List of NCAA Division I men's basketball champions

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball tournament is a single-elimination tournament for men's college basketball teams in the United States. It determines the champion of Division I, the top level of play in the NCAA,^[1] and the media often describes the winner as the national champion of college basketball.^[2][3] The NCAA Tournament has been held annually since 1939, except for 2020, when it was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.^[4] Its field grew from eight teams in the beginning to sixty-five teams by 2001; as of 2011, sixty-eight teams take part in the tournament.^[5][6] Teams can gain invitations by winning a conference championship or receiving an at-large bid from a 10-person committee.^[7] The semifinals of the tournament are known as the Final Four and are held in a different city each year, along with the championship game;^[8] Indianapolis, the city where the NCAA is based, will host the Final Four every five years until 2040.^[9] Each winning university receives a rectangular, gold-plated trophy made of wood.^[10]

The University of California, Los Angeles (trophy room pictured) has won the Men's Division I Basketball Championship a record 11 times.

The first NCAA tournament was organized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.^[11] Oregon won the inaugural tournament, defeating Ohio State 46–33 in the first championship game. Before the 1941 tournament, control of the event was given to the NCAA.^[11] In the early years of the tournament, it was considered less important than the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), a New York City-based event.^[12][13] Teams were able to compete in both events in the same year, and three of those that did so—Utah in 1944, Kentucky in 1949, and City College of New York (CCNY) in 1950—won the NCAA Tournament.^[14] The 1949–50 CCNY team won both tournaments (defeating Bradley in both finals), and is the only college basketball team to accomplish this feat.^[15] By the mid-1950s, the NCAA Tournament became the more prestigious of the two events,^[16] and in 1971 the NCAA barred universities from playing in other tournaments, such as the NIT, if they were invited to the NCAA Tournament.^[17] Only twice has there been no national champion in a calendar year.^[18] The first occurrence was when the 2013 championship won by Louisville became the first men's basketball national title to ever be vacated by the NCAA after the school and its coach at the time, Rick Pitino, were implicated in a 2015 sex scandal involving recruits.^[19][20] A situation in which no official winner was declared did not happen again until the 2020 cancellation.^[18]

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has been the most successful college in the NCAA Tournament, winning 11 national titles. Ten of those championships came during a 12-year stretch from 1964 to 1975. UCLA also holds the record for the most consecutive championships, winning seven in a row from 1967 to 1973. Kentucky has the second-most titles, with eight. North Carolina and Connecticut are tied for third with six championships each, while Duke and Indiana follow with five each. Connecticut is the most recent champion, with consecutive wins against San Diego State in the final of the 2023 tournament and Purdue in 2024. Among head coaches, John Wooden is the all-time leader with 10 championships; he coached UCLA during their period of success in the 1960s and 1970s. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski is second all-time with five titles.

Championship games

Legend for "Championship games" table below

Indicator	Meaning
OT	Game was decided in an overtime period
3OT	Game was decided in a third overtime period
Italics	Championship game appearance vacated by the NCAA
Score	Each score is linked to an article about that particular championship game, when available
Year	Each year is linked to an article about that particular NCAA Tournament

Championship games, by year, showing winners and losers, final scores and venues

Year	Winning team	Winning head coach	Score	Losing team	Losing head coach	Venue	City	Ref.
1939	Oregon	Howard Hobson	46–33	Ohio State	Harold Olsen	Patten Gymnasium	Evanston, Illinois	[21]
1940	Indiana	Branch McCracken	60–42	Kansas	Phog Allen	Municipal Auditorium	Kansas City, Missouri	[22]
1941	Wisconsin	Bud Foster	39–34	Washington State	Jack Friel	Municipal Auditorium	Kansas City, Missouri	[23]
1942	Stanford	Everett Dean	53–38	Dartmouth	O. B. Cowles	Municipal Auditorium	Kansas City, Missouri	[24]
1943	Wyoming	Everett Shelton	46–34	Georgetown	Elmer Ripley	Madison Square Garden	New York City, New York	[25]
1944	Utah	Vadal Peterson	42–40OT	Dartmouth	Earl Brown	Madison Square Garden	New York City, New York	[26][27]
1945	Oklahoma A&M	Henry Iba	49–45	NYU	Howard Cann	Madison Square Garden	New York City, New York	[28][29]
1946	Oklahoma A&M	Henry Iba	43–40	North Carolina	Ben Carnevale	Madison Square Garden	New York City, New York	[30]
1947	Holy Cross	Doggie Julian	58–47	Oklahoma	Bruce Drake	Madison Square Garden	New York City, New York	[31]
1948	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	58–42	Baylor	Bill Henderson	Madison Square Garden	New York City, New York	[32]
1949	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	46–36	Oklahoma A&M	Henry Iba	Hec Edmundson Pavilion	Seattle, Washington	[33]
1950	CCNY	Nat Holman	71–68	Bradley	Forddy Anderson	Madison Square Garden	New York City, New York	[34]
1951	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	68–58	Kansas State	Jack Gardner	Williams Arena	Minneapolis, Minnesota	[35]
1952	Kansas	Phog Allen	80–63	St. John's	Frank McGuire	Hec Edmundson Pavilion	Seattle, Washington	[36]
1953	Indiana	Branch McCracken	69–68	Kansas	Phog Allen	Municipal Auditorium	Kansas City, Missouri	[37]
1954	La Salle	Ken Loeffler	92–76	Bradley	Forddy Anderson	Municipal Auditorium	Kansas City, Missouri	[38]
1955	San Francisco	Phil Woolpert	77–63	La Salle	Ken Loeffler	Municipal Auditorium	Kansas City, Missouri	[39]
1956	San Francisco	Phil Woolpert	83–71	Iowa	Bucky O'Connor	McGaw Hall	Evanston, Illinois	[40]
1957	North Carolina	Frank McGuire	54–533OT	Kansas	Dick Harp	Municipal Auditorium	Kansas City, Missouri	[41]
1958	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	84–72	Seattle	John Castellani	Freedom Hall	Louisville, Kentucky	[42]
1959	California	Pete Newell	71–70	West Virginia	Fred Schaus	Freedom Hall	Louisville, Kentucky	[43]
1960	Ohio State	Fred Taylor	75–55	California	Pete Newell	Cow Palace	Daly City, California	[44][45]
1961	Cincinnati	Ed Jucker	70–65OT	Ohio State	Fred Taylor	Municipal Auditorium	Kansas City, Missouri	[46]
1962	Cincinnati	Ed Jucker	71–59	Ohio State	Fred Taylor	Freedom Hall	Louisville, Kentucky	[47]
1963	Loyola Chicago	George Ireland	60–58OT	Cincinnati	Ed Jucker	Freedom Hall	Louisville, Kentucky	[48]
1964	UCLA	John Wooden	98–83	Duke	Vic Bubas	Municipal Auditorium	Kansas City, Missouri	[49]
1965	UCLA	John Wooden	91–80	Michigan	Dave Strack	Memorial Coliseum	Portland, Oregon	[50]
1966	Texas Western	Don Haskins	72–65	Kentucky	Adolph Rupp	Cole Field House	College Park, Maryland	[51]
1967	UCLA	John Wooden	79–64	Dayton	Don Donoher	Freedom Hall	Louisville, Kentucky	[52]
1968	UCLA	John Wooden	78–55	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Sports Arena	Los Angeles, California	[53]
1969	UCLA	John Wooden	92–72	Purdue	George King	Freedom Hall	Louisville, Kentucky	[54]
1970	UCLA	John Wooden	80–69	Jacksonville	Joe Williams	Cole Field House	College Park, Maryland	[55]
1971	UCLA	John Wooden	68–62	Villanova[a]	Jack Kraft	Astrodome	Houston, Texas	[60]
1972	UCLA	John Wooden	81–76	Florida State	Hugh Durham	Memorial Sports Arena	Los Angeles, California	[61]
1973	UCLA	John Wooden	87–66	Memphis State	Gene Bartow	St. Louis Arena	St. Louis, Missouri	[62]
1974	NC State	Norm Sloan	76–64	Marquette	Al McGuire	Greensboro Coliseum	Greensboro, North Carolina	[63]
1975	UCLA	John Wooden	92–85	Kentucky	Joe B. Hall	San Diego Sports Arena	San Diego, California	[64]
1976	Indiana	Bob Knight	86–68	Michigan	Johnny Orr	Spectrum	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	[65]
1977	Marquette	Al McGuire	67–59	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Omni Coliseum	Atlanta, Georgia	[66]
1978	Kentucky	Joe B. Hall	94–88	Duke	Bill Foster	The Checkerdome	St. Louis, Missouri	[67]
1979	Michigan State	Jud Heathcote	75–64	Indiana State	Bill Hodges	Special Events Center	Salt Lake City, Utah	[68]
1980	Louisville	Denny Crum	59–54	UCLA[a]	Larry Brown	Market Square Arena	Indianapolis, Indiana	[69]
1981	Indiana	Bob Knight	63–50	North Carolina	Dean Smith	Spectrum	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	[70]
1982	North Carolina	Dean Smith	63–62	Georgetown	John Thompson	Louisiana Superdome	New Orleans, Louisiana	[71]
1983	NC State	Jim Valvano	54–52	Houston	Guy Lewis	University Arena	Albuquerque, New Mexico	[72]
1984	Georgetown	John Thompson	84–75	Houston	Guy Lewis	Kingdome	Seattle, Washington	[73]
1985	Villanova	Rollie Massimino	66–64	Georgetown	John Thompson	Rupp Arena	Lexington, Kentucky	[74]
1986	Louisville	Denny Crum	72–69	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	Reunion Arena	Dallas, Texas	[75]
1987	Indiana	Bob Knight	74–73	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Louisiana Superdome	New Orleans, Louisiana	[76]
1988	Kansas	Larry Brown	83–79	Oklahoma	Billy Tubbs	Kemper Arena	Kansas City, Missouri	[77]
1989	Michigan	Steve Fisher	80–79OT	Seton Hall	P. J. Carlesimo	Kingdome	Seattle, Washington	[78]
1990	UNLV	Jerry Tarkanian	103–73	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	McNichols Sports Arena	Denver, Colorado	[79]
1991	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	72–65	Kansas	Roy Williams	Hoosier Dome	Indianapolis, Indiana	[80]
1992	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	71–51	Michigan[a]	Steve Fisher	Metrodome	Minneapolis, Minnesota	[81]
1993	North Carolina	Dean Smith	77–71	Michigan[a]	Steve Fisher	Louisiana Superdome	New Orleans, Louisiana	[82]
1994	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	76–72	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	Charlotte Coliseum	Charlotte, North Carolina	[83]
1995	UCLA	Jim Harrick	89–78	Arkansas	Nolan Richardson	Kingdome	Seattle, Washington	[84]
1996	Kentucky	Rick Pitino	76–67	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Continental Airlines Arena	East Rutherford, New Jersey	[85]
1997	Arizona	Lute Olson	84–79OT	Kentucky	Rick Pitino	RCA Dome	Indianapolis, Indiana	[86]
1998	Kentucky	Tubby Smith	78–69	Utah	Rick Majerus	Alamodome	San Antonio, Texas	[87]
1999	Connecticut[b]	Jim Calhoun	77–74	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	Tropicana Field	St. Petersburg, Florida	[89]
2000	Michigan State	Tom Izzo	89–76	Florida	Billy Donovan	RCA Dome	Indianapolis, Indiana	[90]
2001	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	82–72	Arizona	Lute Olson	Metrodome	Minneapolis, Minnesota	[91]
2002	Maryland	Gary Williams	64–52	Indiana	Mike Davis	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, Georgia	[92]
2003	Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	81–78	Kansas	Roy Williams	Louisiana Superdome	New Orleans, Louisiana	[93]
2004	Connecticut[b]	Jim Calhoun	82–73	Georgia Tech	Paul Hewitt	Alamodome	San Antonio, Texas	[94]
2005	North Carolina	Roy Williams	75–70	Illinois	Bruce Weber	Edward Jones Dome	St. Louis, Missouri	[95]
2006	Florida	Billy Donovan	73–57	UCLA	Ben Howland	RCA Dome	Indianapolis, Indiana	[96]
2007	Florida	Billy Donovan	84–75	Ohio State	Thad Matta	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, Georgia	[97]
2008	Kansas	Bill Self	75–68OT	Memphis[a]	John Calipari	Alamodome	San Antonio, Texas	[98]
2009	North Carolina	Roy Williams	89–72	Michigan State	Tom Izzo	Ford Field	Detroit, Michigan	[99]
2010	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	61–59	Butler	Brad Stevens	Lucas Oil Stadium	Indianapolis, Indiana	[100]
2011	Connecticut[b]	Jim Calhoun	53–41	Butler	Brad Stevens	Reliant Stadium	Houston, Texas	[101]
2012	Kentucky	John Calipari	67–59	Kansas	Bill Self	Mercedes-Benz Superdome	New Orleans, Louisiana	[102]
2013	Louisville[a]	Rick Pitino	82–76	Michigan	John Beilein	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, Georgia	[103]
2014	Connecticut[b]	Kevin Ollie	60–54	Kentucky	John Calipari	AT&T Stadium	Arlington, Texas	[104]
2015	Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	68–63	Wisconsin	Bo Ryan	Lucas Oil Stadium	Indianapolis, Indiana	[105]
2016	Villanova	Jay Wright	77–74	North Carolina	Roy Williams	NRG Stadium	Houston, Texas	[106]
2017	North Carolina	Roy Williams	71–65	Gonzaga	Mark Few	University of Phoenix Stadium	Glendale, Arizona	[107]
2018	Villanova	Jay Wright	79–62	Michigan	John Beilein	Alamodome	San Antonio, Texas	[108]
2019	Virginia	Tony Bennett	85–77OT	Texas Tech	Chris Beard	U.S. Bank Stadium	Minneapolis, Minnesota	[109]
2020	Tournament not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]					Mercedes-Benz Stadium (scheduled)	Atlanta, Georgia (scheduled)	[4]
2021	Baylor	Scott Drew	86–70	Gonzaga	Mark Few	Lucas Oil Stadium	Indianapolis, Indiana	[110]
2022	Kansas	Bill Self	72–69	North Carolina	Hubert Davis	Caesars Superdome	New Orleans, Louisiana	[111]
2023	Connecticut	Dan Hurley	76–59	San Diego State	Brian Dutcher	NRG Stadium	Houston, Texas	[112]
2024	Connecticut	Dan Hurley	75–60	Purdue	Matt Painter	State Farm Stadium	Glendale, Arizona	[113]
2025	Florida	Todd Golden	65–63	Houston	Kelvin Sampson	Alamodome	San Antonio, Texas	[114]
2026						Lucas Oil Stadium	Indianapolis, Indiana	[115]
2027						Ford Field	Detroit, Michigan	[115]
2028						Allegiant Stadium	Paradise, Nevada	[115]
2029						Lucas Oil Stadium	Indianapolis, Indiana	[115]
2030						AT&T Stadium	Arlington, Texas	[115]
2031						Mercedes-Benz Stadium	Atlanta, Georgia	[116]

Multiple champions

Teams with multiple championships

Team	Wins	Years won
UCLA	11	1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995
Kentucky	8	1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998, 2012
North Carolina	6	1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017
UConn	6	1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, 2024
Duke	5	1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015
Indiana	5	1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, 1987
Kansas	4	1952, 1988, 2008, 2022
Florida	3	2006, 2007, 2025
Villanova	3	1985, 2016, 2018
Louisville	2	1980, 1986, 2013[c]
Cincinnati	2	1961, 1962
Michigan State	2	1979, 2000
NC State	2	1974, 1983
Oklahoma State[d]	2	1945, 1946
San Francisco	2	1955, 1956

Coaches with multiple championships

Coach	Wins	Years won
John Wooden	10	1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975
Mike Krzyzewski	5	1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015
Adolph Rupp	4	1948, 1949, 1951, 1958
Jim Calhoun	3	1999, 2004, 2011
Bob Knight	3	1976, 1981, 1987
Roy Williams	3	2005, 2009, 2017
Denny Crum	2	1980, 1986
Billy Donovan	2	2006, 2007
Dan Hurley	2	2023, 2024
Henry Iba	2	1945, 1946
Ed Jucker	2	1961, 1962
Branch McCracken	2	1940, 1953
Bill Self	2	2008, 2022
Dean Smith	2	1982, 1993
Phil Woolpert	2	1955, 1956
Jay Wright	2	2016, 2018

Champions by conference status

Champions by conference at the time of tournaments

Championships by conference membership at the time of tournaments

Conference	Wins	Years won	Ref(s)
Atlantic Coast Conference (1953–current)	15	1957, 1974, 1982, 1983, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019	[109][118][119][120][121][122]
Pac-12 Conference (1915–2024)	15	1939, 1942, 1959, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995, 1997	[21][43][123][124][125]
Southeastern Conference (1932–current)	12	1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2025	[126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136]
Big Ten Conference (1896–current)	10	1940, 1941, 1953, 1960, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1987, 1989, 2000	[137]
Big East Conference (1979–current)	10	1984, 1985, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2011, 2013,[c] 2016, 2018, 2023, 2024	[103][138][139][140][141][142][143]
Independents	6	1944, 1947, 1954, 1963, 1966, 1977	[51][144][145][146][147][148]
Missouri Valley Conference (1907–current)	4	1945, 1946, 1961, 1962	[149][150][151][152]
Big 12 Conference (1997–current)	3	2008, 2021, 2022	[153]
Big 8 Conference (1907–1996)	2	1952, 1988	[36][77]
Metro Conference (1975–1995)	2	1980, 1986	[154]
West Coast Conference (1952–current)	2	1955, 1956	[155]
American Athletic Conference (2014–current)	1	2014	[104]
Big West Conference (1969–current)	1	1990	[156]
Metropolitan New York Conference (1933–1963)	1	1950	[157]
Mountain States Conference (1938–1962)	1	1943	[158]

Championships by current conference membership

Championships by current conference membership

Conference	Wins	Years won	Ref(s)
Big Ten Conference	23	1939, 1940, 1941, 1953, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1987, 1989, 1995, 2000, 2002	[159]
Atlantic Coast Conference	19	1942, 1957, 1959, 1974, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013,[c] 2015, 2017, 2019	[160][161][162]
Southeastern Conference	12	1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2025	[163]
Big East Conference	11	1977, 1984, 1985, 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2023, 2024	[141][164][165][166]
Big 12 Conference	11	1944, 1945, 1946, 1952, 1961, 1962, 1988, 1997, 2008, 2021, 2022	[167][168][169][170]
Mountain West Conference	2	1943, 1990	[171][172]
West Coast Conference	2	1955, 1956	[173]
Atlantic 10 Conference	2	1954, 1963	[174][175]
City University of New York Athletic Conference	1	1950	[176]
Conference USA	1	1966	[177]
Patriot League	1	1947	[178]

See also

• NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament records
• Helms Athletic Foundation national champions
• Mythical national championships in college basketball

Notes

1. The result was later stricken from the NCAA record books due to NCAA rules violations committed by the team.^{[56][57][58][59]}
2. Branded athletically as "UConn" since the 2013–14 season.^[88]
3. Louisville won the 2013 national championship game, but the NCAA vacated the title in 2018.^[58]
4. Oklahoma A&M changed its name to Oklahoma State in 1957.^[117]