Indeed, the pursuit of an NCAA basketball championship has the entire UW excited.
But the size of that fanbase may be a bit overstated, at least by one measure: social media followers.
UConn's team was found to have the highest percentage of fake followers in the country on the popular social media site Instagram.
That's according to research from Flashpicks, a college basketball website that features news, game suggestions, and betting tips.
Using Star-ngage, a fake follower checker, we analyzed the Instagram profiles and followers of 105 U.S. college men's and women's basketball teams and men's football teams.
| rank | college | Total followers on Instagram | Estimated number of fake followers | Percentage of fake followers |
| 1 | duke blue devils | 1,653,000 | 426,400 | 25.8% |
| 2 | oklahoma sooners | 677,700 | 108,200 | 15.97% |
| 3 | ohio state buckeyes | 1,342,700 | 192,800 | 14.36% |
| Four | alabama crimson tide | 1,485,400 | 122,400 | 8.24% |
| Five | georgia bulldogs | 1,087,800 | 82,100 | 7.55% |
| 6 | Clemson Tigers | 858,500 | 63,100 | 7.35% |
| 7 | north carolina tar heels | 859,900 | 62,600 | 7.28% |
| 8 | university huskies | 463,800 | 31,200 | 6.73% |
| 9 | kentucky wildcats | 805,900 | 51,700 | 6.42% |
| Ten | oregon ducks | 834,900 | 53,100 | 6.36% |
| Ten | volunteer tennessee | 882,000 | 53,500 | 6.07% |
Fake followers include:
- Automated accounts called bots
- Abandoned or rarely used inactive accounts
- purchased followers
Fake followers can be a serious problem for organizations with a large social media presence, as they can skew engagement rates.
According to the study, UConn has about 464,000 Instagram followers, but about 31,000, or just under 7%, are fake. This is the 8th highest number of fake followers among school teams.
Schools ahead of UConn include UConn Men's Final Four opponent, the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Number one on the fake followers list? The Duke Blue Devils have about 26% of their Instagram followers believed to be fake, followed by the Oklahoma Sooners with 16% and the Ohio State Buckeyes with 15%.
We reached out to UConn for comment on this story, but have not yet received a response.
