Indianapolis, Ind. — The Missouri Southern men’s and women’s basketball teams have once again ranked among the nation’s best when it comes to attendance at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center each game. 
Both the men’s and women’s programs ranked in the top 13 for the second-straight year as the men ranked 13th and the women were 12th nationally in Division II.
The women ranked 12th, down from 11th a season ago, but saw nearly 18,000 fans come through the gates at home where they averaged 1,185 fans per game. That number ranked sixth in the MIAA, as the league had seven of the top 13 teams in Division II attendance.
Fort Hays State ranked second, while Emporia State was third. Washburn ranked fifth, while Missouri Western was 7th nationally. Nebraska-Kearney ranked 11th, while Southern and Pittsburg State were 12th and 13th, respectively. Central Missouri ranked 26th nationally, giving the league eight of the top 30 teams in attendance.
The men ranked 13th nationally, the same ranking they held a season ago. The Lions saw a total of 24,527 fans at there home games this season for an average of 1,751 to rank fifth in the MIAA as the league had six of the top 17 schools and eight in the top 30.
Nebraska-Kearney was the top MIAA team, ranking fourth, while Fort Hays ranked fifth. Washburn was 10th, followed by Central Missouri at No. 11. Southern was 13th, Emporia State ranked 17th, while Missouri Western and Pittsburg State ranked 28th and 30th, respectively.
As a league, the MIAA once again dominated the turnstiles this year. The men were the top-ranked in Division II conference for the seventh-straight year, while the women topped the attendance charts for an eighth-straight season. The MIAA men’s teams saw an average of 1,419 fans at its games with a total number of 286,670 fans watching games, 10,000 more than the next-highest conference. The MIAA women saw an average of 1,117 fans and a total of 223,397, 26,000 more than the next conference.
In comparison with other leagues, the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) had a total of 234 games this season on the men’s side and drew nearly 100,000 less fans than the MIAA, while on the women’s side the GLVC teams had 222 home games with 112,000 fewer fans watching games.