By Jason Grodsky

Staff Writer

For the 30th consecutive season, Big Ten men’s basketball topped all other conferences in national attendance according to numbers released by the NCAA last week.

The Big Ten ranked first among all conferences with an average of 12,581 per game or session. Sitting in second place was the Atlantic Coast Conference, which finished with 11,273 per game. The final attendance numbers and rankings were calculated by the NCAA and include both regular-season and conference tournament attendance.

Also, for the 14th straight season the Big Ten broke the two-million mark in total attendance. The Big Ten welcomed 2,186,322 fans to its venues in 176 games, averaging 12,422 patrons per contest.

Illinois ranked ninth in the national attendance standings for the 2005-06 season. The Illini set a school record for highest average season attendance at Assembly Hall at 16,618 fans per game.

“We’ve had a tremendous run of fan support at home,” Bruce Weber, Illinois head basketball coach, said. “The year before we were seen by the most fans of any team in the county. There is no doubt that has been a huge key to our success.”

Even more impressive, Illinois played in front of a sell out crowd at every home game this past season, a school-record 16 games. The Illini will look to continue its streak of 28 consecutive sell-outs into next season.

“We have tremendous fans that are very loyal,” Weber said. “We’ve also had a pretty good product over the last few years so it kind of adds up to all of the sell outs at home. But our big goal is to keep our sell outs and our home court advantage going into this season and the future. I hope our fans take a lot of pride in helping us be successful.”

The Big Ten finished with six schools among the country’s top 25 in average attendance, and had three schools in the top 10. No other conference placed more than four teams in the country’s top 25.

Kentucky was the top ranked school in average attendance with 22,763 fans per game, just 1,000 more fans per game than second-place Syracuse.

Wisconsin ranked the highest out of all the Big Ten schools at 7th with an average attendance of 17,142. Indiana finished just ahead of the Illini in 8th with an average attendance of 16,949. 2005-06 Big Ten Champion Ohio State finished 11th in the nation, while Michigan State ranked 14th and Iowa rounded out the country’s top 25 at 25th.

“Big Ten basketball has led the nation in attendance since they have been doing attendance statistics,” Weber said. “We’re one of the best, if not the best, conferences in the country. The Big Ten has great tradition, great venues and great programs, and it shows.”