2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: Who Is Traveling The Furthest For 1st Round?

For the first time since 2023, the Maryland Terrapins are back in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and Maryland sportsbooks should see a boost.

That’s the good news for the program. The bad news is, head coach Kevin Willard and his team are making a transcontinental trek to Seattle to play Grand Canyon University in the Round of 64. The Terrapins square off against the WAC champs in Seattle on 4:35 Eastern on Friday afternoon (TBS). ESPN Analytics is giving UM an 86.1% shot at beating the Antelopes as of Monday.

To get a sense of where Maryland’s first round journey ranks, distance wise, and for possible insight into Maryland Terrapins men’s basketball odds for the game, BetMaryland.com broke down which teams have the shortest (and longest) trips for their first tournament contests in the men’s NCAA Tournament.

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Travel Distance For March Madness 2025

Rank	Team	Location	Miles From Home Arena To Arena*
1	Duke	Raleigh, NC	21 miles
2	Louisville	Lexington, KY	78 miles
3	Robert Morris	Cleveland, OH	124 miles
T4	Tennessee	Lexington, KY	175 miles
T4	St. John’s	Providence, RI	175 miles
6	Norfolk State	Raleigh, NC	192 miles
7	Illinois	Milwaukee, WI	225 miles
8	Michigan State	Cleveland, OH	229 miles
9	Oregon	Seattle, WA	286 miles
10	Missouri	Wichita, KS	319 miles
11	Wofford	Lexington, KY	346 miles
12	Iowa State	Milwaukee, WI	353 miles
13	Drake	Wichita, KS	388 miles
14	Marquette	Cleveland, OH	434 miles
15	Xavier	Dayton, OH & Milwaukee, WI	444 miles
16	SIU Edwardsville	Wichita, KS	450 miles
17	Kentucky	Milwaukee, WI	469 miles
18	St. Francis (PA)	Dayton, OH & Lexington, KY	470 miles
19	BYU	Denver, CO	480 miles
20	Auburn	Lexington, KY	488 miles
21	Texas Tech	Wichita, KS	509 miles
22	Vanderbilt	Cleveland, OH	522 miles
23	Florida	Raleigh, NC	533 miles
24	Lipscomb	Milwaukee, WI	574 miles
25	Houston	Wichita, KS	605 miles
26	Bryant	Cleveland, OH	626 miles
27	UConn	Raleigh, NC	640 miles
28	Mississippi State	Raleigh, NC	685 miles
29	Ole Miss	Milwaukee, WI	706 miles
30	High Point	Providence, RI	729 miles
31	Alabama State	Dayton, OH & Lexington, KY	741 miles
32	Alabama	Cleveland, OH	765 miles
33	Creighton	Lexington, KY	769 miles
34	North Carolina	Dayton, OH & Milwaukee, WI	876 miles
35	Montana	Denver, CO	894 miles
36	Troy	Milwaukee, WI	901 miles
37	Mount St. Mary’s	Dayton, OH & Raleigh, NC	929 miles
38	Clemson	Providence, RI	933 miles
39	Texas A&M	Denver, CO	939 miles
40	Purdue	Providence, RI	940 miles
41	Wisconsin	Denver, CO	952 miles
42	American	Dayton, OH & Raleigh, NC	967 miles
43	Georgia	Wichita, KS	1,029 miles
44	UC San Diego	Denver, CO	1,078 miles
45	Oklahoma	Raleigh, NC	1,214 miles
46	Michigan	Denver, CO	1,227 miles
47	Baylor	Raleigh, NC	1,229 miles
48	Colorado State	Seattle, WA	1,253 miles
49	UNC Wilmington	Wichita, KS	1,284 miles
50	Grand Canyon	Seattle, WA	1,423 miles
51	Omaha	Providence, RI	1,433 miles
52	Kansas	Providence, RI	1,436 miles
53	Arkansas	Providence, RI	1,517 miles
54	Arizona	Seattle, WA	1,541 miles
55	Texas	Dayton, OH & Milwaukee, WI	1,575 miles
56	New Mexico	Cleveland, OH	1,596 miles
57	Gonzaga	Wichita, KS	1,600 miles
58	Utah State	Lexington, KY	1,651 miles
T59	McNeese	Providence, RI	1,669 miles
T59	VCU	Denver, CO	1,669 miles
61	Yale	Denver, CO	1,854 miles
62	UCLA	Lexington, KY	2,177 miles
63	Memphis	Seattle, WA	2,296 miles
64	Akron	Seattle, WA	2,430 miles
65	St. Mary’s	Cleveland, OH	2,450 miles
66	San Diego State	Dayton, OH & Milwaukee, WI	2,555 miles
67	Maryland	Seattle, WA	2,759 miles
68	Liberty	Seattle, WA	2,783 miles

*Rounded to nearest whole number

For teams in First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday, distance was calculated from school’s home arena to Dayton, Ohio, and then from Dayton to the arena where they’d play their potential first-round matchup on Thursday or Friday.

This analysis is exclusively provided by BetMaryland.com, where the top Maryland sports betting promos are available.

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Where Maryland Ranks For Travel Distance

Of the 68 teams in the field this year, Maryland’s 2,759-mile trip from College Park to Seattle ranks as the second longest overall. Only Liberty’s 2,783-mile trek to the same tournament site, from their campus in Lynchburg, Virginia, is longer.

Conversely, Maryland’s old ACC rivals from Durham have the easiest first round trip this year, with Duke venturing a scant 21 miles from their home campus to play in Raleigh during the first round of the Big Dance.

Our Maryland Terrapins betting guide will give you insights on the typers of betting markets you can expect, which sportsbook operators are available and much more so you can place your March Madness wagers with confidence (at least in the betting process; we can’t guarantee anything as far as game results).

The only other MBB team to have a first-round trip of less than 100 miles is the Louisville Cardinals, who will venture 78 miles east on Interstate 64 to play in Lexington during the Cardinals’ opening round clash against Creighton in 2025.

Luckily for Willard’s bunch, it doesn’t seem like the long distance is expected to impact Maryland’s chances too much. DraftKings Maryland Sportsbook lists the Terrapins as a 10.5-point favorite over GCU on Friday afternoon, with a -600 moneyline on the Big Ten team against the 13th seed out of Phoenix.

USA Today Network photo by Greg Lovett/Palm Beach Post

Author

Christopher Boan

Christopher Boan writes for BetMaryland.com and has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, with experience at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.2021-08-02