National Review: State-By-State Winners and Sinners in NCAA Playoffs

No state has won as much as 64% of its NCAA Tournament games and none has as many as five different schools with winning playoff records. The Michigan Wolverines reaching the 2018 NCAA final instead of the Kansas Jayhawks enabled Michigan (.6284) to nudge ahead of Kansas (.6279) as the state with highest all-time winning percentage before the Michigan State Spartans padded the state's advantage with a 2019 Final Four appearance. Kansas, one of 20 states represented by four or fewer members in the U.S. House of Representatives, is represented much more in the NCAA playoffs by ranking seventh with 163 victories from only three universities. Additional stately views of national winners and sinners you might want to review include:

  • Schools from the state of North Carolina have collected more NCAA Tournament triumphs (324) than a total of 22 states including those with power-conference members such as Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey and West Virginia.
  • All four ACC members in Carolina have more than 25 playoff triumphs. Each of them (Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest) has more all-time wins than entire states such as Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island and South Carolina.
  • California is the only state with as many as 18 schools winning at least one NCAA Tournament game. Alas, less than 1/4 of them (four) have winning marks.
  • Other than Syracuse, Canisius is the only current New York Division I school to compile a winning NCAA playoff record (6-4). CCNY, the NCAA's DI champion in 1950, assembled a 4-2 mark ledger before de-emphasizing its program.
  • Despite Villanova's two NCAA titles in the last four seasons, Pennsylvania is the only state with at least 140 tourney victories to compile an overall losing mark (187-206).
  • Syracuse (plus 28 in NY; 68-40) and Villanova (plus 28 in PA; 65-37) are the most games above .500 in states with overall losing playoff marks. On the flip side, Miami OH (minus 13; 6-19) and Murray State KY (minus 13; 4-17) are tied for most games below .500 in states with overall winning worksheets.
  • Abilene Christian enabled Texas to nudge ahead of California for most different schools participating in the tourney with 24 although Houston (29-26) is the only institution from the Lone Star State posting a winning record. Texas (147-193) has a total of 13 Final Four teams after Texas Tech's success but is more games under .500 than any state (minus 46 including 11 different universities never winning a playoff contest).
  • LSU is the only one of Louisiana's 12 schools appearing in the playoffs notching a winning record. South Carolina has the most universities participate in the tourney (nine) without any of them posting a break-even or winning playoff record. Kansas has only three different colleges appear in the NCAA Tournament but boasts seven times as many victories as South Carolina and four times as many triumphs as Louisiana.
  • All six Mid-American Conference members from Ohio have losing records, combining for a 19-52 mark (.268).
  • Tennessee, the winningest state in NCAA playoff history (78 triumphs) despite never having a national champion, is the only state with as many as six schools at least five games below .500 in NCAA tourney competition.
  • Virginia is the only one of 12 different schools from its state and Memphis is only one of 11 different Tennessee schools appearing in the tourney to post a winning record.
  • Memphis (34-26) is joined by Spokane, Wash.-based Gonzaga (34-22) as the only mid-major schools leading a state with more than 60 playoff wins.
  • The only states with fewer than 45 tourney triumphs to assemble overall winning records are Nevada (39-28 by 6-9 Nevada and 33-19 UNLV) plus New Hampshire (10-7 by Dartmouth).
  • Utah is the only state saddled with as many as three schools posting tourney marks more than 10 games below .500 - Brigham Young (15-32), Utah State (6-23) and Weber State (6-17).

Former Vice Plagiarist Joe Biden, amid aspiring details about his soap-opera family aren't circulated, better hope his prospects of success as a presidential candidate are a mite higher than the NCAA Tournament win total of the state he served as Senator because Delaware is 0-6. Belmont, UCF, UC Irvine, Fairleigh Dickinson, Liberty and Wofford posted their initial NCAA tourney triumph this campaign. Following are NCAA Division I playoff cumulative records listed by most state victories through 2019:

STATE (# of Tourney Schools) Overall Record Pct. School-By-School NCAA Playoff Marks
NORTH CAROLINA (16) 324-195 .6243 Appalachian State (0-2), Campbell (0-1), Charlotte (7-12), Davidson (8-15), Duke (114-38), East Carolina (0-2), Gardner-Webb (0-1), North Carolina (126-47), North Carolina A&T (1-10), North Carolina Central (0-4), North Carolina State (37-26), UNC Asheville (2-4), UNC Greensboro (0-3), UNC Wilmington (1-6), Wake Forest (28-23) and Western Carolina (0-1)
KENTUCKY (seven) 236-156 .602 Eastern Kentucky (0-8), Kentucky (131-53), Louisville (76-44), Morehead State (6-8), Murray State (4-17), Northern Kentucky (0-2) and Western Kentucky (19-24)
CALIFORNIA (23) 235-214 .523 California (20-19), UC Davis (0-1), UC Irvine (1-2), Cal Poly (1-1), UC Santa Barbara (1-5), Cal State Bakersfield (0-1), Cal State Fullerton (2-3), Cal State Los Angeles (0-1), Cal State Northridge (0-2), Fresno State (2-6), Long Beach State (7-10), Loyola Marymount (5-5), Pacific (4-10), Pepperdine (5-14), Saint Mary's (5-10), San Diego (1-4), San Diego State (6-12), San Francisco (21-14), San Jose State (0-3), Santa Clara (11-13), Southern California (14-20), Stanford (23-16) and UCLA (106-42)
PENNSYLVANIA (15) 188-208 .475 Bucknell (2-8), Drexel (1-4), Duquesne (4-5), Lafayette (0-5), La Salle (14-11), Lebanon Valley (1-2), Lehigh (1-5), Penn (13-26), Penn State (9-11), Pittsburgh (24-27), Robert Morris (2-8), Saint Francis (0-1), Saint Joseph's (19-25), Temple (33-33) and Villanova (65-37)
INDIANA (nine) 181-147 .552 Ball State (3-7), Butler (24-16), Evansville (1-5), Indiana (66-34), IUPUI (0-1), Indiana State (5-4), Notre Dame (38-40), Purdue (42-31) and Valparaiso (2-9)
OHIO (12) 172-169 .504 Akron (0-4), Bowling Green (1-5), Cincinnati (46-32), Cleveland State (3-2), Dayton (19-20), Kent State (4-6), Miami (6-19), Ohio University (7-14), Ohio State (57-32), Toledo (1-4), Wright State (0-3) and Xavier (28-28)
KANSAS (three) 163-98 .6245 Kansas (108-47), Kansas State (37-35) and Wichita State (18-16)
TEXAS (24) 147-193 .432 Abilene Christian (0-1), Baylor (14-14), Hardin-Simmons (0-2), Houston (29-26), Houston Baptist (0-1), Lamar (5-6), North Texas (0-3), Prairie View A&M (0-2), Rice (2-5), Sam Houston State (0-2), Southern Methodist (10-14), Stephen F. Austin (2-5), Texas (35-37), Texas A&M (13-15), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (0-1), Texas-Arlington (0-1), Texas Christian (5-8), Texas-El Paso (14-16), Texas-San Antonio (1-4), Texas Southern (1-8), Texas State (0-2), Texas Tech (16-18), Trinity (0-1) and West Texas A&M (0-1)
MICHIGAN (eight) 143-83 .633 Central Michigan (3-4), Detroit (3-6), Eastern Michigan (3-4), Michigan (61-28), Michigan State (69-32), Oakland (1-3), Wayne State (1-2) and Western Michigan (2-4)
NEW YORK (22) 140-171 .450 Albany (1-5), Binghamton (0-1), Buffalo (2-4), Canisius (6-4), CCNY (4-2), Colgate (0-3), Columbia (2-4), Cornell (2-6), Fordham (2-4), Hofstra (0-4), Iona (1-14), Long Island (0-7), Manhattan (3-9), Marist (0-2), NYU (9-9), Niagara (2-4), St. Bonaventure (7-9), St. John's (27-32), Siena (4-6), Stony Brook (0-1), Syracuse (68-40) and Wagner (0-1)
OKLAHOMA (five) 102-93 .523 Oklahoma (42-32), Oklahoma City (8-13), Oklahoma State (38-27), Oral Roberts (2-5) and Tulsa (12-16)
ILLINOIS (10) 95-95 .500 Bradley (11-9), DePaul (21-25), Eastern Illinois (0-2), Illinois (40-31), Illinois-Chicago (0-3), Illinois State (3-6), Loyola of Chicago (13-5), Northern Illinois (0-3), Northwestern (1-1) and Southern Illinois (6-10)
FLORIDA (11) 87-69 .558 Florida (47-20), Florida A&M (1-3), Florida Atlantic (0-1), Florida Gulf Coast (3-3), Florida International (0-1), Florida State (21-17), Jacksonville (4-5), Miami (8-10), North Florida (0-1), South Florida (2-3) and UCF (1-5)
VIRGINIA (12) 84-99 .459 George Mason (5-6), Hampton (2-6), James Madison (4-5), Liberty (1-4), Norfolk State (1-1), Old Dominion (3-12), Radford (1-3), Richmond (8-9), Virginia (35-22), Virginia Commonwealth (13-17), Virginia Military (3-3) and Virginia Tech (8-11)
WISCONSIN (four) 83-66 .557 Green Bay (1-5), Marquette (41-34), Milwaukee (3-4) and Wisconsin (38-23)
TENNESSEE (11) 78-117 .400 Austin Peay (2-8), Belmont (1-8), Chattanooga (3-11), East Tennessee State (2-11), Lipscomb (0-1), Memphis (34-26), Middle Tennessee State (4-9), Tennessee (22-23), Tennessee State (0-2), Tennessee Tech (0-2) and Vanderbilt (10-16)
ARIZONA (three) 70-53 .569 Arizona (56-34), Arizona State (14-17) and Northern Arizona (0-2)
WASHINGTON (five) 69-61 .531 Eastern Washington (0-2), Gonzaga (34-22), Seattle (10-13), Washington (19-18) and Washington State (6-6)
UTAH (five) 65-105 .382 Brigham Young (15-32), Southern Utah (0-1), Utah (38-32), Utah State (6-23) and Weber State (6-17)
CONNECTICUT (four) 60-42 .588 Central Connecticut State (0-3), Connecticut (59-30), Fairfield (0-3) and Yale (1-6)
IOWA (four) 59-60 .496 Drake (5-4), Iowa (30-28), Iowa State (19-20) and Northern Iowa (5-8)
MARYLAND (eight) 54-56 .491 Coppin State (1-4), Loyola (0-2), Maryland (42-27), Maryland-Baltimore County (1-2), Morgan State (0-2), Mount St. Mary's (2-5), Navy (8-12) and Towson (0-2)
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (five) 51-47 .520 American University (0-3), Catholic (0-2), George Washington (4-11), Georgetown (47-29) and Howard University (0-2)
ALABAMA (nine) 49-64 .434 Alabama (21-21), Alabama A&M (0-1), Alabama State (0-4), Auburn (17-10), Jacksonville State (0-1), Samford (0-2), South Alabama (1-8), Troy (0-2) and UAB (10-15)
MASSACHUSETTS (nine) 48-67 .417 Boston College (22-19), Boston University (2-7), Harvard (2-6), Holy Cross (8-13), Massachusetts (11-9), Northeastern (3-9), Springfield (0-1), Tufts (0-2) and Williams (0-1)
ARKANSAS (four) 45-39 .536 Arkansas (42-32), Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-1), Arkansas State (0-1) and UALR (2-5)
LOUISIANA (12) 41-76 .350 Louisiana-Lafayette (4-11), Louisiana-Monroe (0-7), Louisiana State (26-25), Louisiana Tech (4-5), Loyola of New Orleans (0-3), McNeese State (0-2), New Orleans (1-5), Nicholls State (0-2), Northwestern State (2-3), Southeastern Louisiana (0-1), Southern (1-9) and Tulane (3-3)
NEVADA (two) 39-28 .582 Nevada (6-9) and UNLV (33-19)
OREGON (four) 37-39 .487 Oregon (25-15), Oregon State (12-20), Portland (0-2) and Portland State (0-2)
NEW JERSEY (seven) 36-65 .356 Fairleigh Dickinson (1-6), Monmouth (1-4), Princeton (13-29), Rider (0-3), Rutgers (5-7), Saint Peter's (0-3) and Seton Hall (16-13)
GEORGIA (five) 33-39 .458 Georgia (7-12), Georgia Southern (0-3), Georgia State (2-5), Georgia Tech (23-16) and Mercer (1-3)
WEST VIRGINIA (two) 32-35 .478 Marshall (1-6) and West Virginia (31-29)
MISSOURI (four) 31-45 .408 Missouri (22-27), Missouri State (3-6), Saint Louis (6-11) and Southeast Missouri State (0-1)
RHODE ISLAND (three) 23-33 .411 Brown (0-2), Providence (15-21) and Rhode Island (8-10)
SOUTH CAROLINA (nine) 23-59 .280 Charleston Southern (0-1), Clemson (11-12), Coastal Carolina (0-4), College of Charleston (1-5), Furman (1-7), South Carolina (8-10), South Carolina State (0-5), Winthrop (1-10) and Wofford (1-5)
MISSISSIPPI (six) 19-37 .339 Alcorn State (3-6), Jackson State (0-3), Mississippi (5-9), Mississippi State (11-11), Mississippi Valley State (0-5) and Southern Mississippi (0-3)
NEW MEXICO (two) 18-43 .295 New Mexico (8-16) and New Mexico State (10-27)
MINNESOTA (one) 14-14 .500 Minnesota (14-14)
COLORADO (four) 14-32 .304 Air Force (0-4), Colorado (10-16), Colorado State (4-11) and Northern Colorado (0-1)
NEBRASKA (two) 12-29 .293 Creighton (12-22) and Nebraska (0-7)
NEW HAMPSHIRE (one) 10-7 .588 Dartmouth (10-7)
WYOMING (one) 9-20 .310 Wyoming (9-20)
IDAHO (three) 9-24 .273 Boise State (0-7), Idaho (1-4) and Idaho State (8-13)
NORTH DAKOTA (two) 2-5 .286 North Dakota (0-1) and North Dakota State (2-4)
VERMONT (one) 2-7 .222 Vermont (2-7)
MONTANA (two) 2-16 .111 Montana (2-13) and Montana State (0-3)
HAWAII (one) 1-5 .167 Hawaii (1-5)
SOUTH DAKOTA (one) 0-5 .000 South Dakota State (0-5)
DELAWARE (two) 0-6 .000 Delaware (0-5) and Delaware State (0-1)

NOTE: Two states - Alaska and Maine - never had a school participate in the NCAA Division I Tournament.