On the eve of round 2 (the real start) of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, Facebook has analyzed the more than 1 million "likes" entered for each of the 68 teams in the tournament to create a comprehensive geography of March Madness.
Michael Bailey, an economist on Facebook's Data Science team, provides the thoroughly scientific analysis depicting "how regions and states will be dividing their loyalty and filling out their brackets this March." In several color-coded maps, Facebook looks at fan favorites by conferences, by team (for each regional bracket), and by each of the #1 seeds.
For those hoping for magical upsets, they also analyze which potential Cinderella team has the strongest support. "Surprisingly, out of the lower seeds (13-16), it's the (16) seeds Liberty and NC A&T that have the largest fan support. Liberty is the first 20-loss team to enter the tournament in 5 years. NC A&T is a surprise entry to this year's tourney having finished 6th in regular season MEAC play, but winning the conference tournament."
Finally they look at the biggest rivalries, and indeed confirm that most of the country doesn't like Duke.
Read the full story: March Madness Fandom on Facebook
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