The Athletic's coverage of MUBB

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I would also say that Marquette being 17th in KenPom subscriptions may speak more to the lack of popularity of college basketball at football schools than it does to the popularity of Marquette.

[The Lens]

Marquette may have an incredibly fierce and loyal following for niche products like Pomeroy, podcasts and even games* (we're Top 25 attendance school) but when it comes to casual fans we have very little comparatively.   That is why mainstream (MJS) or near mainstream outlets like the Athletic are not going to focus on us.  We're a Catholic school in the 33rd DMA with < 8,500 undergrads and very little non alumni fans.  I do realize there are the some (and some great one on this board) but walk the streets of Anytown, WI and those random MU fans are the exception.

* And even for games I would bet that the Bucks have 6-8 times the number of unique visitors to games than we do (accounting for total # of home games of course).

[brewcity77]

I think that ignoring any fanbase of a top-25ish program is probably a mistake. With the exception of all but maybe 2-3 high majors, each of those programs generates enough interest not just in their own fanbase but also within their conference.

When the fanbase is literally saying "we're here and will pay for content" that's worth marketing to. When you go to the Athletic's CBB dropdown, 8 of the 10 Big East teams are highlighted as teams you can search for, including Marquette. There are only 34 teams listed there. So basically, you're branding us as one of the top programs in terms of interest, along with the vast majority of our league (DePaul and Providence left out) and yet not providing content. That's just an odd choice to make.

[skianth16]

I think that ignoring any fanbase of a top-25ish program is probably a mistake. With the exception of all but maybe 2-3 high majors, each of those programs generates enough interest not just in their own fanbase but also within their conference.

When the fanbase is literally saying "we're here and will pay for content" that's worth marketing to. When you go to the Athletic's CBB dropdown, 8 of the 10 Big East teams are highlighted as teams you can search for, including Marquette. There are only 34 teams listed there. So basically, you're branding us as one of the top programs in terms of interest, along with the vast majority of our league (DePaul and Providence left out) and yet not providing content. That's just an odd choice to make.

I doubt teams like Gonzaga, Nevada, Butler or Houston are getting their own writers despite recent sustained success. Teams without big fanbases just don't drive dollars. And for a company with finite resources, that matters.

And for comparison's sake, I took a look through Villanova's page to see what kind of content they get. They don't seem to have a dedicated writer. A lot of the articles posted on their page are by national CBB writers that happen to mention Villanova. Of the few articles written specifically about Nova, they are written by a variety of people, none of whom mention Villanova basketball in their bio summary. So even Villanova doesn't have a big enough fanbase in the eyes of the Athletic to have a dedicated writer.

The site has expanded a ton since it started, though. So as it expands, we'll get more coverage of teams and cities that are currently viewed as secondary. And hopefully, while that's going on, MU will be relevant enough on a national basis to get some content from the Seth Davises and Dana O'Neils of the world too.