Only a few dozen programs have won a national championship in men’s college basketball, but several of those have made quite the habit of cutting down the nets.
From its humble beginnings nearly a century ago as an eight-team tournament that was a challenger to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) for superiority as THE postseason destination for top college basketball teams, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament has blossomed into the 68-team ‘March Madness’ behemoth that it is today.
The legacy of players, coaches, all-time great teams and programs as a whole are defined by both appearances and championships won in the NCAA tournament.
UCLA has only won one title in the past 50 years, and Indiana’s most recent national championship came in 1987. Yet, because of their placement on the all-time leaderboard for titles won, both of those teams are still considered blue-blood programs and are constantly mentioned among the best in the sport, even though they haven’t been great in quite some time.
Within this brief history lesson, we’ll identify every champion (and runner-up) of the NCAA tournament since its origin in 1939, specifically highlighting both the most recent winners and the teams that have done it most often over the years.
Most Recent March Madness Winners
Connecticut Huskies (2023 and 2024)
In becoming the first back-to-back national champions since the Florida Gators in 2006-07, UConn head coach Dan Hurley quickly came to be regarded as quite possibly the best in the game today.
Doesn’t hurt his case that so many coaching legends have retired within the past five years, but he was the conductor of a freight train in those two tournaments.
Between the two dances, Connecticut won each of its 12 games by a margin of at least 13 points, making winning a title look way easier than it actually is.
Even in the second national championship against Purdue and two-time National Player of the Year Zach Edey, UConn cruised to a 15-point victory.
Kansas Jayhawks (2022)
Remy Martin spent most of the 2021-22 season in coach Bill Self’s doghouse, but he was the Jayhawks’ savior early in this run, scoring 20 off the bench in the second-round game against Creighton, followed by 23 in the Sweet 16 against Providence. Both games were tight late in the second half, but Martin helped get them over that initial hump.
In the title game against North Carolina, Kansas trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half, but never gave up. Both Christian Braun and David McCormack delivered double-doubles as Kansas eked out a three-point victory.
Baylor Bears (2021)
It often feels like we’re destined for a particular championship matchup, but we rarely get it.
2021 was one of the exceptions to that rule, as it was Gonzaga at No. 1 and Baylor at No. 2 in the AP poll for darn near the entire season.
The Zags carried a perfect 31-0 record into the national championship against the two-loss Bears, and they were favored by a few points in their quest to complete that undefeated season. But Baylor blew the game wide open in a hurry, already up by 10 by the time Gonzaga made its first field goal and ahead 29-10 midway through the first half.
From there, the Bears coasted to their first title, denying Gonzaga’s attempt to finally win one of its own.
Virginia Cavaliers (2019)
This was one of the greatest redemption stories in the history of any sport, really.
One year removed from becoming the first team ever to lose to a No. 16 seed (UMBC) in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Virginia came back better and more motivated than ever, desperate to write a new, less depressing legacy.
It wasn’t easy. In fact, they kicked off the tourney by almost suffering the same disastrous loss, trailing No. 16 seed Gardner-Webb by 14 points late in the first half. But the Cavaliers rallied to win that opener by 15. They squeaked out a four-point win in the Sweet 16, an overtime win in the Elite Eight (thanks to the Mamadi Diakite miracle to end regulation), a one-point win in the Final Four before yet another overtime nail-biter in the national championship.
It was as if they were destined to save face, the once epic failures turning to wins in the most dramatic fashion over and over again.
Villanova Wildcats (2018)
National champions in both 2016 and 2018, Villanova was relentless from the perimeter, more so in this latter of the two runs.
Led by Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo, the Wildcats set an NCAA record with 464 made three-pointers during the 2017-18 campaign.
In their six-game tournament rampage, they shot a combined 76-for-183 (41.5 percent) from distance. They made better than 12 triples per contest and won each tournament game by at least 12 points.
Complete List of March Madness Winners by Year
*Vacated
Which Teams Have Won the Most College Basketball Championships?
There are 37 unique schools making up the 85 titles won, so there has been quite a lot of double-dipping over the years, 15 of those 37 programs winning it all multiple times.
The UCLA Bruins lead the way with 11 titles, 10 of which came in a span of 12 years from 1964-75 that makes even the peak of the New England Patriots/Tom Brady dynasty look just OK by comparison.
They went 335-22 overall during that time, which is a patently absurd .938 winning percentage.
Since Kentucky’s fateful 38-1 campaign in 2014-15, the only team to post a .938 or better winning percentage in a single season was Gonzaga, doing so in both 2016-17 and 2020-21, losing in the national championship in each of those years.
Speaking of Kentucky, however, the Wildcats are No. 2 on the all-time list of titles with eight of them. Their wins were much more spread out, though, ranging from 1948 through 2012.
Here’s the list of every school that has won multiple natties:
1. UCLA Bruins, 11 (1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995)
2. Kentucky Wildcats, 8 (1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998, 2012)
3 (tie). Connecticut Huskies, 6 (1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, 2024)
3 (tie). North Carolina Tar Heels, 6 (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017)
5 (tie). Duke Blue Devils, 5 (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015)
5 (tie). Indiana Hoosiers, 5 (1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, 1987)
7. Kansas Jayhawks, 4 (1952, 1988, 2008, 2022)
8 (tie). Louisville Cardinals, 3 (1980, 1986, 2013*)
8 (tie). Villanova Wildcats, 3 (1985, 2016, 2018)
10 (tie). Cincinnati Bearcats, 2 (1961, 1962)
10 (tie). Florida Gators, 2 (2006, 2007)
10 (tie). Michigan State Spartans, 2 (1979, 2000)
10 (tie). North Carolina State Wolfpack, 2 (1974, 1983)
10 (tie). Oklahoma State Cowboys, 2 (1945, 1946)
10 (tie). San Francisco Dons, 2 (1955, 1956)
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has played in the most national championships?
That would be UCLA, winning 11 of its 13 appearances in the title game. Kentucky is right on the Bruins’ heels, though, with 12 title game appearances.
The record for most Final Fours, however, belongs to North Carolina, with 21 to UCLA’s 19.
And while UCLA’s 11-2 mark is one heck of a record in national championships, Connecticut has gone a perfect 6-for-6 in the natty.
Why did the number of teams in the NCAA tournament fluctuate so much from 1953-69?
Back in those days, only one team per conference (17 conferences in most years) was invited to the NCAA tournament, as well as 8-10 Independent teams.
But prior to 1970, it wasn’t uncommon for the conference winner to choose the NIT over a spot in the NCAA tournament. Instead of then extending an invitation to the next-best team from the conference, that league simply forfeited its ticket to the dance.
Thus, the field would land somewhere in the 22 to 25 range, depending on how many teams declined the invitation.
Does Louisville’s 2013 national championship count?
Technically, officially, no.
The Cardinals vacated that national championship as the result of a prostitution scandal on the team that led to Rick Pitino’s termination as head coach.
As far as the NCAA record books are concerned, there was no champion in 2013, and only Louisville’s two championships won in the 1980s count.
For all the scandals college basketball has endured through the years, that’s the only one (thus far) to result in the stripping of a title.
Rule Your March Madness Pool With Sleeper
When Selection Sunday rolls around in mid-March and you’re searching for the best place to host your bracket pool, look no further than Sleeper’s Bracket Mania.
You can have up to 10,000 participants in your bracket pool, or make it private and just keep it to a small group of friends. Either way, you can see throughout the tournament where your bracket ranks globally.
Shortly after the field is revealed, you’ll get to read little blurbs about each of the teams in the tournament, in case you need any stats, help or just the occasional chuckle while filling out your bracket.
Once the tournament has begun and entries are locked in, Sleeper takes care of marking all those winners and losers while you use the in-app chat for bragging rights and/or sob stories about where it all went wrong.
Of course, March Madness only encompasses a small fraction of the calendar, but Sleeper has you covered year-round with a multitude of fantasy offerings. If you can’t find something on there that you would enjoy as a sports fan, you probably didn’t look very hard.
