 126 19 240 UCLA 69 107 20 104 Michigan 80 88 21 6 Iowa St. 64 109 22 79 Florida 53 108 23 7 Purdue 69 83 24 3 Xavier 69 75 25 10 West Virginia 59 85 26 15 Grand Canyon 54 90 27 153 Missouri 63 69 28 235 Georgetown 65 61 29 146 Wichita St. 53 71 30 46 Iowa 51 69 31 1 South Carolina 42 73 32 31 Saint Louis 38 78 33 110 Ohio St. 55 53 34 39 Arizona 45 63 35 296 Illinois 46 52 36 272 Utah Valley 26 80 37 168 San Diego St. 41 54 38 21 Syracuse 29 69 39 97 North Florida 37 57 40 51 Connecticut 31 65 41 337 Richmond 38 52 42 49 Notre Dame 33 59 43 44 USC 27 62 44 349 Fairfield 35 50 45 68 Chattanooga 19 68 46 12 Villanova 24 60 47 16 Oregon 28 52 48 5 Arkansas Little Rock 32 38 49 345 Colorado 29 42 50 52 Gonzaga 20 54 51 98 Old Dominion 27 44 52 193 Tennessee 28 39 53 70 LSU 21 45 54 69 Mercer 25 39 55 269 Marquette 29 32 56 330 Morgan St. 24 39 57 289 Northern Colorado 21 43 58 9 UNC Wilmington 25 37 59 239 Texas 24 38 60 60 Kansas St. 18 43 61 129 Creighton 20 40 62 333 North Carolina A&T 19 40 63 138 Incarnate Word 16 44 64 142 Nebraska 23 33 65 43 Texas A&M 17 40 66 8 Saint Mary's 23 31 67 28 Providence 16 40 68 223 Virginia Tech 23 30 69 64 Clemson 21 32 70 344 Robert Morris 22 30 71 157 Alabama 24 27 72 331 Eastern Illinois 22 29 73 37 George Washington 19 32 74 195 New Mexico St. 20 30 75 339 Temple 24 24 76 336 Siena 19 31 77 34 Colorado St. 21 28 78 45 California 16 35 79 53 Vanderbilt 13 38 80 17 Northern Illinois 17 31 81 59 Washington 18 29 82 321 Samford 16 31 83 155 DePaul 21 23 83 347 Jacksonville St. 21 23 85 13 Davidson 15 31 86 180 Mississippi St. 23 19 87 262 Wofford 16 28 88 185 Elon 18 24 89 303 Georgia 17 25 90 332 Albany 16 26 90 343 Quinnipiac 16 26 92 134 Arkansas 18 23 93 73 St. John's 17 24 94 11 Houston 12 31 95 14 Princeton 16 25 95 19 Washington St. 16 25 97 234 Northern Iowa 20 19 98 63 Northwestern 17 22 99 160 BYU 12 29 100 42 Miami FL 11 30 101 187 Radford 17 21 102 306 Maine 14 25 103 341 Mount St. Mary's 16 22 104 54 Massachusetts 15 23 105 161 Baylor 13 25 105 304 Miami OH 13 25 107 252 Boise St. 15 21 108 258 UAB 17 18 109 107 Penn St. 14 22 110 314 George Mason 16 19 111 113 Florida St. 12 24 112 342 Rider 15 19 113 172 Columbia 16 16 113 325 Southeast Missouri St. 16 16 113 348 Northwestern St. 16 16 116 25 Louisiana Tech 13 19 117 246 Illinois St. 15 16 118 218 NJIT 12 20 119 124 Texas Tech 13 18 119 346 South Dakota 13 18 121 256 Portland St. 12 19 122 108 Utah 9 23 123 32 Western Illinois 11 20 124 78 Valparaiso 8 23 125 244 Southern Utah 10 20 126 105 VCU 9 21 126 206 Iona 9 21 128 33 Alabama A&M 10 19 128 158 Rhode Island 10 19 130 61 Oregon St. 12 16 130 156 Auburn 12 16 132 154 Memphis 11 17 133 323 UNC Asheville 13 14 134 241 Seattle 8 21 135 47 Evansville 14 12 136 147 St. Bonaventure 11 16 136 270 Weber St. 11 16 138 254 Pacific 13 13 139 133 Loyola Chicago 10 17 139 302 IPFW 10 17 141 329 Lehigh 12 14 142 86 New Mexico 9 18 142 99 East Carolina 9 18 142 135 Western Kentucky 9 18 145 177 Bradley 11 15 146 300 Austin Peay 13 12 147 62 UNLV 10 16 147 250 Gardner Webb 10 16 147 260 Navy 10 16 147 318 Prairie View A&M 10 16 147 335 Northern Kentucky 10 16 152 132 SIU Edwardsville 12 13 153 77 Butler 9 17 153 224 Harvard 9 17 155 27 Fresno St. 8 18 155 48 Boston College 8 18 157 299 Binghamton 10 15 158 181 Chicago St. 7 19 159 202 North Dakota St. 9 16 160 30 Utah St. 8 17 160 144 Middle Tennessee 8 17 160 279 Missouri St. 8 17 163 308 UMass Lowell 10 14 163 324 Western Carolina 10 14 165 284 Charlotte 12 11 166 20 UTEP 7 18 166 117 Stanford 7 18 166 196 Loyola Marymount 7 18 169 277 Drexel 11 12 170 236 Montana St. 10 13 171 115 Oklahoma St. 9 14 171 242 Pepperdine 9 14 171 340 Wagner 9 14 174 136 Eastern Michigan 8 15 174 221 The Citadel 8 15 174 307 Denver 8 15 174 334 Fairleigh Dickinson 8 15 178 198 South Alabama 9 13 178 301 UMBC 9 13 180 65 Tulsa 11 10 180 100 Idaho St. 11 10 180 281 Cornell 11 10 180 311 St. Francis PA 11 10 180 338 Dartmouth 11 10 185 220 Norfolk St. 8 14 185 315 North Carolina Central 8 14 187 166 UC Santa Barbara 10 11 187 189 Wyoming 10 11 187 297 Maryland Eastern Shore 10 11 190 215 Southern Miss 7 15 190 312 Boston University 7 15 192 320 Lafayette 9 12 193 36 Hawaii 6 16 194 130 Mississippi 8 13 194 197 Portland 8 13 196 169 Drake 10 10 197 72 Duquesne 7 14 197 106 Detroit 7 14 197 127 Rutgers 7 14 197 309 Indiana St. 7 14 201 74 Abilene Christian 9 11 201 243 Cal Poly 9 11 203 75 Hofstra 11 8 204 228 Florida Gulf Coast 6 15 205 41 Southern Illinois 8 12 205 182 Morehead St. 8 12 205 317 Canisius 8 12 208 191 James Madison 10 9 209 94 William & Mary 5 16 210 151 Liberty 7 13 210 217 Mississippi Valley St. 7 13 210 292 Northern Arizona 7 13 213 294 Loyola MD 9 10 214 179 Oral Roberts 11 7 215 170 IUPUI 6 14 215 247 Jackson St. 6 14 215 319 Coppin St. 6 14 218 40 Winthrop 8 11 218 266 Central Connecticut 8 11 220 232 VMI 10 8 221 125 Seton Hall 7 12 221 128 Furman 7 12 221 143 North Dakota 7 12 221 287 Ball St. 7 12 225 322 Niagara 9 9 226 119 Alcorn St. 6 13 226 199 Hartford 6 13 226 290 Nebraska Omaha 6 13 229 50 UC Irvine 8 10 229 233 Howard 8 10 229 274 American 8 10 229 286 Texas Southern 8 10 233 327 UT Rio Grande Valley 10 7 234 67 Central Michigan 5 14 234 122 Stony Brook 5 14 236 82 Yale 7 11 236 248 Green Bay 7 11 236 293 Cal St. Northridge 7 11 239 326 Marist 9 8 240 219 UCF 4 15 241 57 La Salle 6 12 241 238 Santa Clara 6 12 241 261 Coastal Carolina 6 12 244 66 North Texas 8 9 244 139 Bowling Green 8 9 244 259 Arkansas St. 8 9 247 80 Oakland 5 13 247 81 Akron 5 13 247 137 Wake Forest 5 13 247 152 Milwaukee 5 13 247 226 Central Arkansas 5 13 252 112 East Tennessee St. 7 10 252 126 Marshall 7 10 252 275 Charleston Southern 7 10 255 87 UC Riverside 4 14 255 90 Toledo 4 14 255 103 Long Beach St. 4 14 258 159 Nevada 6 11 258 253 High Point 6 11 260 239 Rice 8 8 261 295 Southern 5 12 262 173 Tennessee Tech 7 9 262 176 Eastern Kentucky 7 9 262 207 Bucknell 7 9 262 245 Cal St. Fullerton 7 9 262 313 Presbyterian 7 9 267 85 Texas St. 4 13 267 212 Bryant 4 13 269 183 Holy Cross 6 10 270 210 Western Michigan 5 11 270 225 Hampton 5 11 270 273 UMKC 5 11 273 116 Ohio 7 8 273 141 Idaho 7 8 273 268 McNeese St. 7 8 273 276 Brown 7 8 273 316 South Carolina St. 7 8 278 123 Minnesota 4 12 279 84 Georgia Tech 6 9 279 120 Texas A&M Corpus Chris 6 9 279 298 Tennessee Martin 6 9 282 267 Air Force 8 6 283 35 Sacramento St. 3 13 284 200 Louisiana Monroe 5 10 284 214 Youngstown St. 5 10 284 291 San Diego 5 10 287 271 South Florida 7 7 288 150 New Hampshire 6 8 288 249 Stephen F. Austin 6 8 288 280 Delaware St. 6 8 288 288 Grambling St. 6 8 288 328 Florida Atlantic 6 8 293 192 Sacred Heart 8 5 294 131 Kent St. 5 9 294 201 Stetson 5 9 294 251 Southeastern Louisiana 5 9 294 257 Tulane 5 9 294 278 UTSA 5 9 299 102 Longwood 7 6 299 165 Montana 7 6 299 263 Eastern Washington 7 6 302 91 Penn 2 13 303 58 Georgia St. 4 10 303 88 UNC Greensboro 4 10 303 96 College of Charleston 4 10 303 149 Appalachian St. 4 10 303 222 Wright St. 4 10 308 167 Manhattan 6 7 308 188 Tennessee St. 6 7 310 56 LIU Brooklyn 3 11 311 111 Delaware 5 8 312 83 Northeastern 7 5 312 285 UC Davis 7 5 314 92 Saint Joseph's 4 9 315 255 USC Upstate 6 6 316 38 South Dakota St. 3 10 316 211 Fordham 3 10 316 227 Towson 3 10 319 163 Belmont 5 7 319 174 Georgia Southern 5 7 319 190 Campbell 5 7 319 264 Houston Baptist 5 7 323 164 Monmouth 4 8 323 208 Cleveland St. 4 8 325 76 Army 5 6 325 89 Bethune Cookman 5 6 325 109 Murray St. 5 6 325 175 Colgate 5 6 329 55 Cal St. Bakersfield 4 7 329 148 UT Arlington 4 7 329 178 Arkansas Pine Bluff 4 7 329 200 Florida A&M 4 7 329 203 Nicholls St. 4 7 334 162 Lamar 5 5 334 282 Illinois Chicago 5 5 334 283 Kennesaw St. 5 5 337 95 TCU 2 9 337 114 FIU 2 9 339 101 Savannah St. 4 6 339 171 Alabama St. 4 6 341 216 Sam Houston St. 3 7 341 229 Jacksonville 3 7 343 186 Buffalo 5 4 344 121 Troy 2 8 345 118 San Francisco 3 6 345 213 Lipscomb 3 6 347 205 Saint Peter's 2 7 347 231 New Orleans 2 7 349 194 Louisiana Lafayette 4 4 350 209 San Jose St. 3 5 351 230 St. Francis NY 3 4