Connecticut in the West, UCLA in the East? I never really liked this too much. I have always been in favor of minimizing travel for teams so that interest in the early-round games is optimal. Even the regional semifinals and final in Phoenix lacked asses in the seats, making one wonder why they needed to book a football stadium in the first place--were that many Connecticut fans going to make the trip to Glendale? Nope.

So I got obsessed with it and decided to play make-believe and regionalize it more. I completely regionalized all the sites:

West: Boise, Portland, Glendale.
Midwest: Kansas City, Minneapolis, Indianapolis.
East: Dayton, Philadelphia, Boston.
South: Greensboro, Miami, Memphis.

And then I seeded the four regions with teams that actually are from those regions, keeping all teams within any given state in the same region, and seeding them based on RPI (that's why you see the atrocity that is Utah as a #1 seed

). First-round sites all favor the top four seeds.

Here's what the first round looks like:

WEST
Boise
1 Utah vs. 16 Northridge
8 Texas A&M vs. 9 Southern California

Portland
4 Gonzaga vs. 13 Stephen F. Austin
5 Brigham Young vs. 12 Arizona

Boise
3 Utah State vs. 14 North Dakota State
6 Arizona State vs. 11 Texas

Portland
2 Washington vs. 15 Portland State
7 UCLA vs. 10 California

MIDWEST
Minneapolis
1 Louisville vs. 16 Morehead State
8 Illinois vs. 9 Butler

Kansas City
4 Missouri vs. 13 Michigan
5 Kansas vs. 12 Western Kentucky

Minneapolis
3 Michigan State vs. 14 Wisconsin
6 Oklahoma State vs. 11 Minnesota

Kansas City
2 Oklahoma vs. 15 Northern Iowa
7 Purdue vs. 10 Marquette

EAST
Dayton
16 Cornell vs. 17 Morgan State

Dayton
1 Pittsburgh vs.
8 Temple vs. 9 Ohio State

Dayton
4 Villanova vs. 13 Binghamton
5 Xavier vs. 12 Boston College

Philadelphia
3 Syracuse vs. 14 Akron
6 Siena vs. 11 Maryland

Philadelphia
2 Connecticut vs. 15 Robert Morris
7 Dayton vs. 10 Cleveland State

SOUTH
Greensboro
1 Duke vs. 16 Alabama State
8 Clemson vs. 9 Louisiana State

Miami
4 Florida State vs. 13 East Tennessee State
5 Wake Forest vs. 12 American

Miami
3 Memphis vs. 14 Radford
6 West Virginia vs. 11 Mississippi State

Greensboro
2 North Carolina vs. 15 Chattanooga
7 Tennessee vs. 10 Virginia Commonwealth

With top seeds being so close to home, there shouldn't be too many empty seats this way. Then the regional semis should look like this (based on who went further this tournament; tie goes to higher seed):

WEST
Boise
1 Utah vs. 9 Southern California
3 Utah State vs. 6 Arizona State

Portland
4 Gonzaga vs. 12 Arizona
2 Washington vs. 7 UCLA

MIDWEST
Minneapolis
1 Louisville vs. 8 Illinois
3 Michigan State vs. 6 Oklahoma State

Kansas City
4 Missouri vs. 5 Kansas
2 Oklahoma vs. 7 Purdue

EAST
Dayton
1 Pittsburgh vs. 8 Temple
4 Villanova vs. 5 Xavier

Philadelphia
3 Syracuse vs. 6 Siena
2 Connecticut vs. 7 Dayton

SOUTH
Greensboro
1 Duke vs. 9 Louisiana State
7 North Carolina vs. 7 Tennessee

Miami
4 Florida State vs. 5 Wake Forest
3 Memphis vs. 6 West Virginia

Sweet 16...

WEST
Glendale
9 Southern California vs. 12 Arizona
2 Washington vs. 3 Utah State

MIDWEST
Indianapolis
1 Louisville vs. 4 Missouri
2 Oklahoma vs. 3 Michigan State

EAST
Boston
1 Pittsburgh vs. 4 Villanova
2 Connecticut vs. 3 Syracuse

SOUTH
Memphis
1 Duke vs 4 Florida State
2 North Carolina vs. 3 Memphis

Elite 8...
Glendale: 12 Arizona vs. 2 Washington
Indianapolis: 1 Louisville vs. 3 Michigan State
Boston: 4 Villanova vs. 2 Connecticut
Memphis: 1 Duke vs. 2 North Carolina

Final Four
Washington vs. Michigan State
Connecticut vs. North Carolina