Amanda Knapp
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion. The tournament has been held annually since 1939, except for 2020 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has been the most successful college in the NCAA Tournament, winning 11 national titles.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of teams participating in the Division I men's basketball tournament | 68 |
| Year the tournament was first held | 1939 |
| Frequency of the tournament | Annual |
| Number of teams in the first tournament | 8 |
| Number of teams in the tournament by 2001 | 65 |
| Year the 68-team format was adopted | 2011 |
| Number of teams that have won multiple national championships | 15 |
| Team with the most national championships | UCLA (11) |
| Team with the second-most national championships | Kentucky (8) |
| Teams tied for third place in national championships | North Carolina (6), UConn (6) |
| Teams tied for fifth place in national championships | Duke (5), Indiana (5) |
| Team with the most national championships this century | UConn (5) |
| Team with the most recent consecutive wins in the tournament | UConn (2023, 2024) |
| Coach with the most championship wins | John Wooden (10) |
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What You'll Learn
UCLA's 11 championship wins
UCLA has won 11 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournaments, the most of any school. Their historic run of nine men's basketball national championships in 10 years (and 10 in 12 years) started in the 1964 NCAA tournament.
Coach John Wooden led the Bruins to 10 national titles in 12 seasons, from 1964 to 1975, including seven straight from 1967 to 1973. UCLA went undefeated a record four times (1964, 1967, 1972, and 1973). The Bruins' string of seven consecutive national championships ended with a double-overtime loss to North Carolina State in the 1974 semifinal game. However, UCLA bounced back to win the title again in Wooden's last season as coach.
Wooden's first championship with UCLA came in 1964, when the Bruins knocked off the Duke Blue Devils in the first national title game appearance for both schools. The following year, UCLA won its second national championship in a row, defeating the Michigan Wolverines 91-80 in the latter's first national championship game appearance. Gail Goodrich scored 42 points to lead the Bruins in the final. UCLA won its third consecutive NCAA basketball title in 1969, with a 92-72 rout of Purdue in the final. Three-time player of the year Lew Alcindor concluded his college career by scoring 37 points and grabbing 20 rebounds.
In 1975, UCLA won their fifth consecutive national championship, their seventh in eight years. Forward Sidney Wicks was the prime catalyst for most of the season, but it was center Steve Patterson who scored 29 points to lead UCLA to a 68-62 victory over Villanova in the NCAA title game in Houston, Texas. With Lew Alcindor gone to the NBA, few expected UCLA to extend its string of consecutive national championships. But the Bruins made it four titles in a row with an 80-69 victory over Jacksonville in the final game in College Park, Maryland.
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UConn's six wins
The University of Connecticut's men's basketball team, branded as UConn, has won six national championships in 25 tournaments since 1999. This is one of the best runs in the sport's history. UConn is the only team with at least three appearances to have won every championship game they've played.
UConn won its first national championship in 1999. The Huskies received a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the third time in program history. They defeated No. 10 seed Gonzaga 67-62 in the Elite Eight to advance to their first-ever Final Four.
UConn won its second national championship in 2004, again under the leadership of coach Jim Calhoun. The Huskies faced Duke to make it to the Final Four, then defeated Georgia Tech to win the national title.
The Huskies' next national title came in 2011 when they defeated Butler. In 2023, UConn defeated San Diego State University to win its fifth national championship. Adama Sanogo was named the Most Outstanding Player.
In 2024, UConn defeated Purdue to win its sixth national championship. This made UConn the eighth school in NCAA Division I history to win back-to-back national championships, and the first to do so in 17 years. UConn's six national championships in 25 tournaments have been described as the best run in college basketball since the John Wooden era at UCLA in the 1960s and 1970s.
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Oregon won the first tournament
The first-ever NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was held in 1939, and Oregon emerged as the inaugural champion. The tournament was organised by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and Oregon defeated Ohio State by a score of 46-33 in the final. This was the first-ever national championship game.
The idea for the tournament came from Ohio State coach Harold Olsen. The early years of the tournament were considered less important than the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), a New York City-based event. Teams could compete in both tournaments in the same year, and three teams that did so—Utah in 1944, Kentucky in 1949, and the City College of New York (CCNY) in 1950—won the NCAA Tournament. The 1949–50 CCNY team won both tournaments, defeating Bradley in both finals, and remains the only college basketball team to accomplish this feat.
By the mid-1950s, the NCAA Tournament had become the more prestigious of the two events. In 1971, the NCAA barred universities from playing in other tournaments if they had been invited to the NCAA Tournament. The tournament has been held annually since its inception, except in 2020 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oregon's win in the first-ever NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament set the stage for a long and illustrious history of college basketball in the United States, with the tournament becoming one of the greatest annual sporting events in the country.
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Vacated wins (e.g. Louisville in 2013)
Vacated wins refer to instances where a championship win is invalidated due to violations or scandals. One notable example is the 2013 championship won by Louisville, which was later vacated by the NCAA. This was the first men's basketball national title to be vacated, with the school and its coach at the time, Rick Pitino, implicated in a 2015 sex scandal involving recruits. As a result, Louisville's participation in the 2013 tournament was retroactively removed from the record books, and no official winner was declared for that year.
Vacated wins are not unique to basketball and can occur in various sports and competitions. They typically happen when a team or individual is found to have violated rules or engaged in misconduct during or before the event. These violations can include the use of performance-enhancing drugs, cheating, or breaking other rules that provide a competitive advantage. In some cases, vacated wins may also occur due to eligibility issues or other administrative infractions.
The process of vacating a win usually involves an investigation or review by the governing body of the sport or competition. If violations are found, the win may be stripped from the team or individual, and any associated records or statistics may be adjusted accordingly. This can include revoking medals, trophies, or other awards and updating standings or rankings to reflect the change.
Vacated wins are distinct from forfeits, where a win is surrendered to the opposing team or competitor. Forfeits typically occur during or immediately after a competition due to rule violations or other issues, while vacated wins are typically decided after the fact, often as a result of investigations or appeals.
Vacated wins can have significant implications for the teams or individuals involved, as well as the sport or competition as a whole. They can affect rankings, legacy, and historical records. In some cases, vacated wins may also result in additional penalties or sanctions for the parties involved, including suspensions, fines, or other disciplinary actions.
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Duke's five wins
Duke University's men's basketball team, the Blue Devils, has won five national championships. All five of these wins came after 1981, during the tenure of legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The Blue Devils won their first NCAA Championship in 1991, defeating Kansas 72–65. The team was led by Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, and Thomas Hill. In the Elite Eight, Duke met the Rick Pitino-led Kentucky Wildcats. With 2.1 seconds left on the clock, Duke's Grant Hill threw a full-court pass to Christian Laettner, who nailed a turn-around jumper at the buzzer, sending Duke into the Final Four with a 104–103 victory.
In 1992, Duke won back-to-back national championships, becoming the first repeat champs since their previous win in 1991. ESPN acclaimed the game against the Kentucky Wildcats as "the greatest college basketball game ever played."
Duke won its third NCAA Championship in 2001, becoming one of a handful of teams in NCAA Tournament history to defeat all of their tournament opponents by double digits. They defeated Arizona 82–72.
In 2010, Duke won its fourth NCAA Championship, defeating Butler 61–59. This win marked the first championship for Jon Scheyer, who later succeeded Krzyzewski as Duke's head coach in 2022. Scheyer was the leading scorer on the 2010 championship team, averaging 18.2 points per game.
Duke's fifth and final championship under Krzyzewski came in 2015, when they defeated Wisconsin 68–63. This win added to Krzyzewski's record as the second-most NCAA championship wins by a coach, with five titles.
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Frequently asked questions
Out of more than 350 schools in Division I men's basketball, only 15 teams have won multiple national championships.
UCLA has won the most championships in the history of men's college basketball, with 11 wins since 1939.
Connecticut has the most national championships this century, with five wins.
