Uncovering the Madness: How the National Championship Played Out on Social

Trying to go the length of the court, with Arcidiacono…3 seconds at mid-court…gives it to Jenkins…for the Championship…YESSSSSSS!

If you’re a die-hard sports fan like me, lets be honest, we ask for a lot. This is especially true if your unwavering allegiance lies with one singular team in each sport. But as objective viewers, who tune in because it’s just what you do, what, above all else, do we ask for? A great, competitive game. Something we can talk about with our friends and coworkers the next day.

The Men’s Basketball National Championship on Monday night between Villanova and the University of North Carolina didn’t just give us a great, competitive game. It gave us one the best, most riveting championship games in recent memory. Maybe ever.

So, if you fell asleep (shame on you!) or if you just want to keep reliving the Madness, here’s what transpired during the last 13.4 seconds of the contest:

I urge you to re-watch that every morning before you start your day. You may never need coffee again. Unless, of course, you’re a UNC fan—in which case we are very, very sorry.

Social Impact: Still Buzzing

As for the impact of the National Championship on social, here’s how the Twitter conversation played out with tweets using the hashtag, #NationalChampionship on game day (April 4^th).

• The hashtag #NationalChampionship was used over 660,000 times
• There were 7 billion total potential impressions with tweets using #NationalChampionship
• Both North Carolina and Pennsylvania accounted for 22% of the Twitter conversation (with Twitter handles that had identifiable locations).
• Not surprising, the top mentions in combination with the hashtag were @MarchMadness, @NovaMBB and @UNC_Basketball, respectively.
• The hour that had the highest level of engagement was 11pm ET,within the 24-hour time period. You can thank the 11:28pm ET buzzer beater for that.

And that doesn’t even account for the sheer number of video views and shares of both the game-winning shot and the reactions that followed. May we all, one day, reach the happiness that Charles Barkley exhibits here:

Combine Barkley’s Philadelphia ties with the fact that his daughter graduated from Villanova, and you get a high steppin’ clip that will live on social timelines for eternity.

Speaking of ties…full disclosure: Quattro is about 12 minutes down the road from Villanova’s campus. So we had more than few employees doing the same dance into the office yesterday.

Got a favorite moment from the National Championship? Let us know on Twitter.