Bronny James in USC v Arizona State

Despite the recent criticism as a result of his performance for USC, Bronny James remains a notable figure in the social media space. The Trojans’ guard has maintained his status as the most-followed college basketball star on Instagram with 7.6 million followers.

Bronny James has built a large social media fan base right from his high school days at Sierra Canyon. This is one of the reasons he was a highly talked-about prospect as he made his way into the college basketball world with his number of followers maintaining steady growth.

Let’s take a look at the basketball athletes at the collegiate level with the most Instagram followers aside from Bronny.

College basketball athletes with the most Instagram followers

While Bronny James leads the way with the most followers on Instagram in the world of college basketball, a lot of other top stars in both the men’s and women’s games also boast large followings on the social media platform.

LSU star Angel Reese has the most followers on Instagram after Bronny James with 2.6 million. Her popularity has notably grown significantly since leading the Tigers to the women’s college basketball national title last year.

Reese’s teammate, Flau’jae Johnson, holds the third place on the Instagram followers ranking. She boasts a total of 1.7 million followers on the social media platform. Like Reese, the 2023 national title success has aided his followers’ growth.

Austin Peay point guard Hansel Emmanuel is fourth on the ranking. The Dominican Republic-born athlete currently has 1.6 million followers on Instagram. He gained widespread attention in early 2021 for his impressive display of flashy dunks, passes, three-pointers, and athleticism against top high school talent.

UConn basketball star Paige Bueckers caps up the top five in the ranking. The point guard boasts 1 million followers on Instagram. Popularly known as “Paige Bucket,” she was the first women’s college basketball player to achieve the 1 million followers mark on the social media platform in April 2022.

Notably, Iowa star Caitlin Clark ranks seventh with 877 thousand followers on Instagram.

Will Bronny James continue to lead the way?

With five million followers more than second-ranked Angel Reese, Bronny James is expected to continue to have the most followers in the college basketball world for the foreseeable future.

The likely scenario is that the USC guard will have the most followers on Instagram until the end of his collegiate career. With 7.6 million followers and huge potential for growth, his fan base on the social media platform can’t be matched overnight.