Sweet-16: the most followed college basketball players on Twitter

Last month Chris Burrows compiled an exhaustive list of NCAA head coaches who are on Twitter, and he ranked them by number of followers. It was no surprise that John Calipari is the most followed coach, but it was surprising to discover that he dominates in the same way that the US Department of Defense dominates budgets – Calipari has more followers than every other head coach combined.

But for players that kind of list isn't possible. Or I suppose it is, but someone would need to track down potential Twitter accounts for approximately 4,400 players.

So instead I'm focusing on just the big guns. I combed through roughly one hundred lists on Twitter, and searched the rosters for the major programs. But as always – that with many potential accounts – there might be errors. If you see one, please email me using the 'contact' link above, or let me know on Twitter.

Regardless, here is the list of the 16 most followed players. And it's dominated by just a few programs. Does Kentucky rule? Not necessarily, but they do have a walk-on who made the list, which is pretty impressive.

Note that their names are links to their accounts.

player team followers
Shabazz Muhammad UCLA 84,135
Nerlens Noel Kentucky 59,420
Seth Curry Duke 50,734
Dexter Strickland UNC 49,860
Kyle Wiltjer Kentucky 46,338
Cody Zeller Indiana 33,472
Reggie Bullock UNC 32,132
Leslie McDonald UNC 29,167
Quinn Cook Duke 27,682
PJ Hairston UNC 27,005
Alex Poythress Kentucky 25,908
Jarrod Polson Kentucky 25,780
Archie Goodwin Kentucky 24,890
Christian Watford Indiana 24,355
James Michael McAdoo UNC 24,030
Andre Dawkins Duke 21,217

 

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