billsportsmaps.com

Please note: if you are looking for the March Madness Field of 68 map for 2015, click on the following… category: NCAA men’s basketball.

Otherwise, if you actually want to see the 2009 version of the map, scroll down further.


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On the map are all 65 of the teams that qualified for the 2009 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament. 
Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page {click here}.  Thanks to the ESPN/ College BK: Bubble Watch, by Mark Schlabach {since it is pointless to provide a link to ‘yesterday’s news’,  here is the main page there…click here}.   Thanks to CBS Sports/ College BK {click here}.   Thanks to the contributors to the pages at Wikipedia {for the page on the 2009 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament,  click here}.

For the second straight week,  UConn is #1. – AP Poll, from February 9, 2009  {Click here}.

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page  {Click here}.

AP Poll  {Click here (SI.com) }.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons official site/ men’s basketball,  {Click here}.

Wake Forest University has an enrollment of just 6,444.   Nevertheless,  the Wake Forest Men’s Basketball team drew an average of 11,899 per game last season,  31st highest in the country.   But the school’s basketball program is perpetually overshadowed by two nearby giants…the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Duke Blue Devils.  And the Demon Deacons only Final Four appearance was in 1962. 

Wake Forest baslketball coach Dino Guadio stepped up from assistant coach when coach Skip Prosser died of a heart attack in the summer of 2007. 

On Monday,  January 19th,  Winston-Salem’s Demon Deacons became #1 in the nation for the first time since a two week run in November, 2004.   They are the only unbeaten team left in Division I,  with a 16-0 record.    Wake Forest beat #10 Clemson by 20 points last Saturday, but their big statement was their three-point victory over the Tar Heels on January 11th  {see this article, by Seth Davis at SI.com}. 

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page  {Click here}.

Hey, look what I just found…a map of all Divison I basketball teams, from (where else ?) Wikipedia  {Click here}.   PS, don’t hold your breath for my version of this map…doing the 2009 65-team March Madness map is as ambitious as I will get in this department.   

NCAA Division I standings {Click here (ESPN site) }. 

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AP Poll, from Monday, January 5, 2009, 3:06PM EST.  {Click here (SI.com) }.  
The Big East’s Pitt Panthers are number one,  for the first time in school history  {see this,  from the Pitt Panthers website}.   Saturday,  Pitt stuffed Georgetown 70-54,  in Washington, D.C.  {see this},  with DeJuan Blair racking up 20 points and 17 rebounds.  The Panthers are still undefeated,  at 14-0.    Pitt has a solid chance of remaining undefeated through their next 2 games, versus unranked teams (St. Johns and South Florida).   Then they will be tested starting on the 17th and 19th…at Louisville and versus Syracuse;  and finishing the month with three more currently ranked teams…at West Virginia,  at Villanova,  and versus Notre Dame.  New arrivals in the top 25 are #17 Boston College,  #18 Marquette,  and #25 West Virginia.

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page  {Click here}.

The 12-0 North Carolina Tar Heels remain at #1.  Numbers 1 through 4 are unchanged from the last poll…#1 NC.  #2 UConn.  #3 Pitt.  #4 Oklahoma.  All of the top four are undefeated  [Wake Forest (#6),  Clemson (#22),  and Minnesota (#23) are also undefeated].    

All the teams in the top 25 have played between 10 and 13 games.

Note: #25 Missouri was voted 70 points.  Memphis missed the poll by 1 voters’ point;  Marquette by 2 voters’ points,  and Davidson by 3 voters’ points. 

The new AP Poll,  from 1:30 pm EST on Monday, Dec. 29,  is here…AP Poll  {Click here (SI.com) }

It’s down to 8 teams, in this year’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.   Below are the Team pages from the CBS site;  click on the team names below to be directed to each team’s page on the CBS site.

North Carolina.   Xavier.   Louisville.   UCLA.   Texas.   Kansas.   Memphis.   Davidson.

The map now includes NCAA Tournament stats from all of the remaining schools.  Of the Eight, 4 have won the tournament in the past.  UCLA has the all-time most National Championships, with 11.  North Carolina has 4 Championships,  and Kansas and Louisville have 2 Championships.  Click here, for the full list of Champions (note, click on the small arrow-box at the top of the list there, where it says “sortable,” to see the Titles List chronologically). 

In the Elite Eight this year, one conferences is represented by 2 teams: the Big 12, with, Kansas and Texas.  The other conferences represented are: the ACC (North Carolina);  the Big East (Louisville);  the Atlantic 10 (Xavier);   the Southern Conference (Davidson);  Conference USA (Memphis);  and the Pac-10 (UCLA).

There are all four #1 seeds,  just one #2 seed,  two #3 seeds,  and one #10 seed (Davidson).

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament was formed in 1939.  The term “March Madness” came into common currency in the mid-1980′s.  I found an interesting entry from Wikipedia, about the origins of the term “March Madness.”  To see it, click here.

There were two upsets in the 2nd Round of the tournament last weekend.  The bigger upset was tiny Davidson College (1,700 enrollment) beating March Madness heavyweights Georgetown (5 Final Four appearances, the last in 2007).  Also, up-and-coming West Virginia (who were in the Sweet Sixteen in 2006, and won the NIT tournament in 2007), surprised mighty Duke (3 NCAA Championships, the last in 2001; 14 Final Four appearances, the last in 2004).

Click here, for the “team report” section of the West Virginia Mountaineers‘ page, from the CBS site.

Click here for the “team report” section of the Davidson Wildcats‘ page, from the CBS site.

The big story is the play of Davidson Guard Stephen Curry.  Even though his father was a clutch 3-point specialist for the Carolina Hornets (among other teams, in his 16-year NBA career), no major schools gave him a look.  Too slight, was the verdict.  So, he stays in the Charlotte region, and goes to a small school of little renown.  And his performances in 2 games (40 pts. v. Gonzaga, with 30 in the second half; 30 pts. v. Georgetown, 25 in the second half) have propelled Davidson to the Sweet Sixteen.  The last time Davidson went past the 1st Round in the tournament was in 1969, when they made it to the Elite Eight.  {See this article about Stephen Curry, from earlier this month (ESPN).           See this article, from March 24 (Washington Post site) }.

There were two matchups where a low seed was guaranteed to advance.  #12 seed Villanova beat Siena, and #12 seed Western Kentucky beat San Diego.  The rest of the teams that advanced were all at #5 seed, or higher:  all four #1 seeds: North Carolina,  Memphis,  Kansas,  and UCLA;   two #2 seeds: Tennessee,  and Texas;  all four #3 seeds: Louisville,  Stanford,  Wisconsin,  and Xavier;  just one #4 seed: Washington State;  and one #5 seed: Michigan State.

**Bonus Chart !**  Old and/or alternate school crests of all 16 teams. 

The map now shows the 32 teams remaining, after the Play-in game and the 1st Round.  The teams eliminated are shown in tiny 8 point type at the top of the map. 

In the South Regional, #1 through #8 all won- no upsets.  In the East Regional, there was only 1 slight upset, with #9 Arkansas defeating #8 Indiana.  In the Midwest Regional, there were four upsets, with teams seeded #’s 10-13 all advancing.  In the West Regional, there was 1 slight upset with #9 Texas A&M beating #8 BYU, and there were two thrilling games that were huge upsets, with total unknown San Diego University surprise winners over UConn;  and Western Kentucky beating Drake at the buzzer.

# 13 seed San Diego stunned hoops heavyweights Connecticut (#4 seed) 70-69, in overtime.  De’ Jon Jackson sunk a fadeaway jump shot with 1.2 seconds left, for the winner.   [San Diego, nicknamed the Toreros, are not to be confused with the San Diego State Aztecs, who are best known for their Division I football program.]  San Diego University was only founded in 1949, and has an enrollment of 7,400. 

Click here, for San Diego University page, from the CBS site.  [Note: the CBS site has good info in the "team report" section of each team's page .]

Click here, for the video of the winning shot, San Diego University 70, Connecticut 69  {youtube, via FanIQ}.

Another high seed to fall was Drake University (#5) .  They lost to Western Kentucky (#12 seed), a school from Bowling Green (which is actually more like part of central Kentucky), 70 miles north of Nashville, Tenn.  The school has an enrollment of 18,600.  The Hilltoppers won 101-99, in OT, when Ty Rogers hit a 3-pointer with 3 defenders on him, and no time on the clock.

Click here, for the video of that winning shot, from Western Kentucky 101-Drake 99 (via the FanIQ website).

Click here, for the Western Kentucky page, from the CBS site.

In the Midwest Region, #11 Kansas State crushed #6 USC by 13 points, 80-67.  Kansas State is in the town of Manhattan, in the east-central part of the state.  The Wildcats.  The school has an enrollment of 23,182.

Click here, for the Kansas State page, from the CBS site.

There were two other upsets in the Midwest region.  #10 Davidson beat perennial overachievers Gonzaga (#7 seed).  Davidson College is in west-central North Carolina, 20 miles north of Charlotte (it is in the same county, Mecklenburg).  They are also nicknamed the Wildcats.  The school’s enrollment is only 1,700, so the hoops team has already made a big accomplishment in advancing to the 2nd Round of the tournament.   Davidson has been picked by some to be a dark-horse team that surprises people, so their next opponent (Georgetown) could be in for a fall. 

Click here, for the Davidson team page, from the CBS site.

Also in the Midwest region, #13 Siena demolished #4 Vanderbilt, by an astounding 19 points, 83-62.  Siena College is in Loudonville, New York, a couple miles north of the state capital, Albany.  The college has an enrollment of just 2,900.  Their nickname is the Saints.

Click here, for the Siena team page, from the CBS site.

Early Saturday morning, #12 Villanova, who barely made it into the tournament, beat #5 Clemson.  Villanova is just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the Main Line {see this}.  The Villanova Wildcats have made it to the NCAA tournament 29 times (the 8th highest), and won the National Championship in 1985 {see their entry in Wikipedia, here.

Click here, for the Villanova Wildcats team page, from the CBS site. 

The crests of the top three seeded teams in each region are shown.

Click here, for coverage of the Tournament, from ESPN.

Click here, for the brackets {CBS}.

Please note: if you are looking for the current March Madness Field of 68 map, click on the following… category: NCAA men’s basketball.
Otherwise, if you actually want to see the 2008 version of the map, scroll down further.


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As usual, the basketball programs of the 64 teams in the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament have a wide variation in size of fan base.  Average attendance figures go from above 20,000 (Kentucky and North Carolina),  to below 1,000 per game (Mount St. Mary’s;  Cal St.-Fullerton, of Orange County, California;  Portland St., of Oregon;  University of Texas-Arlington, from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area of Texas;  and Coppin State.).

The genius of March Madness is in this combination of large and small.  On one hand, there are the big teams, from giant schools with huge followings.  And on the other hand, there are the tiny schools, who have a chance to capitalize on their 15 minutes of fame.  For these small schools, just making it to the NCAA Tournament is a victory in itself.  And if they are able to pull off a first round upset, things really get interesting.

Two of the aforementioned tiny schools faced off in the Play-In  game, Tuesday night, at Dayton Ohio.  Both are from Maryland {see this preview}.

Mount Saint Mary’s {see this} is from the hilly north-central part of Maryland, near the Mason-Dixon Line (ie, the Pennsylvania border).  The school has an enrollment of just 1,522.   The Mountaineers are making their 3rd visit to the NCAA Tournament, their first since 1999.

Coppin State {see this} is an historically black college, located in Baltimore, Maryland.  The school has an enrollment of 4,300.   This is Coppin State’s fouth time in the NCAA Tournament, the first since 1997.

The winner of this game will go on to the Tournament-proper, and will face the formidable North Carolina, so a win tonight will be most likely as good as it gets for one of these two teams.

First round games will be played March 20 and 21.  Click here, for the brackets {CBS site.

Click here, for the ESPN site.