Saint Peter's Was Ratings Gold During NCAA Tournament

As we all sat transfixed by Saint Peter's and its run to the Elite Eight during the NCAA Tournament, CBS was loving it for one specific reason: ratings.

Saint Peter's win over Purdue from Friday was the highest-rated Sweet 16 game since 2011. It averaged 10.18 million viewers on CBS, edging out a 2014 matchup between Kentucky and Louisville which drew 10.09 million viewers. That win marked the first time a 15-seed had ever reached the Elite Eight.

Those numbers do come with a bit of an asterisk, as the ratings now include out-of-home viewing, where previous years do not. That likely helped put the Peacocks' biggest win over the top ratings-wise.

Friday's Saint Peter's-Purdue matchup scored a blowout ratings win over the Kansas-Providence matchup that was on at the same time. That game only scored 2.65 million viewers on TBS. Perhaps more impressive, it also beat out the UCLA-North Carolina game that followed it on CBS. UCLA vs. UNC drew 8.82 million or 15 percent less than Saint Peter's-Purdue.

The Peacocks' Sweet 16 win is now the sixth-highest rated basketball game over the past two years. Pretty remarkable stuff from a tiny school in Jersey City.

Saint Peter's run and the subsequent ratings proves one thing: people love a college basketball underdog story, even more than watching blue bloods match up against each other.