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If the committee primarily put the Spartans in the First Four due to raising TV ratings, then their wish came true.
Despite the game not tipping off until after 10 p.m. ET on Thursday night, the matchup between Michigan State and UCLA was the most-watched First Four game in NCAA Tournament history. The First Four began in 2011.
Michigan State-UCLA the most-watched First Four game ever. Story from @TonyPaul1984 https://t.co/8qgnZxsOR9 pic.twitter.com/XwC9VCJUWb
— Detroit News Sports (@detnews_sports) March 19, 2021
Many believed — and the metrics also supported — that Michigan State shouldn’t have been in the First Four and that the committee placed them in that game against UCLA to simply boost TV ratings. That argument is a bit harder to make since the Spartans blew a 14-point lead and lost to the Bruins, but the TV numbers support the case as well.
According to Tony Paul of The Detroit News, Michigan State-UCLA drew 3.3 million viewers at its peak and overall there 7.6 million viewers for the four First Four games.
Click here to read the rest of the story from Paul.
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