It’s NCAA Tournament time, and while many of us are focused on the bracket, there’s a hidden behind-the-scenes major logistics operation going on as the NCAA charters basketball teams all around the country to partake in the big dance.

Before we get into the winners and losers, let me explain my methodology, because every year I have people ask about it even when I explain it in the article. Maybe putting it higher up will get people to read. I take the nearest commercial (or charter-sized, as is the case for Michigan and YIP) airport and use it as the starting point. As often as possible, I used the airport on the university’s website listed as “closest” to avoid the nitpicking that always seems to happen. I then assumed that each team would return to their own campus from Saturday or Sunday to Wednesday, but I did not count the return home from Glendale, since that presumably happens after the Championship game and thus is not part of the road to the championship. In the case of play-in games, I assume that they fly from Dayton to their next venue, but then return home directly to their campus after the third round. So the calculation is: (Round 1 + Round 2 + Return + (Sweet 16 * 2 [both directions]) + Final 4). Got it? Cool, let’s move on.

This year’s big winner is KU, with only 1590 miles between them and University of Phoenix Stadium. This is their second straight year winning this title, so KU haters everywhere be sure to point out this blatant NCAA favoritism This year, they’re helped out immensely by having the Sweet 16 only 40 miles from Lawrence, and a relatively short trip to Tulsa before that. Their geography certainly doesn’t hurt either. Here’s a look at their journey:

On the other end of the spectrum? VCU is the only team that will have to travel more than 10,000 miles to get to the Championship game. Being put in the West really extended the Rams’ travel, with their first round in Salt Lake being their shortest journey at 1863 miles. Their map is a little more complicated:

For the 1 seeds besides KU, Villanova goes only 2823 miles while UNC and Gonzaga have virtually the same distance traveled around 3575 miles apiece. The rest of the seeds? Well it’s no surprise, the lower you are seeded, the longer your travel will be:

Seed Average mileage 1 2894 2 2804 3 4950 4 3998 5 3860 6 5744 7 2792 8 5354 9 5268 10 5118 11 7510 12 5237 13 5278 14 7301 15 3974 16 6365

And conferences? Well with plenty of conferences only being represented by their tournament champions, it makes it hard to show if there is any bias, take a look:

Conference Average mileage Horizon League 2573 West Coast 2738 Conference USA 2799 Missouri Valley 3070 Ohio Valley 3493 SWAC 3619 Colonial Athletic 3853 Southern 3901 Sun Belt 3904 Big 12 3913 Big South 4097 SEC 4123 Big East 4494 Big Ten 4818 ACC 4843 The American 5222 Pac 12 5259 Western Athletic 5501 Summit League 5513 MEAC 5747 Southland 5881 Big Sky 5924 America East 6021 Mountain West 6609 Atlantic Sun 7042 Patriot League 7091 MAC 7234 Big West 7625 Ivy League 7686 Atlantic 10 7762 MAAC 9426 Northeast 9805

And finally: the list for all 68 teams. Enjoy!