ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Lol this is a preposterously Western-shifted set of sites given the geography of the good programs in college basketball.
Illini Basketball 2026-2027
I wouldn’t be mad at a Louisville, Kansas City, Detroit run. Nothing close to us, but our fans will travel
Louville or Minny would be extremely accessible for Illini fans as would KC.
BUT a first NCAA in Michigan would be tremendous!!! Beating MSU or Fichigan in KC to block them ... !!! I...L...L...
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I went to the Final Four last year and sat in the nosebleeds, and we literally could only do that because of the following factors:
1) It was driving distance so no flight costs.
2) My sister still has a ton of friends in Indy, so we had a place to stay and therefore no hotel costs.
3) A Purdue friend of ours won tickets in the lottery and sold them to us at face value so no StubHub costs (there were nosebleed tickets going for over $1,000...).
All that is to say, I wonder if the average fan traveling to our NCAA Tournament games is well off enough to the point where a location that involves a relatively easy flight (e.g., Dallas-Fort Worth or Charlotte) would actually bring just as big if not a larger Illini turnout than somewhere technically "Midwestern" like Kansas City or Minneapolis, given they would both be 6-7 hour drives from places like Champaign or the Chicagoland Area.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Lol, agreed. I'm VERY biased here, but given the centrality for consistently good programs and the exceptional basketball heritages of both states ... I just don't see how you can have a year where you don't have at least one of Chicago or Indianapolis as a location in one of the three rounds!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This is what I meant to type, lol...
Lol, agreed. I'm VERY biased here, but given the centrality for consistently good programs and the exceptional basketball heritages of both states ... I feel like ONE of the three weekends should be in at least one of Chicago or Indianapolis almost every year.
Before anyone suggests that is too much favoritism, I would argue it is pretty analogous to one of the Carolinas getting a First Weekend site in each of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments in a row (and North Carolina getting 7 out of those 10, awfully convenient for Duke and UNC!)...
2027 - Charlotte, NC
2026 - Greenville, SC
2025 - Raleigh, NC
2024 - Charlotte, NC
2023 - Greensboro, NC
2022 - Greenville, SC
2021 - Raleigh, NC (before COVID shift to only Indiana sites)
2020 - Greensboro, NC (before NCAAT cancelled due to COVID)
2019 - Columbia, SC
2018 - Charlotte, NC
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Driving from Chicago, Louisville is deceptively close and Minneapolis is deceptively far. Even more so from Champaign, of course.
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Epic gift, and happy birthday! Hopefully the boys deliver you an even more epic W in person!!
Having 2 west coast sites every year (Sacramento and Spokane in this case) is ridiculous. We almost always end up with at most 2 western teams being top 4 seeds (gonzaga, ucla and Arizona really being the only consistently good teams west of Texas). There should only be 1 first/second round site out west.
Also as an aside Spokane hosting like every year giving gonzaga free home games is bs and a big part of their famed sweet 16 streak.