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 |