College Basketball Power Rankings: The Top 25 Student Sections in College Hoops

The difference between college basketball and the NBA (besides differences in scoring, defense, shot clock, etc.) is the atmosphere.

In college basketball, student sections make the games incredibly loud, and some of their chants and actions can be very entertaining.

The teams with the best home records are the ones with the best student sections, and this is due partly to their intensity and how they get players fired up.

So what what makes a good student section? They need energy. They need emotion. They need to be somewhat crazy. In short, they need to inspire their players in order for their team to win.

This list counts down the top 25 student sections in all of college hoops, and each section is unique in its own way. Enjoy.

25. Louisville's Nest

Louisville’s student section is known as the Nest, and they attend every sporting event from water polo to basketball. The Nest comprises solely of students who wish to attend, games, and it is not very selective.

By making the Nest open to just about anyone, the numbers may be high, but the enthusiasm per student is not as high as some of the other sections to come.

The Nest comes onto this list due to its sheer size of thousands and thousands of student for their biggest games.

24. Rutgers

The RAC, one of the steepest arenas in the Big East, boasts a student section that towers over the west baseline, giving players the feeling that fans are right on top of them.

Rutgers students come decked out in red for their Scarlet Knights, and this apparently gives the feel that a tidal wave of red is right on top of the opposing players.

If the Scarlet Knights are winning the game nearing the end, you can expect to hear all 8,000 or so students to start jingling their car keys or anything else that can make a metallic noise.

23. Missouri's ZouCrew

The ZouCrew is the student section of the Missouri Tigers’ basketball program. While their football program's student section is known as the Tiger’s Lair, the two have some similarities.

Both sections are very organized, finding ways to know which chants to say and when and what actions are appropriate for a time.

The ZouCrew makes Mizzou Arena a very hard place to play, and their constant noise level really disrupts the opposition’s offensive schemes.

22. Wake Forest's Screamin' Deacons

The Screamin' Deacons of Wake Forest don't just limit themselves to basketball (although they do a great job there too), they cover all sports for Wake Forest.

Despite having a pitiful year in the 2010-11 season, the Screamin' Deacons kept on cheering their Deacons to...well...not victory...but maybe respectable defeat?

21. Wisconsin's Grateful Red

The Grateful Red of Wisconsin can be found at every game in the Kohl Center for the Badgers. Attendance consists of 2,100 students from the floor to the ceiling on one side of the floor.

Students must attend many games for many sports if they want to sit close to the floor for these games, and when they get their shot, they go absolutely nuts.

20. Penn State's Nittany Nation

The Nittany Nation is the student section at the Bryce Jordan Center. Founded in the 2003-04 season and previously known as the Nittwits, their name can be seen on the sideline of the court.

Featured on ESPN and the Big Ten Network during live game action, Nittany Nation surrounds opposing teams on three sides of the court.

During the 2007-08 season, attendance in the Nation increased in a huge amount, jumping up to almost 6,000 for a home game against Ohio State.

19. Minnesota's Barnyard

The Barnyard of Minnesota consists of a few thousand Gopher fans, and they are as loud and crazy as most student sections in the nation.

What sets the Barnyard apart is that they even travel to a road game for the Gophers every year. The Minnesota sports marketing department and Barnyard Board organize a trip every year for about 65 students to go to a road game to help the Gophers win an important game.

18. Arkansas's Trough

The Razorbacks have their student section known as the Trough. The Trough attends every home game for all Arkansas teams and even some road games on rare occasions.

The Trough got its name during the 1993-94 season to describe the lower seats in the Bud Walton Arena. To become a member of the Trough, one must buy season tickets, and they must also continuously show their enthusiasm at games if they want to get good seats for big games.

Like some other student sections, the Trough is organized with their cheers; they have an email forum set up so that members can work on chants that would work well for each game.

17. Purdue's Paint Crew

The Boilermakers' Paint Crew is featured in every game in Mackey Arena, and they make it a difficult place to play.

The Paint Crew has been one of the largest student sections in the nation for a long time. Lines for games start at 8 a.m. on weekdays, and noon on weekends to get into games at 7 p.m.

The Paint Crew is a dedicated, organized bunch of students, and there are even Paint Crew officers to make sure everything goes smoothly and the section doesn't take too much heat form the NCAA.

16. West Virginia's Mountaineer Maniacs

Known as a party school, the games for West Virginia are like parties. The Mountaineer Maniacs are some of the loudest and most obnoxious fans on this list.

The NCAA has issued warnings to the section many times over the past few years, especially after they were shouting profanities so loud that it could be heard on national television last season.

The Mountaineer Maniacs are some of the rowdiest students we have on here, and technically, that does help their team win, and that makes them a good student section.

15. New Mexico's Pit

Believe it or not, “The Pit” is one of the best college basketball venues in the country. Since the stadium is built underground, its acoustics make it one of the loudest in the land.

The Pit is also ranked in the top 10 for attendance for a 35-year time span, and couple that with its superior acoustics, and you have a top-5 stadium.

The students of New Mexico are always welcome in the stadium because their raucousness sets them apart. While the stadium is one of the best, the sad part is that the Lobos' fans are great, but they are not top 5 like their stadium.

14. Florida's Rowdy Reptiles

The Rowdy Reptiles of the Florida Gators attend every game and make the Stephen C. O'Connell Center a formidable place to play, and it has been dubbed the “House of Horrors.”

The Reptiles are loud, and into the game, and they are always willing to do whatever it takes to help their Gators win the game, even if it involves questionable practices.

They are also known for their Gator Chomp.

13. Gonzaga

The students of Gonzaga have some pretty good ways of showing their support of their team. One of their most memorable trademarks was their “Support the 'Stache,” during which they would all wear fake mustaches. This was to show their support of one of their best players in history, Adam Morrison.

Gonzaga students also show their support of their team by doing some serious research on their opposition. Students check GPA, police records, etc. to come up with original chants against their WCC brethren.

The students of Gonzaga may not be known for camping out, but they do a surprising amount of research for a basketball game.

12. Washington

Hec Edmundson (Hec Ed) is probably the hardest place to play in the Pac-10 because of their raucous student section.

The students of Washington are such big fans of the Washington basketball team that they sit through football games when their team is pathetic just to be ensured tickets for the basketball season.

Washington fans, known to randomly sing Total Eclipse of the Heart while waiting for a game, are so good at disrupting other teams that Washington State coach Dick Bennett actually gave them the finger during a game.

11. Illinois' Orange Krush

The Orange Krush are loud, obnoxious, rude and everything else we look for in a student section.

The Krush make Assembly Hall an incredibly difficult place to play, particularly because they are seated right on the floor.

One of their “proudest” moments came when Indiana visited them in 2008, and they heckled Eric Gordon’s parents so much that they were told off multiple times by the school and the NCAA.

10. Utah State

Utah State may not have a specific students section, but their entire arena is filled with students. Utah State's lack of an actual student section is actually a good thing for them, because their students crowd the entire stadium, and this leads to deafening chants.

The entire arena is created into a student section when Utah State plays, and that is why they are allowed on this list.

9. North Carolina

The Dean Dome has one of the highest attendance rates in the country at just over 19,000 per game, 6,000 of which are students clad in powder blue

UNC fans come out in droves, and their students make the Dean Dome an incredibly tough place to play.

8. San Diego State

San Diego State's student section is known as the show, consisting of thousands of crazy fans, sporting red and holding posters and cutouts.

Creative writing students create posters, such as the Jimmer Fredette “mono” poster, which took a lot of heat.

Students of The Show continuously go up to the line between funny and offensive, and they typically cross it a few times per year.

7. Syracuse

Syracuse’s student section is found in a corner of the arena, and when you put thousands of students into a small area, it magnifies all of their voices.

While this can potentially make it hard to hear chants, the Orange are organized enough to chant in unison (a feat some other schools cannot accomplish for some reason), and this makes their chants even more effective.

The seats are not optimal for students, but their enthusiasm has not taken a hit, and the Orange’s fans are some of the loudest and most raucous in the country.

6. Notre Dame

The Notre Dame student section, aided by their famous leprechaun, is considered one of the best student sections in the country.

Their list of cheers stretches on and on, including the “Celtic Chant,” “Go, Irish, Go” and “Here come the Irish.”

The Notre Dame students come out in droves for all of their sporting events, and basketball is no exception.

5. Pittsburgh's Zoo

Have you noticed how good Pittsburgh is at home? They have won about 90 percent of their home games since they started playing at the Petersen Events Center due to the Zoo, their fabled student section.

Students at the Zoo make it near impossible to win when you travel to Pitt, and while talent had a lot to do with it, they are helping Pittsburgh win games.

4. Michigan State's Izzone

The Breslin Center is arguably the hardest place to play in the Big Ten, and the Izzone is a big part of that reputation.

For their first three years, students must attend games regularly if they want to sit in the lower bowl for their senior year, but even then it isn’t a guarantee.

Students wait for their chance to sit in the lower bowl for three long years, and when they get their shot, they go absolutely crazy. When a school restricts where you can sit for a time, when you finally get to go where you want, you make the most of every second, leading to the success of the students in being some of the craziest in the game today.

3. Kentucky

Kentucky’s “eRUPPtion Zone” is the student section of the third largest arena in college basketball, Rupp Arena, at 23,500 seating capacity.

In the eRUPPtion Zone, student wear blue kilts and paint their faces blue in honor of ex-coach Tubby Smith, who was from Scotland, MD.

To get tickets into the game, some students wait 24 hours in freezing cold, rain, sleet, snow or worse. The students’ dedication deserves recognition, and when they unfreeze themselves, they go nuts inside Rupp Arena.

2. Kansas

The Kansas Jayhawks' Allen Fieldhouse is one of the hardest places to play in the country, all thanks to the students.

Students sit directly behind the south basket, and they cover the north end of the court. Students are always going nuts during the games, and their Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk chant is one of the most famous chants of all of college basketball.

The best part about the students of Kansas is that they can almost always be seen camping outside of the stadium for the next game, even if the last game ended about two hours before.

1. Duke's Cameron Crazies

The Cameron Crazies’ name is an understatement in every form of the word.

The Crazies are the loudest, craziest, most dedicated fans in the college basketball world. I tried to find a school that could rival them so as not to make this No. 1 spot predictable, but I failed.

Students have been known to camp outside the stadium in Krzyzewskiville for weeks at a time to get tickets to the biggest games (like their annual home game against rival North Carolina), and some have their GPA's suffer, but it is worth it.

This year, I was able to get a place with the Crazies for their preseason game against D-II Champion Cal Poly Pomona, and the atmosphere was indescribable. You can’t even imagine how awesome the Crazies are until you’re with them, and while some may call this bias, the Crazies are HANDS DOWN the best fans in college hoops.