States of Success: Idaho Secures First National Crown By Four-Year School
Kentucky (32), buttressed by Georgetown College's two NAIA championships in the previous 10 years, is tied with California as the state with the most national titles from each level of four-year college men's basketball - NCAA Division I, NIT, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
Illinois and Ohio are the only states to boast at least one champion from all five levels. Among the 14 states amassing a total of more than 10 national crowns, Missouri is the only one in that group without a Division I championship after Virginia's success in 2019. Drury (Mo.), Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri State won DII titles in the last decade but the state's two headline schools - Mizzou and Saint Louis - never have reached the NCAA DI Final Four.
The biggest surprise among states fond of hoops but never capturing a four-year school national title was Iowa until Graceland won NAIA crown five years ago. After College of Idaho elevated state success status this season, following is how states stack up by national four-year school titles including the NIT and various levels of small-college basketball:
State DI NIT DII DIII NAIA Total California 15 8 5 0 4 32 Kentucky 11 3 10 0 8 32 Ohio 3 7 3 5 3 21 North Carolina 13 2 3 0 1 19 Missouri 0 1 7 2 8 18 Oklahoma 2 2 1 0 11 16 Pennsylvania 4 7 2 3 0 16 Wisconsin 2 1 0 13 0 16 Illinois 1 6 1 6 1 15 New York 2 10 0 3 0 15 Texas 2 5 0 0 8 15 Indiana 5 2 6 0 1 14 Virginia 1 4 5 3 0 13 Kansas 4 1 1 0 6 12 Minnesota 0 3 2 2 3 10 Michigan 3 3 1 2 0 9 Tennessee 0 3 1 1 4 9 Connecticut 5 1 1 0 0 7 Georgia 0 0 1 0 6 7 Massachusetts 1 1 1 4 0 7 Alabama 0 0 3 0 3 6 Florida 2 0 3 0 0 5 Maryland 1 1 2 0 1 5 Arizona 1 0 0 0 3 4 District of Columbia 1 1 1 1 0 4 Louisiana 0 0 0 0 4 4 South Carolina 0 2 0 0 2 4 Utah 1 3 0 0 0 4 West Virginia 0 2 0 0 2 4 Colorado 0 1 2 0 0 3 New Jersey 0 2 0 1 0 3 South Dakota 0 0 3 0 0 3 Arkansas 1 0 0 0 1 2 Nebraska 0 1 0 1 0 2 Rhode Island 0 2 0 0 0 2 Washington 0 0 2 0 0 2 Hawaii 0 0 0 0 1 1 Idaho 0 0 0 0 1 1 Iowa 0 0 0 0 1 1 Mississippi 0 1 0 0 0 1 Montana 0 0 0 0 1 1 Nevada 1 0 0 0 0 1 New Mexico 0 0 0 0 1 1 Oregon 1 0 0 0 0 1 Wyoming 1 0 0 0 0 1
NOTE: Six states - Alaska, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Vermont - never have had a four-year school win a men's national championship.