The march to madness has begun.

Over the next two weeks, powerhouse representatives from the NCAA’s elite conferences will wade through a pool of deserving (and undeserving) mid-major hopefuls in hopes of hoisting the 67^th annual NCAA championship trophy.

Instead of predicting San Diego State over Indiana or berating the selection committee for putting as many Missouri Valley Conference teams in the dance as the ACC, let’s look behind the scenes at what the cost of success really is (all figures compiled by The Wall Street Journal).

Top ranked teams like Duke are able to bring in revenue from a variety of outlets every season, from ticketing to TV contracts and endorsements. In turn, they are able to pay a coach like Kryzewski the $1.4 million a year that eight ACC championships will  demand.

Since 2004/2005, the top ranked Blue Devils have more than doubled their expenses, dropping a league leading $7.4 million on their basketball program. That equates to just over $274 thousand per win. Of course this exposure leads to increased revenue, which is up 17 percent from last year at $12.4 million.

The most cost-effective member of this year’s NCAA tournament is 8^th seed Arizona. Last year, Lute Olson’s crew raked in a league-leading $16.6 million while only spending $4.4 million. One of the biggest reasons for this is that Olson’s base salary is fairly nominal, with most of his pay coming from endorsements and public speaking arrangements.

Last year’s national champion North Carolina  holds the second spot for revenue accrued during their championship season. Even with coach Roy Williams’ salary in the top five of all coaches in the NCAA at $1.4 million, UNC’s program was able to rake in $15 million while only spending $4.8 million. Between UNC, N.C. State and Duke, the state of North Carolina brought just under $40 million down Tobacco Road in 2004/2005, equating to more college basketball revenue than any other state.

Gonzaga spent only $1.6 million last year on their basketball team, less than about two-thirds of the teams in this years tournament. They have been nationally ranked as high as 4^th while only spending about  $59,000 per win. By comparison, the Golden Eagles from Marquette spent $5.8 million last year on their unranked program, equating to a whopping $305 thousand per win. However, the Golden Eagles’ aspirations for national recognition have turned one step closer to reality this year, with regular season wins against UCONN, Pitt and Georgetown.

Rounding out the bottom of the field is Northwestern State, a 14^th seed from Louisiana, which spent only $470 thousand last year on its program. The bill at NSU comes to about 15 percent of the expenses at Florida State, a team which not even selected for the tournament.

The biggest contributing factor to the expenses of any college basketball team is the salary of the coach. Tom Izzo’s salary of $1.6 million at Michigan State, for example, is one-fourth of the programs overall expenditures.

After salaries, the greatest cost for basketball programs comes from the method of travel to away games. Teams that charter private airlines, like Michigan State or Louisville, can spend close to $800 thousand a year more than teams that travel by bus, such as West Virginia. But the ability to fly can be used as a successful recruiting tool.

As in any sport, simply shelling out money does not guarantee success. It’s what you do with the money that counts. Villanova, one of this year’s No. 1-seeds, spent only $2.6 million on its program in 2004/2005, which is the fifth lowest budget of any team in the top 25. While assessing their success, realize that Villanova dropped as much money on their team last year as Creighton. However, hopes for a national title have given Villanova coach Jay Wright a hefty raise, so Villanova’s budget will be growing.

Over the next two weeks we will see if the Northwestern State Universities of the world can dance with the best teams that college basketball has to offer. As far as the brackets, the biggest chance at a budget-based upset goes to Winthrop’s $740 thousand budget against over-ranked Tennessee’s $4.5 million budget. Win or loose, hopefully Tennessee’s coach Bruce Pearl will take $4 from that $4.5 million to buy a stick of deodorant.