If federal funding has anything to do with it, the University of Wisconsin Badgers will emerge from March Madness 2015 with an NCAA national basketball championship.
The Wisconsin school has the top seed in the West region in Los Angeles coming in with a record of 31-3. According to USASpending.gov, the Wisconsin school has received $11,542,204,301 in federal contracts, grants and other spending since 2001.
Trailing far behind in second is Duke University, the top seed in the South region in Houston after completing the regular season with a 29-4 record. The Blue Devils school has received $7,384,633,498 from Uncle Sam since 2001.
The University of Kentucky is third. The Wildcats are the number-one seed in the Midwest bracket in Cleveland and, with an undefeated season of 34 wins, the top seed in the March Madness contest overall. The school received $6,392,102,678 from the federal government since 2001.
Villanova, the top seed in the East region at Syracuse, with a 32-2 record in the regular season, is far behind the other three top-seeds, having received only $104,228,864 since 2001. The Villanova total includes $2.1 million from a grant received in 2015. The totals for the other schools do not include 2015 money.
Viewed only for federal tax dollars received in 2014, Wisconsin remains far ahead with $911.8 million. Duke was second with $552.4 million. Kentucky was third with $492.9 million. Villanova was fourth with $10.2 million.
USASpending.gov captures about 70 percent of all federal spending, including procurement contracts and grants. The web site was created as a result of the Federal Financial Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which was co-sponsored in the Senate by then-senators Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, and Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat.
Mark Tapscott is executive editor of the Washington Examiner.
