NCAA tournament records: Who has won the most championships, made the most Final Fours and more
The NCAA men's basketball tournament has been contested since 1939, expanding several times to reach its current 68-team field. Here's a sampling of NCAA tournament and Final Four records:
Who has won the most NCAA tournament championships?
UCLA has won 11 men’s basketball titles. The Bruins cut down the nets in 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1995.
Which school has made the most NCAA tournament appearances?
Kentucky has qualified for the NCAA tournament a whopping 59 times. North Carolina is next with 50 appearances, followed by Kansas (49), UCLA (48) and Duke (44).
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Which school has made the most Final Four appearances?
North Carolina holds the record with 21 Final Four appearances, followed by UCLA (18), Duke and Kentucky (17), Kansas (16) and Michigan State and Ohio State (10).
Which coach has won the most NCAA tournament championships?
UCLA’s “Wizard of Westwood,” John Wooden, holds the coaches’ record for NCAA championships with 10. Next is Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (5), followed by Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp (4), North Carolina’s Roy Williams and UConn’s Jim Calhoun and Indiana’s Bob Knight (3 each).
How many times has a No. 1 seed won the NCAA tournament?
Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, one of the four regional No. 1 seeds has won it 23 times.
What is the lowest seed to win the national championship?
No. 8 is the lowest seed to win the men’s tournament, accomplished by Villanova in 1985 with a 68-66 win over Georgetown in the final.
What is the lowest seed to advance to the Final Four?
No. 11 is the lowest seed to make the Final Four, and that has happened five times: LSU in 1986, George Mason in 2006, VCU in 2011, Loyola Chicago in 2018 and UCLA in 2021.
Who has scored the most points in a single NCAA tournament game?
Notre Dame’s Austin Carr holds the record for single-game points scored, with a 61-point effort in the Irish’s 121-82 win over Ohio State in the opening round in 1970.
