LEXINGTON, Ky. ? Just as fans routinely pack Rupp Arena to watch the Wildcats play, Kentucky annually leads the nation in average attendance. The NCAA?s recently compiled attendance figures from this past season reveal that in 2007-08, for the 12th time in 13 years, UK?s average crowd of 22,554 led all of Division I men?s basketball.

It marks the 20th time in the 32-year history of Rupp Arena that Kentucky has had the top attendance figure. A total of 405,964 fans passed through the turnstiles in downtown Lexington for 18 Wildcat games during the 2007-08 season. North Carolina, with an average crowd of 20,497, was second, followed by Syracuse (20,345), Tennessee (20,267) and Louisville (19,481).

Nationally, a record 28.1 million attended Division I men?s games last season, an average of 5,524 per game. The Southeastern Conference was second among all conferences in average attendance, drawing 12,140 fans, behind only the Big Ten?s 12,978 average.