The Road To The Championship: How Far Each 2017 NCAA Basketball Tournament Team Has To Travel

It’s NCAA Tournament time, and while many of us are focused on the bracket, there’s a hidden behind-the-scenes major logistics operation going on as the NCAA charters basketball teams all around the country to partake in the big dance.

 

Before we get into the winners and losers, let me explain my methodology, because every year I have people ask about it even when I explain it in the article. Maybe putting it higher up will get people to read. I take the nearest commercial (or charter-sized, as is the case for Michigan and YIP) airport and use it as the starting point. As often as possible, I used the airport on the university’s website listed as “closest” to avoid the nitpicking that always seems to happen. I then assumed that each team would return to their own campus from Saturday or Sunday to Wednesday, but I did not count the return home from Glendale, since that presumably happens after the Championship game and thus is not part of the road to the championship. In the case of play-in games, I assume that they fly from Dayton to their next venue, but then return home directly to their campus after the third round. So the calculation is: (Round 1 + Round 2 + Return + (Sweet 16 * 2 [both directions]) + Final 4). Got it? Cool, let’s move on.

 

This year’s big winner is KU, with only 1590 miles between them and University of Phoenix Stadium. This is their second straight year winning this title, so KU haters everywhere be sure to point out this blatant NCAA favoritism1 This year, they’re helped out immensely by having the Sweet 16 only 40 miles from Lawrence, and a relatively short trip to Tulsa before that. Their geography certainly doesn’t hurt either.  Here’s a look at their journey: 

 

On the other end of the spectrum? VCU is the only team that will have to travel more than 10,000 miles to get to the Championship game. Being put in the West really extended the Rams’ travel, with their first round in Salt Lake being their shortest journey at 1863 miles. Their map is a little more complicated:

 

For the 1 seeds besides KU, Villanova goes only 2823 miles while UNC and Gonzaga have virtually the same distance traveled around 3575 miles apiece. The rest of the seeds? Well it’s no surprise, the lower you are seeded, the longer your travel will be:

SeedAverage mileage
12894
22804
34950
43998
53860
65744
72792
85354
95268
105118
117510
125237
135278
147301
153974
166365

 

And conferences? Well with plenty of conferences only being represented by their tournament champions, it makes it hard to show if there is any bias, take a look:

ConferenceAverage mileage
Horizon League2573
West Coast2738
Conference USA2799
Missouri Valley3070
Ohio Valley3493
SWAC3619
Colonial Athletic3853
Southern3901
Sun Belt3904
Big 123913
Big South4097
SEC4123
Big East4494
Big Ten4818
ACC4843
The American5222
Pac 125259
Western Athletic5501
Summit League5513
MEAC5747
Southland5881
Big Sky5924
America East6021
Mountain West6609
Atlantic Sun7042
Patriot League7091
MAC7234
Big West7625
Ivy League7686
Atlantic 107762
MAAC9426
Northeast9805

 

And finally: the list for all 68 teams. Enjoy!

Round 1Round 2ReturnSweet 16Final FourTotal mileage
Kansas02332334010441590
Saint Mary’s0588588296461880
Iowa State020820823812522144
N Kentucky0999940315692573
Kentucky014714736315672587
Oklahoma State06386382528682648
Purdue018218242014632667
Louisville011111149115062710
Butler023823838114882726
Dayton011111146116002744
Arizona06016017221102756
Mid Tennessee047547520014492799
Villanova02792799520752823
Arkansas068768725810232913
Wichita State06476474538703070
Duke020520543118913163
South Carolina0919161717733189
Minnesota029729770012763270
Michigan022622662016623354
Virginia Tech039339340518203416
Jacksonville St042542559414553493
UNC020520563318913567
Gonzaga054654674210203596
Texas Southern083783746810093619
Florida010510589917673775
UNC Wilmington045045050019533853
UVA068968930519023890
ETSU055855854916873901
Troy030030090814883904
Creighton01370137015210374081
Wisconsin053753781213964094
Winthrop065165151117734097
SMU023723713818794115
Marquette063463473814604204
Michigan State075575558116184290
UCLA037337316193704354
Baylor032532514448714409
Oregon038438415039524726
Seton Hall059459494621335213
Providence682685136614322775296
New Mexico St067367319043475501
South Dakota St0809809139411075513
NC Central40668595790418915747
Kansas State667199013394659415867
New Orleans7643541097118313005881
North Dakota0882882144812645924
Vermont0745745116422036021
Notre Dame0398398191215146134
FSU0381381204014696311
Cincinnati01977197740315696329
Nevada01667166713376016609
Miami011681168125119726810
West Virginia0236236226218266822
FGCU0133133245418687042
Bucknell0150150240019917091
Xavier0757757201715697117
Kent State02123212361717547234
Wake Forest3511990227957018257585
Northwestern012501250182914407598
UC Davis1990685141914426477625
Princeton0274274252020987686
Vanderbilt014041404194714498151
Maryland0787787243919998451
USC1925685128324693709201
Iona025182518111621589426
Mt St Mary’s1925354221824693709805
URI026242624123422779993
VCU0186318632429196510549
  1. Even though you’d totally look the other way if it were your team being helped