College Basketball has Eight Cities Buzzing About Final Four Teams

The first college basketball game was played 123 years ago, on Jan. 18, 1896 and games were broadcast on national TV for the first time in 1963.

Today, March Madness has spread to 68 college towns with men’s teams and 64 with women’s teams.

For two weeks, the fever builds to the Final Four games of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The 38th annual edition of the women’s tournament is April 5 and 7 and the 81st annual edition of the men’s is April 6 and 8.

This year’s host sites are in Minneapolis and Tampa, far from the hometowns of the eight Final Four teams.

Here are the matchups and latest populations for each college town and host city.

Baylor Lady Bears in Waco, Texas (pop. 136,436) and the Oregon Ducks in Eugene, Ore., (pop. 168,916); Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Notre Dame, Ind., (pop. 9,973) and the Connecticut Huskies in Storrs, Conn., (pop. 15,344).

Tampa (pop. 385,430) is the host city.

Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville, Va., (pop. 48,019) and the Auburn Tigers in Auburn, Ala., (pop. 63,973); Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing, Mich., (pop. 48,844) and Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, Texas, (pop. 253,888).

Minneapolis (pop. 422,331) is the host city.

• Only two teams are back from last year’s Final Four: the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Connecticut Huskies.
• The same two teams come from the smallest towns: Notre Dame, Ind., (pop. 5,973) and Storrs, Conn., (pop. 15,344).
• The most populous college towns with teams in this year’s Final Fours are Lubbock, Texas, (pop. 253,888) and Eugene, Ore., (pop. 168,916).
• Two Final Four college towns are in Texas: Lubbock and Waco.
• This is the first time that the Auburn Tigers and the Texas Tech Red Raiders have made the Final Four.
• The Connecticut Huskies have now made a record 12 consecutive Final Four appearances.

To learn more about the 2019 Final Four college towns and the host sites click on these links to QuickFacts, statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more.

QuickFacts tables are summary profiles showing frequently requested data items from various U.S. Census Bureau programs.

Test your knowledge of the various population sizes of metro areas and states in the United States by playing our Population Bracketology Game. Can you win all 63 match ups by metro area population? How about the 55 match ups by state population?

Derick Moore is a senior communications specialist at the U.S. Census Bureau.