The final weekend before the NCAA tournament saw the last wave of conference tournaments. It became an especially big weekend of college basketball for CBS, which drew historic TV ratings for the Big Ten title game between Purdue and Michigan.
Sunday’s Big Ten tournament championship was the most-watched game of championship week, topping the ACC title game, which aired Saturday night. CBS also got a big win for its Selection Show with an average of 6.41 million viewers tuning in – the most since 2014. Additionally, the Big Ten semifinals were the two most-watched games outside of the championship games.
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ESPN also got more than 4 million viewers for the ACC title game, which saw Duke take down Virginia. Here are the most-watched conference championship games for the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season, per Nielsen Big Data + Panel TV ratings data obtained by On3.
Big Ten: Purdue vs. Michigan
Date/Time: March 15, 3:30 p.m. ET
Channel: CBS
Viewers: 4.72 million
At 4.72 million, Purdue’s win over Michigan became the most-watched Big Ten men’s basketball conference championship on record, topping the previous mark of 4.65 million in 2013. The Boilermakers were able to take control in the second half to take down the top-seeded Wolverines at the United Center in Chicago.
ACC: Virginia vs. Duke
Date/Time: March 14, 8:30 p.m. ET
Channel: ESPN
Viewers: 4.09 million
Duke’s win over Virginia became the second-most watched ACC men’s basketball championship on record, according to ESPN. An average of 4.09 million viewers tuned in as the Blue Devils secured a second straight conference title with a win over UVA.
Big 12: Houston vs. Arizona
Date/Time: March 14, 6 p.m. ET
Channel: ESPN
Viewers: 3.10 million
For the second straight year, it was Houston vs. Arizona for the Big 12 title. This time, the Wildcats got the win in front of 3.1 million viewers on Saturday night, which became the most-watched Big 12 championship game on record.
SEC: Vanderbilt vs. Arkansas
Date/Time: March 15, 1 p.m. ET
Channel: ESPN
Viewers: 2.61 million
The first Power Conference title game on Sunday, Darius Acuff and Arkansas took down Vanderbilt in Nashville to bring an SEC title in Year 2 under John Calipari. An average of 2.61 million viewers tuned in for the matchup to make it the second-most watched SEC championship game since 2017, ESPN said.
Big East: UConn vs. St. John’s
Date/Time: March 14, 5:30 p.m. ET
Channel: FOX
Viewers: 1.77 million
There was plenty of anticipation for Round 3 between UConn and St. John’s in the Big East championship game. Although the Red Storm won in a blowout, 1.77 million people tuned in on average. That made it the most-watched Big East title game ever on FOX, which got the rights to the conference championship in 2016.
More college basketball tournament TV ratings
Big Ten Semifinal: Wisconsin vs. Michigan (March 14, 1 p.m. ET, CBS) – 2.92 million
Big Ten Semifinal: Purdue vs. UCLA (March 14, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS) – 2.73 million
SEC Semifinal: Ole Miss vs. Arkansas (March 14, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) – 2.13 million
ACC Quarterfinal: Florida State vs. Duke (March 12, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN) – 1.99 million
Big 12 Semifinal: Iowa State vs. Arizona (March 13, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN) – 1.84 million
SEC Quarterfinal: Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt (March 13, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN) – 1.71 million
SEC Semifinal: Vanderbilt vs. Florida (March 14, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN) – 1.67 million
Conference tournament viewership continued the rise in TV ratings during the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season. Now, the NCAA Tournament is underway after teams secured the automatic bids to the big dance.