With the NCAA Tournament beginning next week with the The First Four many college basketball fans will be traveling to Dayton to take in the opening games of the 2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
That being said, Ohio is a state that is rich in collegiate sports history and tradition with a handful of historic colleges that have had great success across many sports. Ohio residents can bet on the upcoming NCAA Tournament and more with BetMGM bonus when using the newest promo codes.
Below, we go over the best NCAA destinations to visit when you’re in Ohio.
University of Dayton (Dayton, OH)
With the NCAA Tournament just over a week away, the University of Dayton will be the center of the college basketball universe on March 14 and 15 as it hosts the opening games of the NCAA Tournament, appropriately called “The First Four”. During the 14th and 15th, the University of Dayton will host these four games at UD Arena with the winners of moving onto the Round of 64.
Since the The First Four games began in 2001, the games have been held in Dayton each and every year outside the 2021 NCAA Tournament as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NCAA to hold the entire tournament within the state of Indiana.
Thanks to the The First Four, Dayton has become synonymous with the NCAA Tournament and March Madness with millions of college basketball fans tuning in each and every season to watch the beginning of the tournament.
The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
The creme de la creme of Ohio college towns, Columbus is home to The Ohio State University, known worldwide for their top notch college football program. That being said, the Buckeyes are not only good in football, they’re a well rounded university athletically. It’s als a beautiful campus well worth getting to a bit earlier in your day so you can take in the sights and sounds of the campus before taking in a sporting event on campus.
The campus is also home to Ohio Stadium also known as The Horseshoe. One of the most famous football stadiums in the United States, The Horseshoe is also one of the biggest stadiums in the world, being able to hold nearly 103,000 fans for every Ohio State home game.
University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH)
The next place you should visit when you’re in Ohio is the University of Cincinnati. The university has seen an uptick in popularity the sports world thanks to their football program making the College Football Playoffs in 2021. The Bearcats basketball program is also historically a high quality one which included a three-year run in the 1960s that saw the Bearcats win two national titles while also finishing as the national title runner ups once. While the program has gone through a bit of a down period over the last several years, there is plenty of potential for the program to return to its former glory, especially with a move to the Big 12 coming.
Xavier University (Cincinnati, OH)
While you’re in Cincinnati, you might as well drop on the Bearcats crosstown rival, Xavier University, home of the Xavier Musketeers. Xavier has a beautiful gothic style campus located in Cincinnati. When it comes to athletics, their best known for their men’s basketball teams.which has made three NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearances as well as eight NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen appearances all since 1990.
While these are just four of the best NCAA destinations to stop at when traveling in Ohio, they’re not the only options. There’s also Bowling Green State University, Kent State University, Miami (OH) University, the University of Toledo, and Youngstown State just to name a few.
As mentioned at the top of the article, Ohio is a state rich in sports culture and that includes at the college level as well. While many think of Ohio State when they think of Ohio collegiately, there are many tremendous college sports destinations for fans to check out when driving through the Buckeye State.
