We're rolling out our final maps of the 2017 NCAA Championships (at least for now). We've retired the giant green rods and traded them in for heat-vision goggles like the kind the Predator uses in the movies. 

We're still plotting our points based on the wrestlers' hometowns, but this time, instead of measuring the performance using three-dimensional spikes, we're showing their geographical concentrations using rainbow-colored blobs. 

WATCH LIVE | FLOARENA | SCHEDULE | THE MOTHER OF ALL PREVIEWS



We plotted the hometowns and the strength of the All-Americans using the same methods applied to our previously published maps of the 2017 All-Americans. 

Using that data and strapping on our Predator vision, our map of the 2017 NCAA All-American hometowns looks like this:



We can compare this map to one that charts all the NCAA qualifiers, regardless of how they finished. For this map, each qualifier who is pinpointed receives the same qualitative value. So we're just looking at the parts of country that produce the most competitors that make it to the big dance -- not how well they perform once they get there.



The areas that stand out as having had particularly good 2017 tournaments are the Pittsburgh and Cleveland metro areas. The Chicago and New York City/Eastern Pennsylvania metropolises both had large concentrations of qualifiers, but it's when final placements and All-American honors are factored in that Ohio and Western Pennsylvania shine as exceptional achievers.

Ohio's stellar tournament should come as no suprise, considering it finished with more All-Americans than any state, breaking Pennsylvania's eight-year streak of being able to make that claim.

Other regions that made the most of their qualifiers in St. Louis are Texas, which had a champ with Penn State's Bo Nickal, and Oklahoma, which had five All-Americans, the most from that state since 2006.

Check out Allen, Texas' own Bo Nickal advance to the semifinals of the 2017 NCAAs:

The mapped patterns follow what we've seen before, which is what you would expect. A map of NCAA tournament qualifiers going all the way back to 2000 can be used to compare how this year's geographic arrangement differs from recent history. 



All caveats for hometown placements apply here. However, by factoring in the past 17 tournaments prior to St. Louis, we're able to vastly expand our data set and help smooth over any single-year abnormalities. 

No word yet from the Predator planet on whether or not our heat-mapping technology meets its species' exacting standards.