An NCAA Map of Success

OK I admit it. I am both fascinated by basketball and by maps. I think I could spend hours staring at static maps, let alone interactive ones that tell the history of success in the NCAA tourament! The NY Times put together this map (pictured above) that plots NCAA Tournament Final Four appearances and National Titles on a map of the 48 contiguous US States (no Final Fours yet for Hawaii or Alaska... maybe when they can keep Trajan in-state).

Bigger circles mean more success, of course. You can click in and see the years and performance of teams.

I would love to see another one, of all NCAA appearances, not just Final Fours. I think if I was a recruit it'd be interesting to see how my prospective school looked on this map too. Or the teams we were set to play against.

The map also shows how a school competes against other schools for share of mind in a region (look at the differences in the Duke/UNC area versus Lawrence, Kansas!) Enjoy.