North Carolina Rumble as Duke Remains Favorite College Basketball Team while UNC is Back to Number Two

NEW YORK, March 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The bracket busting is happening… Basketball fans are mumbling things like "who are FGCU???" under their breath and everyone is waiting to see who ends up in Atlanta in the Final Four. And, in the midst of the Madness that is March, for the fourth year in a row, the Duke Blue Devils are America's Favorite Men's College Basketball team. After a drop to number three last year, Duke's rivals, the UNC Tar Heels are back up to number two; Ohio State leaps up from the number 10 spot last year to the number 3 spot this year.

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Rounding out the top five favorite college basketball teams are Michigan, claiming the number 4 spot alone after sharing it last year, and UCLA, returning to the list at the number 5 position after a two year absence.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,276 adults, of whom 570 follow college basketball, surveyed online between March 13 and 18, 2013 by Harris Interactive. Full findings and data tables are available here.

At the number 6 spot on the top ten is a new entry to the list, Gonzaga – a number one seed in the tournament who lost in the round of 32; then, at number 7, Illinois returns to the list after a one year absence. The team that FGCU beat, Georgetown, returns to the favorite college basketball list at number 8, and Texas, who tied for number 8 last year, is at number 9 this year. Rounding out the top ten is last year's number 2 and the 2012 National Champions, Kentucky.

Four teams dropped off the favorite men's college basketball team top ten this year: Michigan State, who tied last year for number 4; Syracuse, previously at number 6; Missouri, previously at number 7; and Connecticut, who tied last year for number 8.

Women's College Basketball
Connecticut remains America's Favorite Women's College Basketball team again this year, while Tennessee, after a drop to number 3 last year, returns to the second spot for 2013. Baylor, last year's number 2, drops one spot to number 3, and Notre Dame (number 4 last year) and UNC (number 6 last year) are tied for the number 4 spot. After a one year absence from the top 10 list, Stanford returns to the list at the number 6 spot. Kentucky retains the number 7 position on the list, and Rutgers returns to the list at number 8 after a three year absence. Remaining at number 9 this year is Texas, and dropping from the number 5 spot to the number 10 spot is Maryland.

Dropping off the women's top ten are Duke (was number 8) and Purdue (was number 10).

NCAA Tournament Winners
There are still a few games left to play, but one in five college basketball fans (21%) believe Duke will be cutting down the nets in Atlanta after it's all over and 19% say it will be Indiana. On the women's side, one-quarter (26%) say Baylor will win it all, followed by 7% saying it will be Connecticut and 6% believing it will be Tennessee.

So What?
College sports are big business and every March, the eyes of sports fans turn to basketball. Some businesses seem to shut down on the first Thursday and Friday of the tournament and many more just give in, showing the games in a communal area for employees. Among all adults, one-quarter (26%) follow men's college basketball and just under one in ten (8%) follow women's college basketball. But, as brackets are and strategies laid out to win it all, it seems like a lot more people may follow college basketball this time of the year.

For more information, or to view the full findings and data tables, please visit the Harris Poll News Room.

Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between March 13 to 18, 2013 among 2,276 adults (aged 18 and over), of whom 570 follow college basketball. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. A complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, can be found here.

The Harris Poll^® #15, March 27, 2013
By Regina A. Corso, SVP, Harris Poll and Public Relations, Harris Interactive

About Harris Interactive
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SOURCE Harris Interactive