#CuseMode: Syracuse basketball dominating NCAA Tournament on social media (study)

Syracuse's Malachi Richardson (23) celebrates after making a three pointer during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Virginia in the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament, Sunday, March 27, 2016, in Chicago. Syracuse won 68-62.

The men's and women's Syracuse basketball teams are both in the Final Four, but SU may have already won the 2016 NCAA Tournament on social media.

A new study by social media intelligence platform Synthesio found the Orange are dominating the online conversation for March Madness. During the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games, Syracuse accounted for 31.5 percent of all tweets and social posts related to the tourney.

That's more than triple the mentions for second-place Notre Dame, which was eliminated by SU's next opponent, North Carolina, on Sunday. UNC was third overall, appearing in less than 7 percent of all social media conversations.

According to Adweek, Syracuse also accounted for for three of the 10 Twitter hashtags used during the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. #CuseMode soared to No. 5, behind generic tags #finalfour, #marchmadness, #elite8 and #sweet16, after SU upset Gonzaga and Virginia with spectacular second-half comebacks.

#Syracuse ranked 7th overall, and #OrangeNation was No. 10. #HeelsLockIn (North Carolina), #NCAA and #Sooners (Oklahoma) rounded out the top 10, making the Villanova Wildcats the least popular team online in the Final Four.

Villanova was the No. 1 school during the first week of the NCAA Tournament, but most social media mentions then were general comments about the tourney, such as #letsdance and #bracketbusted.

Syracuse, the first No. 10 seed to reach the Final Four in NCAA history, plays the No. 1 Tar Heels Saturday at 8:49 p.m. Villanova faces Oklahoma earlier in the evening, starting at 6:09 p.m.

The Orange women will play in the team's first Final Four appearance in school history on Sunday at 8:30 p.m.

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