The eternal suckitude of and bad crowds for the Hornets would suggest that having a big college hoops base isn't enough.
This is about as poor of an example that can exist. Charlotte led the entire NBA in attendance for 9 consecutive years early in their existence. 24,000 fans every single home game for a decade.
I’m sure the story is on their wiki page or through Google searches. I lived down there at the time and can attest that between owner George Shinn’s legal issues, including sexual misconduct rumors, the lockout (which turned many fans there off to the NBA), and the Bobby Philly/David Wesley drag race that resulted in the formers death turned turned the fan base off to the team and the league. The final straw came when residents were adamant about not paying for a new arena using public funds after Bob Johnson bought the team, voted against it and yet the city bowed to Johnson and snuck the funding into the budget.
Prior to the Shinn & Co. fiasco there wasn’t a stronger NBA fanbase than Charlotte.