Results of an informal poll of college hoops fans in all 50 states from the guys at SportsBettingExperts.com.

Since 2016 is an election year — and since Bill Self, both before Kansas and with the Jayhawks has fared pretty well during election years in the past (Elite 8 in 2000 at Tulsa, Elite 8 in 2004 during first year at KU, national title in 2008, national runner-up in 2012 — why not put a little election-year spin on this year’s NCAA Tournament?

That’s sort of what the guys at SportsBettingExperts.com did recently by polling 100 college basketball fans in all 50 states and asking them for their pick to win this year’s national championship.

Kansas, which enters this week’s Big 12 championship in Kansas City, Mo., as the 12-time Big 12 champ and No. 1 ranked team in the nation, was the overwhelming pick by America’s college hoops fans.

People in 18 different states gave Kansas the nod in the recent poll, with Villanova (7), Michigan State (5) and North Carolina (2) playing the Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich roles in the polls.

Here’s a list of the states that KU claimed along with a map of how the entire country voted. It’s kind of cool and completely understandable to see how the Utes claimed Utah, West Virginia went with the Mountaineers or Oklahoma went with the Sooners.

But there were a couple of strange selections, such as Villanova winning in Washington and Hawaii or Kansas claiming New Hampshire.

Either way, it was a pretty fun and clearly very unscientific way to break down what has become one of the most exciting events in today’s sports landscape.

California
Nevada
Alaska
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
Colorado
Kansas
New Mexico
Nebraska
South Dakota
Missouri
Arkansas
Louisiana
Alabama
Mississippi
Georgia
New Hampshire

Also, from betting site bovada.lv, listed below in the third column are the updated odds to win the national championship as of March 3. The second column is where the odds sat one month earlier.

As you can see, four Big 12 teams rank in the Top 20, including Kansas, which, at 5-1, is the co-favorite with Michigan State.

Kansas — 12/1 — 5/1

Michigan State — 12/1 — 5/1
North Carolina — 6/1 — 9/1
Kentucky — 20/1 — 10/1
Oklahoma — 15/2 — 12/1

Xavier — 20/1 — 12/1
Villanova — 16/1 — 14/1
Virginia — 25/1 — 14/1
Duke — 14/1 — 20/1
Maryland — 11/1 — 20/1
Iowa — 12/1 — 25/1
Wisconsin — 200/1 — 25/1
Miami FL — 28/1 — 28/1
Arizona — 33/1 — 33/1
California — 100/1 — 33/1
Indiana — 33/1 — 33/1
Iowa State — 25/1 — 33/1

Oregon — 40/1 — 33/1
West Virginia — 28/1 — 33/1

Wichita State — 25/1 — 33/1