The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee gets plenty of guff about the teams it includes and excludes from the field. It doesn't get nearly enough attention for the travel it inflicts on many of the teams crisscrossing the country this week.
The locations are determined by the seed list. The number one overall seed plays at the location closest to home. Then the rest of the number ones are slotted in order, then the twos and on down the seed list. As locations fill up, teams are squeezed out of places close to home and flung across the country to what is available.
For many teams, this results in a less than ideal travel week or worse, a quasi-road game against a lower seed. Here are the teams and games most affected by the travel machinations of the first round.
Lexington, Kentucky
No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 Utah State
This one is unique in that each team is being sent thousands of miles east, but at least their opponent is doing so as well.
For Mick Cronin, this is the ultimate insult after UCLA's first season in the Big Ten. The Bruins have really racked up their frequent flyer miles this season, having played five games in the Eastern Time Zone and three more in Central Time.
If anything, this would impact both teams and maybe tired legs lend you to take the under.
Cleveland, Ohio
No. 10 New Mexico Against Marquette
Many view the Lobos as a team able to shake things up this weekend.
That's made slightly tougher by their flight to the Midwest, to face a Marquette team simply hopping across the Great Lakes.
Richard Pitino's club has previously only flown eastward once this season, when he battled his father's St. John's team and lost by 14.
No. 7 Saint Mary's Against Vanderbilt
This is another 7-10 matchup, but in this one, the lower seed gets treated to the travel advantage. Saint Mary's is a team that comfortably stays on the West Coast, having not played a game East of Sioux Falls, South Dakota this season.
In fact, Saint Mary's hasn't played in the Eastern Time Zone since the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Randy Bennett hasn't scheduled a regular season game on the East Coast since a December 2018 trip to Western Kentucky (a loss).
Seattle, Washington
No. 4 Maryland Against Grand Canyon
When the NCAA picks a location as far flung as Seattle, someone is going to get screwed. Unfortunately for Maryland, the Terps landed in the area of the seed list that gets the most screwed.
By the time you get to the four seeds, you're running out of locations. Lexington, Raleigh and Cleveland each had their two pods claimed before even getting past the 2-seeds.
Wichita and Milwaukee were filled by the 3-seeds.
By the time the 4-seeds were being slotted, all that remained was Seattle, Denver and one spot in Providence. Purdue lucked out with Providence. Everyone else would be stuck out West.
For Maryland, it means a second trip to Seattle this season, after the Big Ten sent the Terps to the Pacific Northwest in January. Maryland was swept on that trip, losing to Oregon and a bad Washington team.
No. 5 Memphis Against Colorado State & No. 12 Liberty Against Oregon
Schools like Oregon, or often Gonzaga, are godsends for the bracketing committee and luck out with the placement of games in cities like Portland, Seattle or Spokane.
The Ducks benefit this year, facing a Liberty team traversing the entire country to play a game that tips off at 10:10 p.m. ET at the earliest.
At least Oregon is the higher seed.
Memphis needs to gather itself after winning the AAC Tournament — which concluded on Sunday and was one of the last two tournaments to wrap — and find its way to Seattle to play Colorado State.
Denver, Colorado
No. 5 Michigan Against UC San Diego
While Seattle might be the furthest destination for most teams, Denver is the real curveball thanks to its location at altitude.
Not only do many teams need to fly thousands of miles to Colorado, they need to be ready for the physical challenge playing a mile above sea level can have on their bodies.
This could prove difficult for a Michigan team that, like Memphis, played until Sunday evening.
Keep an extra eye on Michigan's twin towers lineup, with 7-footers Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf both providing major production. If their conditioning isn't right, it may show.
No. 13 Yale Against Texas A&M
Yale also played Sunday, but did so in the early afternoon and just a bus ride away from campus.
Still, the thought of having to fly from New England to Denver to deal with the Texas A&M defense and rebounding attack sounds daunting.
It's one of the few things giving me pause about Yale's upset chances.
No. 11 VCU Against BYU
VCU checks all the boxes. The Rams played on Sunday, need to travel thousands of miles, need to play in altitude and worst of all, need to do so against a team that lives at altitude.
Provo, Utah, is more than 4,000 feet above sea level, meaning the Cougars' bodies are well-acclimated to the air pressure.
BYU doesn't play at an exceptionally fast tempo, but it may try to speed things up with this leg up over the Rams.
No. 3 Wisconsin Against Montana
Ok, my apologies to the Badgers. It's Wisconsin that truly got the worst draw for my money.
The Badgers are a higher seed, who played as recently as Sunday. They're playing on Thursday now and are traveling 900 miles to play at altitude against a team that lives at altitude.
Here's the worst part: Wisconsin was the 12th-seeded team, according to the official S-curve list the committee put out.
That means the Badgers were put into their slot before 4-seed Purdue, which got sent to Providence.
Why did that happen? Well, pulling out our trusty atlas, Madison, Wisconsin, is 840 miles from Denver, but 919 miles from Providence. Wisconsin doesn't get the choice, it's determined by the numbers.
Would the Badgers prefer the extra 80 miles to the challenge of the Denver air? I would think so. Elevation has such an underappreciated effect on games. Seven of KenPom's top 13 programs by recent home-court advantage are more than 3,000 miles above sea level.
This doesn't doom the Badgers by any means, but as you weigh your bets and picks, it should sneak into the back of your mind.
