Welcome to the Bauertology resources center! Below, you’ll find some useful resources for helping you build your own bracketology.
TOURNAMENT SITE DISTANCES/REMATCHES TO AVOID
Teams selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament are placed into the bracket based on mileage distance from the tournament’s 1st/2nd round sites and regional (Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight) sites, as well as Dayton/Wichita for teams playing in the Opening Round.
Additionally, the selection committee follows principles to avoid creating rematches of regular season games in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Non-conference opponents who played each other during the regular season should be avoided in the Opening Round and first round when possible. Conference opponents must be avoided: until the Elite Eight if they played each other three or more times prior to the tournament, until the Sweet Sixteen if they played each other twice prior to the tournament, and until the 2nd round if they played each other just once prior to the tournament. (However, all principles can be relaxed if absolutely necessary when bracketing the last 12 at-large teams selected to play in the Opening Round.)
For each of the 361 Division I men’s basketball teams eligible to play in the 2027 NCAA Tournament, the following search tool lists out the distances (ordered from closest to farthest) from each of the two Opening Round sites, eight 1st/2nd round sites, and four regional sites according to driving mileage from campus, as well as both non-conference opponents played prior to the tournament and conference opponents played twice or more prior to the tournament. (Conference opponents played three or more times are marked with an *asterisk.)
(NOTE: Non-conference and conference opponents played twice or more will be added to the search tool in January 2027 after all non-conference challenge and MTE matchups are finalized.)
Distances are driving miles from campus (no traffic). * = straight-line miles (no driving route). Opening Round Sites show driving miles from that arena.
SEARCH TOOL NOTES:
- Four teams are ineligible for the 2027 NCAA Tournament due to D-I transition rules and do not appear when searched. These teams are Mercyhurst, New Haven, West Florida, and West Georgia.
- BYU has only four available 1st/2nd round sites two available regional sites listed, as BYU cannot be bracketed to any site in which it would potentially be forced to play a game on a Sunday.
- The cities of Dayton and Wichita (listed in the search tool as “Dayton (Opening Round Site)” and “Wichita (Opening Round Site),” respectively) are also searchable options, as teams that are selected to play in the Opening Round are placed into the bracket’s 1st/2nd round and regional sites based on mileage distances from Dayton/Wichita.
- Although the selection committee has removed a former provision disallowing NCAA Tournament host teams from playing at their host sites, teams are still not permitted to play at sites in which they played three or more games during the regular season. This means the following teams are barred from the following locations: Creighton/Omaha (CHI Health Center Omaha), Louisville/Louisville (KFC Yum! Center), St. John’s/New York (Madison Square Garden).
- All mileage distances are unofficial. Up until 2026, distances were determined using the official NCAA Mileage Calculator, until it was privatized by the NCAA. This search tool’s mileage numbers are calculated through OpenStreetMap (OSRM), which determines the shortest possible driving distance between tournament site addresses and D-I school addresses listed in the NCAA Directory.
- Huge thanks to @AI_Bracketology for scraping data and providing the code to make this search tool possible!
The following tables provide information on the 2027 NCAA Tournament 1st/2nd round and regional (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) sites, listing the city, venue, and days on which games are played.
2027 1ST/2ND ROUND SITES
| CITY | VENUE | DAYS |
|---|---|---|
| Fort Worth, TX | Dickies Arena | Thu/Sat |
| Omaha, NE | CHI Health Center Omaha | Thu/Sat |
| Pittsburgh, PA | PPG Paints Arena | Thu/Sat |
| Spokane, WA | Numerica Veterans Arena | Thu/Sat |
| Charlotte, NC | Spectrum Center | Fri/Sun |
| Louisville, KY | KFC Yum! Center | Fri/Sun |
| Minneapolis, MN | Target Center | Fri/Sun |
| Sacramento, CA | Golden 1 Center | Fri/Sun |
2027 REGIONAL SITES
| CITY | VENUE | DAYS |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, CA (West) | Crypto.com Arena | Thu/Sat |
| San Antonio, TX (South) | Frost Bank Center | Thu/Sat |
| Kansas City, MO (Midwest) | T-Mobile Center | Fri/Sun |
| New York, NY (East) | Madison Square Garden | Fri/Sun |
BRACKETING PRINCIPLES
The NCAA Tournament selection committee follows a number of principles and procedures when it comes to selection, seeding, and bracketing the 76-team field. These are outlined on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Selections Page.
The full list of principles and procedures for the 2027 NCAA Tournament can also be viewed in the following PDF: