{"id":696022,"date":"2026-04-03T15:18:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/696022\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T15:18:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T15:18:36","slug":"final-four-map-shows-every-states-pick-to-win-ncaa-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/696022\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Four map shows every state’s pick to win NCAA Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will March Madness<\/a> turn into April Absurdity or will the NCAA Tournament go as prognosticators predict?<\/p>\n

Anyone see what happened in that Duke-UConn classic last Sunday?<\/p>\n

Chaos.<\/p>\n

Now we\u2019re down to four teams poised to win the 2026 NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n

Will we be in for more legendary, iconic moments this Saturday when Illinois faces UConn and Michigan battles Arizona<\/a> in the national semifinals?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s hoping we are. Even if your bracket has been blown to bits, as basketball fans, we\u2019re rooting for exciting games Sunday and Monday.<\/p>\n

RELATED: 10 college basketball storylines you can\u2019t ignore in the Final Four<\/a><\/p>\n

Hey, so, who is everyone rooting for to win the 2026 NCAA Tournament<\/a>? I mean by each state, all 50 of \u2019em.<\/p>\n

Well, the good folks at BetOnline are at it again. The stat gurus have created another nifty map to show us which team is the preferred champion.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how information was mapped: Based on geotagged X data since the Final Four was official, tracking tweets, hashtags, and direct keyword phrases about who fans were rooting for among the four remaining teams in the Men\u2019s NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n

For example, \u201cI\u2019m rooting for Arizona\u201d, \u201cLet\u2019s go Wolverines\u201d. Over 3.6 million tweets were tracked.<\/p>\n

So, from Alabama to Wyoming, let\u2019s look at the Divided States of America\u2019s Final Four Debate:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the breakdown:<\/p>\n

UConn (20 states)<\/p>\n

\"\"UConn Huskies guard Silas Demary Jr. (2) celebrates in front of Huskies fans after their game against Duke in an Elite Eight game of the men\u2019s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

States rooting for the Huskies: Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia.<\/p>\n

We have a bunch of UConn bandwagon jumpers. How do I know this?<\/p>\n

Before the Sweet 16, only three states<\/a> were pulling for the Huskies. After the Drama in D.C.? 20 states are now pro-UConn.<\/p>\n

Everybody loves a winner and, apparently, Braylon Mullins.<\/p>\n

Arizona (13 states)<\/p>\n

\"\"Arizona Wildcats fans react in the second half of a NCAA Tournament game against the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday, March 28, 2026 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. Purdue fell to Arizona 79-64.<\/p>\n

States rooting for the Wildcats: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s gonna be a hot summer in Tucson, Ariz., that will turn boiling mad if the Wildcats don\u2019t win the national title, then lose coach Tommy Floyd to North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Illinois (11 states)<\/p>\n

\"\"Jan 21, 2026; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Fighting Illini Orange Krush fans cheer on the team as they play the Maryland Terrapins during the second half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Fred Zwicky-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

States rooting for the Fighting Illini: Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Tennessee, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a bit surprised they have this many states backing them. Then again, everyone also loves an underdog.<\/p>\n

Sure, Illinois is favored (-1.5) to beat UConn in Saturday\u2019s first Final Four semifinal game, but the Fighting Illini have never won a national championship. <\/p>\n

Michigan (3 states)<\/p>\n

\"\"Mar 27, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; Michigan Wolverines fans react in the second half against the Alabama Crimson Tide during a Sweet Sixteen game of the Midwest Regional of the men\u2019s 2026 NCAA Tournament at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

States rooting for the Wolverines: Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Michigan has the muscle, might, and strength \u2014 of schedule (toughest in 2026) \u2014 to capture its second men\u2019s basketball championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will March Madness turn into April Absurdity or will the NCAA Tournament go as prognosticators predict? Anyone see…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[59389,82482,83268,382,7,217,818,15501,2048,1739,86454,231,772,1400,1544,66,922,923,4087],"class_list":{"0":"post-696022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-2026-final-four","9":"tag-2026-ncaa-division-i-mens-basketball-tournament","10":"tag-2026-ncaa-tournament","11":"tag-arizona","12":"tag-basketball","13":"tag-college-basketball","14":"tag-final-four","15":"tag-google","16":"tag-illinois","17":"tag-michigan","18":"tag-msn","19":"tag-ncaa","20":"tag-ncaa-basketball","21":"tag-ncaa-tournament","22":"tag-ncaab","23":"tag-sports","24":"tag-uconn","25":"tag-uconn-huskies","26":"tag-yahoo-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116341448959686405","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}