Throughout the 2025-26 NCAA men's basketball season, RotoWire.com used follower counts from Instagram and X to create a social media hype power ranking system for college basketball teams' official accounts, ranking teams based on percentage growth week-over-week on the platforms, following their previous game. Now with the season over at sports betting apps, we pulled out the teams with the most impact across a handful of categories for a season-long reflection.
Social Consistency Leaders
Team | Total Weeks |
| 8 Weeks |
This year's winner of the Social Consistency Leaders award is the 
Saint Louis Billikens of the A-10, who posted the most wins in a single season in program history, going 29-6.
That on-court consistency, as well as the Billikens' unique social media presence, allowed the program to spend eight weeks on our leaderboard this year, ultimately helping them take home the award.
Even better news for basketball fans in the Show-Me State is the fact that the man who led Saint Louis to all this success is sticking around, as head coach Josh Schertz signed an extension with the school last month.
All told, between a program record for wins in a season and the play of lovable characters like Robbie Avila, there's no denying that 2025-26 was a year to remember in and around St. Louis, with the Billikens giving the city something to believe in all year long.
Top 5 Mainstays
Team | Total Top 5 Spots |
| 5 Weeks |
| 5 Weeks |
SMU Mustangs 
Nebraska Cornhuskers Two Power Four teams, in the SMU Mustangs of the ACC and Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Ten, split this year's Top Five Mainstays honor. While both programs wound up making the Big Dance, Nebraska's campaign was a bit more special, with head coach Fred Hoiberg taking the program to their first ever NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament win (and adding another over Vanderbilt after that), ultimately helping the Huskers' faithful stay engaged with the team online.
In SMU's case, a 10-point 'First Four' defeat at the hands of MAC darlings Miami (OH) did little to damper the team's growth online, with Andy Enfield's team hitting our rankings five weeks in total to split the honor with Hoiberg's Huskers.
Top Rank Movers
Team | WoW Jump |
| +119 Positions |
Texas A&M Aggies The men's basketball team that gained the most ground week-over-week this season was Bucky McMillan's Texas A&M Aggies team. The Aggies, who went 22-12 with a first round win over Saint Mary's before bowing out to Houston, had a 119-spot jump week-over-week during the season, social media follower-wise, which helped them take home the Top Rank Movers award for the college basketball year that was.
McMillan, like Schertz, signed a long-term contract extension with the Aggies on the heels of the team's 22-win campaign, keeping him in College Station through 2032 (at least), while giving Texas A&M hoops fans more reason to interact with the program on social media.
Growth Spike Leader
Team | WoW Growth Spike |
| 1.90% |
Schertz's Billikens team cashed in on a second award this basketball season, taking home the Growth Spike Leaders honor for the A-10 team's 1.90% week-over-week growth spike in social media followers.
Such a spike will happen when you grow your win total by 10 year-over-year, which is exactly what Schertz did during his second season at Saint Louis, landing the Billikens their first NCAA Tournament win since 2014 along the way.
While the bespectacled big man that stole the nation's hearts during March Madness (Avila) is officially out of college eligibility, hoops fans in St. Louis can only hope that whichever underclassman replaces him can recreate his moves in the post for the Billikens over the last two years.
For now, what we know is that Saint Louis' impressive growth on a week-by-week basis online ultimately helped them earn two of our awards this year, helping set the bar that future Billikens teams will look to conquer in the near-distant future.
Keep up with the latest college basketball portal news ahead of next season.
