Everyone knows the Pac-12 was down this year in basketball, but apparently the whole western half of the country was as well. WAC favorite Nevada bowed out in their conference tournament. The conference that looked the most dominant was the Mountain West. They received four bids (three of which were #6 or higher), but the conference finished with a combined record of only 1-4 in the tournament. No teams from this vast geographic region made it to the Sweet Sixteen.
Midwest Central
Since the West produced nothing, someone had to step up, and the Midwest happily filled the void. The two best conferences by far this season, the Big 12 and Big Ten, are both centered in the heart of Midwestern farm land. But it is more than just these conferences. The Midwest took commanding control of the tournament. 12 of the remaining Sweet Sixteen teams are from the geographic region. Making the odds of a champion coming from the Midwest increasingly likely.
Ohio Domination
The Midwest conquered as a region, but one of its state dominated like no other. That state was Ohio. The state got only four teams into the tournament, but all of them are Sweet Sixteen teams. That means that one-quarter of the teams left in the NCAA tournament are from Ohio. What makes it even more impressive is that these teams aren't even a highly ranked group as a whole. The teams consist of a #2 seed (Ohio State), a #6 seed (Cincinnati), a #10 seed (Xavier), and a #13 seed (Ohio University). Ohioans should be proud of their basketball. One doesn't see a feat like this everyday.
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