Remember way back in 2021, when everyone was all abuzz about a men's Final Four (Baylor, Gonzaga, Houston and UCLA) where every team was based west of the Mississippi? Since then, six of the past eight teams to reach national semifinals have come from east of said river.
Who knows, maybe there really are geographic assertions to be made with respect to men's college hoops. In an attempt to find out, let's take a look at the big picture.
We've ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on how many tournament games they've won since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Drawing the start line at the beginning of the so-called modern era frees us from the unbalanced brackets and byes that prevailed through 1984.
As for subsequently vacated wins, well, we're not the NCAA. Those wins are good here. Our motto is if we saw it happen, it happened.
Here's our countdown of states that excel at winning NCAA tournament games.
51. State of Alaska
Tournament wins since 1985: N/A
While no Division I men's programs are located in our 49th state, University of Alaska teams in Anchorage (the Seawolves) and Fairbanks (Nanooks) compete at the D-II level.