A Historic Season

Men’s basketball NCAA Tournament appearance raises profile of UNC Asheville

By UNC Asheville

April 26^th, 2023

The 2022-23 campaign for the UNC Asheville Bulldogs was historic on many levels, with victories at every home game and 27 wins overall, record-breaking attendance, and a nail-biting comeback victory on March 5 at the Big South Championship game that resulted in an automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Tournament – the Bulldogs’ first appearance since 2016.

Asheville’s contest against UCLA on March 16 in Sacramento during Round One of March Madness had a big impact back home as well, generating impressive increases in media exposure and institutional awareness.

For instance, visits to the UNC Asheville website during the month of March expanded significantly:

Direct traffic to unca.edu increased by 260 percent and organic search for UNC Asheville grew by 147 percent
The key admission page unca.edu/apply increased by 124 percent
Asheville, Atlanta, and Charlotte were among the top cities of origin

Social media traffic to the main University channels saw similar increases:

Instagram engagement grew by 5,735 percent, impressions increased 1,332 percent, and brand awareness grew by 278 percent
Facebook engagement grew by 3,394 percent, impressions increased 455 percent, and brand awareness grew by 229 percent
Twitter impressions grew by 371 percent

Year-to-date, the uncabulldogs.com Athletics website saw similar growth in traffic during the month of March:

Overall, uncabulldogs.com saw a 300 percent increase in visitors from organic search, which included a total of 19,543 new users
Total pageviews at uncabulldogs.com increased 72 percent
As with the main University website, Atlanta and Asheville were among the top cities of origin, along with New York

Most impressive, the search term “UNC Asheville” hit a five-year high on Google that was approximately four times as much compared to any other period in the last five years.

Bulldog Athletics social media channels saw similar increases:

The general UNC Asheville Athletics Instagram account increased in accounts engaged by 26 percent, while the men’s basketball Instagram account gained 493 followers and increased its total followers by 20 percent, while reaching 44,100 total accounts
The men’s basketball Twitter account reached 805,000 accounts, a 123 percent increase, and these reached accounts attributed to 46,200 profile visits (a 184 percent increase), as well as a 295 percent increase in mentions that helped gain 274 followers
The top athletics Facebook page post attracted 269,163 users and had 27,004 impressions.

With this phenomenal season now over, there’s reason to hope that more March Madness may be in the future for UNC Asheville men’s basketball.

Coach Mike Morrell, a finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Award, recently signed a contract extension through the 2027-28 season. Drew Pember, rated one of the top centers in the nation and named to the 2023 Lou Henson All-America Team, will also be back for one final season.

The impact of men’s basketball is complemented by success across all 16 Division I sports at UNC Asheville. In addition to being a source of pride in the local community, across the state, and throughout the region, Bulldog Athletics is also a major driver of economic activity.

A recent study identified a $31 million annual statewide economic impact that supported 265 jobs. By category, this involved a $19 million impact to operations, $11 million to capital projects, $1 million to visitor spending, and $617,000 in tax revenue.

For Buncombe County alone, the overall economic impact per week of Bulldog Athletics was $550,000. Annually, this translates into $17 million for operations and $10 million for capital projects. Visitor spending saw a $1 million impact.

As well, the social impact provided by UNC Asheville student-athletes is remarkable, which includes more than 2,000 hours in community service through a variety of volunteer service programs and events. These range from sports clinics and camps for underserved youth, women’s basketball’s Education Day, men’s basketball’s “Shop with the Dogs” holiday outing, and the annual Bulldog SportsFest.

And UNC Asheville student-athletes excel both on and off the field.

Dylan Major, an atmospheric science and computer science double major who competes in cross country and track & field, recently received the Goldwater Scholarship. This preeminent national award is given to talented undergraduates in the fields of engineering, mathematics, and the natural sciences. He is Asheville’s third student-athlete to receive a Goldwater.

In addition, Bulldog student-athletes have a 96 percent graduation rate, an overall GPA of 3.2, and 72 percent made the Big South Presidential Honor Roll. Seven of the 16 teams also earned a perfect score in the Academic Progress Rate (APR), the NCAA’s academic performance standard.