Mapped: The states with the most Final Four appearances
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North Carolina schools have historically dominated in the men's NCAA basketball tournament, reaching the Final Four a combined 44 times.
Why it matters: A review of bracket history shows the longtime dominance of college basketball's "blue blood" programs — always useful knowledge when filling out your bracket — but there's always the potential for lesser-known schools to make a deep run.
Between the lines: North Carolina's tourney success is driven largely by Duke and UNC, with some help from Wake Forest, UNC Charlotte and N.C. State.
- California, in second with 31 appearances, boasted 10 consecutive Final Four visits by UCLA in the 1960s and 1970s.
- Kentucky (28) and Kansas (22) have enjoyed sustained success from their namesake schools.
Yes, but: Eleven states have never had a school reach the men's Final Four, thanks to having few (if any) Division I teams eligible for the tourney.
- There have been close calls. Schools like Missouri, Creighton and Idaho State all have reached the Elite Eight.
On the women's side, Connecticut leads the way with 23 UConn appearances under legendary head coach Geno Auriemma.
- California (21), Tennessee (19) and Louisiana (17) aren't far behind, driven by the sustained success of Stanford, the University of Tennessee, Louisiana Tech and LSU.
Between the lines: A larger number of states — 23 in all — have been shut out of the women's Final Four.
- That's mainly because the women's tournament began 43 years after the first men's event.
