NCAA tournament win totals The top ten programs in total NCAA victories: •
Vacated victories not included Most Final Four and championship appearances Programs with ten or more appearances in the Final Four: •
Vacated appearances not included No. 1 seeds Since 1979, the NCAA has seeded each region. Beginning in 2004, the Selection Committee announced the rankings among the 1 seeds, designating an
overall #1 seed and pairing the regions so that the overall #1 seed would meet the #4 overall seed in the Final Four if both advanced. The overall rankings are denoted with the numbers in parentheses. The following teams received the top ranking in each region: •
VacatedBold denotes team also won tournament
No. 1 seeds by school Last updated through 2026 tournament.*
Vacated appearances not included (see #1 seeds by year and region) All No. 1 seeds in the Final Four On two occasions have all four No. 1 seeds make it to the Final Four: •
2008 –
Kansas (champion),
North Carolina,
UCLA,
Memphis •
2025 –
Florida (champion),
Auburn,
Duke,
Houston Final Fours without a No. 1 seed Four times (including three since the field expanded to 64 teams) the Final Four has been without a No. 1 seed: •
1980 – No. 2
Louisville (
champion), No. 8
UCLA (runner-up), No. 5
Iowa, No. 6
Purdue •
2006 – No. 3
Florida (
champion), No. 2
UCLA (runner-up), No. 4
LSU, No. 11
George Mason •
2011 – No. 3
Connecticut (
champion), No. 8
Butler (runner-up), No. 4
Kentucky, No. 11
VCU •
2023 – No. 4
UConn (
champion), No. 5
San Diego State (runner-up), No. 5
Miami (FL), No. 9
Florida Atlantic Since 1985, there have been 4 instances of three No. 1 seeds reaching the Final Four; 13 instances of two No. 1 seeds making it; and 14 instances of just one No. 1 seed reaching the Final Four.
2023 was the first Final Four without a 1, 2, or 3 seed.
No. 1 seeds in the championship game There have been 11 occasions (ten times since the field expanded to 64) that the championship game has been played between two No. 1 seeds: •
1982 – North Carolina beat Georgetown •
1993 – North Carolina beat Michigan •
1999 – Connecticut beat Duke •
2005 – North Carolina beat Illinois •
2007 – Florida beat Ohio State •
2008 – Kansas beat Memphis •
2015 – Duke beat Wisconsin •
2017 – North Carolina beat Gonzaga •
2021 – Baylor beat Gonzaga •
2024 – UConn beat Purdue •
2025 – Florida beat Houston Since 1985 there have been 18 instances of one No. 1 seed reaching the championship game (No. 1 seeds are 13–5 against other seeds in the title game) and 8 instances where no No. 1 seed made it to the title game.
Additional No. 1 seed stats • In 1997, Arizona became the only team to beat three No. 1 seeds in a single tournament. Arizona (No. 4 seed) beat Kansas in its own southeast region, then beat North Carolina in the Final Four and finally Kentucky in the championship game. The most No. 1 seeds any team can face in the tournament is three (provided that the team itself is not a No. 1 seed, in which case it can only face two No. 1 seeds in the tournament). • In 2011, the highest seed to advance to the Final Four was No. 3 seed Connecticut, making the 2011 tournament the first time that neither a No. 1 seed nor a No. 2 seed advanced into the final weekend of play. In the same tournament, Butler made history as the first program to make consecutive Final Fours while not being seeded No. 1 or No. 2 in either season. • There have been 16 teams that have entered the tournament unbeaten. Four of those teams were from UCLA, and all those Bruin teams won each of those tournaments. However, of the other 12 teams entering the tournament unbeaten, just three went on to win the tournament. For details, see
table below. • In 1980, 1981, and 1982, when the tournament was 48 teams, DePaul was seeded No. 1 but was defeated in the first round. • Theoretically, a No. 1 seed's most difficult six-game path to win the tournament is to defeat a No. 16, a No. 8, a No. 4, a No. 2, a No. 1, and a No. 1—the highest possible opposing seeds in successive rounds. No No. 1 seed has ever won all six such games, though two teams have won the first five. • In the 2002 tournament, Maryland reached the final after defeating teams seeded 16/8/4/2/1; they won the tournament after defeating No. 5 Indiana in the final. • In the 2015 tournament, Wisconsin reached the final after defeating teams seeded 16/8/4/2/1. In the final, they faced No. 1 Duke with a chance to complete the full six-game path. However, Wisconsin lost the final. • In 2023, no No. 1 seeds advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time ever. Purdue
lost to Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round; Kansas lost to Arkansas in the second round, and both Alabama and Houston lost in the Sweet Sixteen, respectively, to San Diego State and Miami.
Teams No. 1 in national polls Teams that
entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in at least one of the AP, UPI, or USA Today polls and won the tournament: • 1949: Kentucky (AP) • 1951: Kentucky (AP/UPI) • 1953: Indiana (AP/UPI) • 1955: San Francisco (AP/UPI) • 1956: San Francisco (AP/UPI) • 1957: North Carolina (AP/UPI) • 1964: UCLA (AP/UPI) • 1967: UCLA (AP/UPI) • 1969: UCLA (AP/UPI) • 1971: UCLA (AP/UPI) • 1972: UCLA (AP/UPI) • 1973: UCLA (AP/UPI) • 1974: NC State (AP/UPI) • 1976: Indiana (AP/UPI) • 1978: Kentucky (AP/UPI) • 1982: North Carolina (AP/UPI) • 1992: Duke (AP/UPI) • 1994: Arkansas (USA Today) • 1995: UCLA (AP/USA Today) • 2001: Duke (AP/USA Today) • 2012: Kentucky (AP/USA Today) • 2024: UConn (AP/USA Today)
Undefeated teams in the tournament The record here refers to the record
before the first game of the NCAA tournament.
Undefeated teams not in the tournament The NCAA tournament has dramatically expanded since 1975, and since the expansion to 48 teams in 1980, no unbeaten team has failed to qualify. Since by definition, a team would have to win its conference tournament, and thus secure an automatic bid to the tournament, to be undefeated in a season, the only way a team could finish undefeated and not reach the tournament is if the team is banned from postseason play. As of 2021, no team banned from postseason play has finished undefeated since 1980. Other possibilities for an undefeated team to fail to qualify: the team is independent; the conference does not have an automatic bid; or the team is transitioning from a lower NCAA division or the
NAIA, during which time it is barred from NCAA-sponsored postseason play in the NCAA tournament or NIT. No men's team from a transitional D-I member has been unbeaten after its conference tournament, but one such women's team has been—California Baptist in 2021. (CBU was able to play in the
women's NIT, which has never been operated by the NCAA.) Before 1980, there were occasions on which a team achieved perfection in the regular season, yet did not appear in the NCAA tournament. • During 1939,
Long Island University finished the regular season 20–0 but decided to accept instead an invitation to the second NIT (which they won) instead of the first and only NABC tournament (later called the NCAA tournament), as the NIT was more prestigious at the time. It was not until the mid-1950s that the NCAA required that its tournament would have "first choice" in determining teams for their field. Before then, many of the more successful teams during the regular season chose to play in the NIT instead of the NCAA tournament. • During 1940,
Seton Hall finished the regular season 19–0, but their record had been built largely against weak teams and thus did not earn them an invitation to the postseason tournament. • During 1941,
Milwaukee State finished the regular season 16–0, but their record had been built largely against weak teams and thus did not earn them an invitation to the postseason tournament. • During 1944,
Army finished the regular season 15–0 but owing to World War II, the Cadets did not accept an invitation to postseason play. • During 1954,
Kentucky finished 25–0 and were invited to the tournament, but declined the invitation, due their star players being ineligible due to already graduating. • During 1973,
NC State finished the regular season 27–0 and ranked #2 (behind undefeated and eventual tournament champion UCLA) but were barred from participating in the NCAA tournament while on probation for recruiting violations. • During 1979,
Alcorn State finished the regular season 27–0, but did not receive an invitation to the NCAA tournament. The Braves accepted a bid to the NIT, where they lost in the second round to eventual NIT champion
Indiana.
Repeat champions Eight programs have repeated as national championships. UCLA is the only program to win more than 2 in a row, winning 7 straight from 1967 to 1973. These programs are: •
Oklahoma State:
1945 and
1946 •
Kentucky:
1948 and
1949 •
San Francisco:
1955 and
1956 •
Cincinnati:
1961 and
1962 •
UCLA:
1964 and
1965;
1967,
1968,
1969,
1970,
1971,
1972, and
1973 •
Duke:
1991 and
1992 •
Florida:
2006 and
2007 •
UConn:
2023 and
2024 There have been nine times in which the tournament did not include the reigning champion (the previous year's winner): •
1978 champion Kentucky went 19–12 in 1979. They accepted an invitation to the
National Invitation Tournament, losing to
Clemson in the first round. • Both
1979 champion Michigan State (12–15) and 1979 runner up
Indiana State (16–11) failed to qualify for the 1980 NCAA tournament. Furthermore, neither was invited to the
National Invitation Tournament, and Michigan State is the only team to finish the subsequent season with a losing record. Following the 1979 NCAA tournament, Indiana State lost
Larry Bird to graduation, and
Magic Johnson left Michigan State after his sophomore season to enter the
NBA draft. •
1983 champion North Carolina State went 19–14 in 1984. They accepted an invitation to the
National Invitation Tournament, losing to
Florida State in the first round. •
1986 champion Louisville went 18–14 in 1987. They declined an invitation to the
National Invitation Tournament. •
1988 champion Kansas went 19–12 in 1989. The team was
ineligible for postseason participation in 1989 due to NCAA sanctions for recruiting violations. • Both
2007 champion Florida (24–12) and 2007 runner-up
Ohio State (24–13) failed to qualify for the 2008 NCAA tournament. Both accepted invitations to the
National Invitation Tournament. Florida lost to
Massachusetts in the semifinals, and Ohio State subsequently beat Massachusetts in the championship game to win the tournament. •
2009 champion North Carolina went 20–17 in 2010. They accepted an invitation to the
National Invitation Tournament and reached the finals, losing to
Dayton. •
2012 champion Kentucky went 21–12 in 2013. They accepted an invitation to the
National Invitation Tournament, losing to
Robert Morris in the first round. •
2014 champion UConn went 20–15 in 2015. They accepted an invitation to the
National Invitation Tournament, losing to
Arizona State in the first round.
Upsets by low-seeded teams Best performances by No. 16 seeds In
2018,
UMBC became the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the tournament, shocking
Virginia 74–54. In
2023,
Fairleigh Dickinson repeated the feat in a
63–58 win over
Purdue. Five other No. 16 seeds have lost to No. 1 seeds by four or fewer points: •
East Tennessee State lost 72–71 to
Oklahoma in
1989 •
Princeton lost
50–49 to
Georgetown in
1989 •
Western Carolina lost 73–71 to
Purdue in
1996 •
Fairleigh Dickinson lost 59–55 to
Michigan in
1985 • While
Murray State lost 75–71 to
Michigan State in
1990, it is the only No. 16 seed to have taken a game into
overtime. •
Siena was the first 16 seed to have a double-digit halftime lead on a number 1 seed (
Duke at the
2026 tournament).
Mid-major teams Mid-major teams, which are generally defined as Division I teams that do not play in the
American Conference,
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC),
Big 12,
Big East,
Big Ten or
Southeastern Conference (SEC), are generally underdogs compared to schools in the aforementioned conferences and are often defeated by
power schools early in the tournament. However, some mid-major programs experience consistent success despite being at a disadvantage. 1990 champions
UNLV are one such example; then a member of the Big West, they had reached the Sweet Sixteen in four of the last six tournaments prior to their championship. Gonzaga are another example of this, having twice been the tournament runner-up and routinely contending for top-rated prospects. Every Final Four in tournament history has included at least one power school. The
1979 was the most recent edition to have three mid-major programs reach the Final Four:
Indiana State of the
Missouri Valley Conference,
Penn of the
Ivy League, and independent
DePaul. The
2023 had two mid-majors reach the Final Four, those being
Florida Atlantic of
Conference USA and
San Diego State of the
Mountain West Conference. Arguably the edition with the most mid-major success was the
1970 tournament, which had ten mid-majors in the Sweet 16 and six in the Elite Eight. The final four consisted of eventual champions
UCLA of the Pacific-8 and independents
Jacksonville,
New Mexico State and
St. Bonaventure. This table shows the performance of mid-major teams from the Sweet Sixteen round to the national championship game from 1939—the tournament's first year—to the most recent tournament. ;Notes • The first column is a list of every mid-major conference. For the conferences that have predecessor names, a footnote (below the table) lists those names and years. Opposite each conference's name are the schools that have appeared in the tournament from the Sweet Sixteen onwards when the school was a member of the conference or a predecessor conference. • Some of the conferences that are considered mid-majors were regarded as major conferences in the past. For example: • The Missouri Valley Conference was considered a major basketball conference until many of its most prominent members left in the mid-1970s (before Indiana State's 1979 run to the title game). • Conference USA was considered a major conference at its formation in 1995. It arguably became a mid-major in
2005, when several of its more prominent teams left for the Big East Conference, and unquestionably became a mid-major during the
early-2010s realignment cycle. • The WAC was considered a major conference until 1999, when 8 of its 16 members left to form the Mountain West Conference. • The MW was considered a major basketball conference until
2011, when two of its most prominent basketball programs (BYU and Utah) left for other conferences (West Coast Conference and Pac-12, respectively). • Certain programs that were members of "mid-major" conferences during deep tournament runs are nonetheless widely viewed as having been major programs at that time. The same applies to many programs that were independent before the 1980s. Examples include (but are not limited to) San Francisco in the 1950s, Marquette in the 1970s, UNLV in the last part of the 20th century, and Gonzaga since no later than the mid-2010s.
Defunct conferences and independents This table shows teams that saw success in the tournament from later defunct conferences, or were independents. One conference listed, the Southwest Conference, was universally considered a major conference throughout its history. Of its final eight members, seven are now in
power conferences — four in the Big 12, two in the SEC, and one in the ACC. The eighth, Rice, is now in the American, which arguably became a mid-major basketball conference when three of its most prominent athletic brands moved to the Big 12 in 2023, followed by SMU's 2024 departure for the ACC. Another member that left during the SWC's last decade, Arkansas, has been in the SEC since leaving the SWC in 1992. The
Metro Conference, which operated from 1975 to 1995, is not listed because it was considered a major basketball conference throughout its history.
Louisville, which was a member for the league's entire existence, won both of its NCAA-recognized titles (1980, 1986) while in the Metro. It was one of the two leagues that merged to form Conference USA. The other league involved in the merger, the Great Midwest Conference, was arguably a major conference; it was formed in 1990, with play starting in 1991, when several of the Metro's strongest basketball programs left that league.
Coaching records Most national championships • 10 national championships :
John Wooden (1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975) • 5 national championships :
Mike Krzyzewski (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015) • 4 national championships :
Adolph Rupp (1948, 1949, 1951, 1958) • 3 national championships :
Jim Calhoun (1999, 2004, 2011) :
Bob Knight (1976, 1981, 1987) :
Roy Williams (2005, 2009, 2017) • 2 national championships :
Denny Crum (1980, 1986) :
Billy Donovan (2006, 2007) :
Dan Hurley (2023, 2024) :
Henry Iba (1945, 1946) :
Ed Jucker (1961, 1962) :
Branch McCracken (1940, 1953) :
Bill Self (2008, 2022) :
Dean Smith (1982, 1993) :
Phil Woolpert (1955, 1956) :
Jay Wright (2016, 2018) • 1 national championship :
Phog Allen (1952) :
Tony Bennett (2019) :
Jim Boeheim (2003) :
Larry Brown (1988) :
John Calipari (2012) :
Everett Dean (1942) :
Scott Drew (2021) :
Steve Fisher (1989) :
Bud Foster (1941) :
Todd Golden (2025) :
Joe B. Hall (1978) :
Jim Harrick (1995) :
Don Haskins (1966) :
Jud Heathcote (1979) :
Howard Hobson (1939) :
Nat Holman (1950) :
George Ireland (1963) :
Tom Izzo (2000) :
Doggie Julian (1947) :
Ken Loeffler (1954) :
Rollie Massimino (1985) :
Dusty May (2026) :
Al McGuire (1977) :
Frank McGuire (1957) :
Pete Newell (1959) :
Kevin Ollie (2014) :
Lute Olson (1997) :
Vadal Peterson (1944) :
Rick Pitino (1996) :
Nolan Richardson (1994) :
Everett Shelton (1943) :
Norm Sloan (1974) :
Tubby Smith (1998) :
Jerry Tarkanian (1990) :
Fred Taylor (1960) :
John Thompson (1984) :
Jim Valvano (1983) :
Gary Williams (2002)
National championships among active coaches • 2
Dan Hurley (2023, 2024) • 2
Bill Self (2008, 2022) • 1
John Calipari (2012) • 1
Scott Drew (2021) • 1
Todd Golden (2025) • 1
Tom Izzo (2000) • 1
Dusty May (2026) • 1
Rick Pitino (1996)
Schools winning a national championship under multiple coaches • Five coaches :
Kentucky:
Adolph Rupp,
Joe B. Hall,
Rick Pitino,
Tubby Smith, and
John Calipari • Three coaches :
Kansas:
Phog Allen,
Larry Brown, and
Bill Self :
North Carolina:
Frank McGuire,
Dean Smith, and
Roy Williams :
UConn:
Jim Calhoun,
Kevin Ollie, and
Dan Hurley • Two coaches :
Florida:
Billy Donovan and
Todd Golden :
Indiana:
Branch McCracken and
Bob Knight :
Michigan:
Steve Fisher and
Dusty May :
Michigan State:
Jud Heathcote and
Tom Izzo :
North Carolina State:
Norm Sloan and
Jim Valvano :
UCLA:
John Wooden and
Jim Harrick :
Villanova:
Rollie Massimino and
Jay Wright Most teams from different schools taken to the Final Four Rick Pitino is the only coach to have officially taken three teams to the Final Four:
Providence (
1987),
Kentucky (
1993,
1996,
1997) and
Louisville (
2005,
2012). There are 15 coaches who have officially coached two schools to the Final Four –
Roy Williams,
Eddie Sutton,
Frank McGuire,
Lon Kruger,
Hugh Durham,
Jack Gardner,
Lute Olson,
Gene Bartow,
Forddy Anderson,
Lee Rose,
Bob Huggins,
Lou Henson,
Kelvin Sampson,
Jim Larrañaga, and
Dusty May. •
Larry Brown took
UCLA to the Final Four in 1980, but the appearance was vacated due to NCAA violations. He also took Kansas in 1986 and 1988.
Point differentials Point differentials, or margin of victory, can be viewed either by the championship game, or by a team's performance over the whole tournament.
Championship victory margins ;Widest margin of victory in a championship game 30 points, by UNLV in
1990 (
103–73, over Duke) ;Narrowest margin of victory in a championship game 1 point, on six occasions •
Indiana 69, Kansas 68 (
1953) •
North Carolina 54, Kansas 53/3OT (
1957) •
California 71, West Virginia 70 (
1959) •
North Carolina 63, Georgetown 62 (
1982) •
Indiana 74, Syracuse 73 (
1987) •
Michigan 80, Seton Hall 79/OT (
1989) ;Championship games that went to overtime Eight times the championship game has been tied at the end of regulation. On one of those occasions (
1957) the game went into double and then triple overtime. •
Utah 42, Dartmouth 40 (
1944) •
North Carolina 54, Kansas 53/3OT (
1957) •
Cincinnati 70, Ohio St. 65 (
1961) •
Loyola 60, Cincinnati 58 (
1963) •
Michigan 80, Seton Hall 79 (
1989) •
Arizona 84, Kentucky 79 (
1997) •
Kansas 75, Memphis 68 (
2008) •
Virginia 85, Texas Tech 77 (
2019)
Accumulated victory margins ;Largest point differential accumulated over the entire tournament by championship teams:
Teams that played 6 games • +140 UConn 2024 • +129 Kentucky 1996 • +124 Villanova 2016 • +121 North Carolina 2009 • +120 UConn 2023 • +112 UNLV 1990
Teams that played 5 games • +115 Loyola Chicago 1963 • +113 Indiana 1981 • +104 Michigan State 1979 • +69 San Francisco 1955 • +66 Indiana 1976
Teams that played 4 games • +95 UCLA 1967 • +85 UCLA 1968 • +78 Ohio State 1960 • +76 UCLA 1969 • +72 UCLA 1970 • +72 UCLA 1972
Teams that played 3 games • +56 Oklahoma A&M 1945 • +52 Kentucky 1949 • +51 Indiana 1940 • +47 Kentucky 1948 • +46 Oregon 1939 ;Teams winning the championship with a margin of 10 points in every game of the tournament Achieved 14 times by 10 schools • Oregon (
1939) • Kentucky (
1949) • San Francisco (
1956) • Ohio State (
1960) • UCLA (
1967,
1970 and
1973) • Michigan State (
1979 and
2000) • Indiana (
1981) • Duke (
2001) • North Carolina (
2009) • Villanova (
2018) • UConn (
2023 and
2024)
Seed pairing results Since the inception of the 64-team tournament in 1985, each seed-pairing has played 164 games in the Round of 64, with the following results:
Round of 64 results • The No. 1 seed is 162–2 against the No. 16 seed () • The No. 2 seed is 153–11 against the No. 15 seed () • The No. 3 seed is 141–23 against the No. 14 seed () • The No. 4 seed is 131–33 against the No. 13 seed () • The No. 5 seed is 106–58 against the No. 12 seed () • The No. 6 seed is 100–64 against the No. 11 seed () • The No. 7 seed is 101–63 against the No. 10 seed () • The No. 8 seed is 77–87 against the No. 9 seed ()
Round of 32 results • In the 1/16 vs. 8/9 bracket: • In the 2/15 vs. 7/10 bracket: • In the 3/14 vs. 6/11 bracket: • In the 4/13 vs. 5/12 bracket:
Round of 16 results • In the 1/8/9/16 vs. 4/5/12/13 bracket: • In the 2/7/10/15 vs. 3/6/11/14 bracket:
Regional finals results ==Host cities==