Nike and its affiliated brands sponsor 52 of the 68 teams in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, down from the 55 in last year's tourney. THE DAILY's annual breakdown of the shoe and apparel brands worn in the tourney shows there are 47 schools that wear Nike shoes, while five teams don Jordan Brand. Twelve teams wear adidas shoes, down from 13 last year. Under Armour has gained three teams in the tourney, going from one team in '11 to four this year. Russell Athletic supplies the jerseys for five schools, a jump from just two last year. Crons' lone representative is UNC-Asheville. Schools in the chart below are listed by region in their seed order. The first round of the NCAA tournament begins today (THE DAILY).
| SOUTH | EAST |
| | TEAM | SHOE/APPAREL | | TEAM | SHOE/APPAREL |
| 1) | Kentucky | Nike/Nike | 1) | Syracuse | Nike/Nike |
| 2) | Duke | Nike/Nike | 2) | Ohio State | Nike/Nike |
| 3) | Baylor | adidas/adidas | 3) | Florida State | Nike/Nike |
| 4) | Indiana | adidas/adidas | 4) | Wisconsin | adidas/adidas |
| 5) | Wichita State | Nike/Nike | 5) | Vanderbilt | Nike/Nike |
| 6) | UNLV | Nike/Nike | 6) | Cincinnati | adidas/adidas |
| 7) | Notre Dame | adidas/adidas | 7) | Gonzaga | Nike/Nike |
| 8) | Iowa State | Nike/Nike | 8) | Kansas State | Nike/Nike |
| 9) | UConn | Nike/Nike | 9) | Southern Miss | Nike/Nike |
| 10) | Xavier | Nike/Nike | 10) | West Virginia | Nike/Nike |
| 11) | Colorado | Nike/Nike | 11) | Texas | Nike/Nike |
| 12) | VCU | Nike/Nike | 12) | Harvard | Nike/Nike |
| 13) | New Mexico State | adidas/adidas | 13) | Montana | Nike/Nike |
| 14) | South Dakota State | Nike/Nike | 14) | St. Bonaventure | Jordan/Jordan |
| 15) | Lehigh | Nike/Nike | 15) | Loyola (MD) | Under Armour/
Under Armour |
| 16) | Mississippi Valley State | Nike/Russell Athletic | 16) | UNC-Asheville | Nike/Crons |
| 16) | Western Kentucky | Nike/Russell Athletic | | | |
| WEST | MIDWEST |
| 1) | Michigan State | Nike/Nike | 1) | North Carolina | Jordan/Jordan |
| 2) | Missouri | Nike/Nike | 2) | Kansas | adidas/adidas |
| 3) | Marquette | Jordan/Jordan | 3) | Georgetown | Jordan/Jordan |
| 4) | Louisville | adidas/adidas | 4) | Michigan | adidas/adidas |
| 5) | New Mexico | Nike/Nike | 5) | Temple | Under Armour/
Under Armour |
| 6) | Murray State | Nike/Nike | 6) | San Diego | Nike/Nike |
| 7) | Florida | Nike/Nike | 7) | St. Mary's | adidas/adidas |
| 8) | Memphis | Nike/Nike | 8) | Creighton | Nike/Nike |
| 9) | St. Louis | Nike/Nike | 9) | Alabama | Nike/Nike |
| 10) | Virginia | Nike/Nike | 10) | Purdue | Nike/Nike |
| 11) | Colorado State | Nike/Russell Athletic | 11) | N.C. State | adidas/adidas |
| 12) | Long Beach State | Nike/Nike | 12) | California | Jordan/Jordan |
| 13) | Davidson | Nike/Nike | 12) | South Florida | Under Armour/
Under Armour |
| 14) | BYU | Nike/Nike | 13) | Ohio | Nike/Russell Athletic |
| 14) | Iona | Nike/Nike | 14) | Belmont | Nike/Nike |
| 15) | Norfolk State | Nike/Russell Athletic | 15) | Detroit | Nike/Nike |
| 16) | LIU-Brooklyn | adidas/adidas | 16) | Lamar | Under Armour/
Under Armour |
| | | | 16) | Vermont | Nike/Nike |
| | | | | | |
LOOKING BACK: Nike has dominated shoes and jerseys among NCAA men's basketball tournament teams in recent years. Only Nike, adidas, Jordan Brand and Russell Athletic have had a continuous presence of some sort over the last five years. Listed below are jersey and shoe sponsors during the past five NCAA men's basketball tournaments (THE DAILY).
| | '11 | '10 | '09 | '08 | '07 |
| Brand | Shoe | Apparel | Shoe | Apparel | Shoe | Apparel | Shoe | Apparel | Shoe | Apparel |
| Nike | 52 | 47 | 50 | 44 | 49 | 45 | 40 | 35 | 45 | 37 |
| adidas | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 15 |
| Jordan | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Russell | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Reebok | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | 2 | 2 |
Under
Armour | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| New Balance | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Crons | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Converse | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -- | -- |
| Wilson | -- | -- | 0 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0 | 2 |
Anaconda
Sports | 0 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Sports Belle | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Speedline | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0 | 1 |
| The Rock | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 0 | 1 |
