March Madness Ratings Highest in 19 Years, With NCAA Games Averaging 10.7 Million Viewers, Nielsen Reports

The Fab Five wasn’t the only thing from the early 1990s that returned to college basketball on Monday night. Big ratings were back as well.

The national title game between Louisville and Michigan averaged 23.4 million viewers, a 12 percent increase from last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. That capped off an NCAA Tournament that averaged 10.7 million viewers — marks that haven’t been seen since 1994.

The Louisville-Michigan matchup was far more interesting than last year’s Kansas-Kentucky tilt, when the heavyweight Wildcats easily took the crown. This year’s tournament also featured several upsets, with a record number of low seeds making the Sweet 16.