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Final Four beat BCS bowls and NBA Finals in TV ratings

Michigan v Louisville

ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 08: Peyton Siva #3 of the Louisville Cardinals passes the ball against Trey Burke #3 of the Michigan Wolverines in the second half during the 2013 NCAA Men’s Final Four Championship at the Georgia Dome on April 8, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

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A recent article from Sports Media Watch told us something we already knew: the Final Four is great television, and hugely popular.

According to the site, the recent, thrilling NBA finals came in second in viewership in the all-important demographic of males aged 18-49, with an average 7.1 rating over the seven-game series. The Final Four was numero uno in live sports.

In a way, this is kind of an apples-to-oranges comparison. The Final Four is three single-elimination games, while the NBA Finals can be anywhere from four to seven games, with elimination not even a possibility over the first three contests. The stakes are rather different in that respect.

Still, it has to be interesting to hoops fans to note that both events finished higher than the five BCS Bowl games. The Final Four was tabbed with a 11.4 rating, and an unofficial average of 18.2 million viewers. The BCS games drew an 8.8 with 15.1 million sets of eyeballs trained toward football.

The comparison is a bit of a chimera, but interesting nonetheless. While your average regular-season football contest out of the Big Ten or SEC will whoop just about any college hoops game you can imagine, basketball purists can rest assured that our postseason is still the best thing in sports - the numbers back us up on that.

Eric Angevine is the editor of Storming the Floor. He tweets @stfhoops.