Who Has the Most NCAA Basketball Championships?

Most Men’s NCAA Basketball Championships

• UCLA has won the most championships in the history of men’s college basketball, with 11 wins since 1939. The Bruins have won 13% of the championships.^{Note Reference [2]}
• Kentucky has established itself as a historic powerhouse with eight championships to its name, followed by North Carolina with six wins.^{Note Reference [2]}
• The Blue Bloods, including North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky, have won just under 30% of all the championships since 1939.^{Note Reference [2]}
• 36 different universities account for 83 years of championships.^{Note Reference [2]}

Other Universities That Have Won Since 1939

Most Women’s NCAA Basketball Championships

• UConn and Tennessee, with 11 and eight titles respectively, account for just under half of championships won since 1982.^{Note Reference [1]}
• The Stanford and Baylor women’s basketball programs have each won three championships in the 40 years since the start of the tournament.^{Note Reference [1]}
• The 2022 champions, the South Carolina Gamecocks, have won two championships, along with Louisiana Tech, Notre Dame, and USC.^{Note Reference [1]}
• Since 2012, only teams that have won a championship before have taken home the trophy.^{Note Reference [1]}

Other Universities That Have Won Since 1982

The Most NCAA Basketball Championships Overall

So, who can claim to be the winningest college overall?

• The programs at UConn have won 15 titles in total, making it the overall title holder by an eight-championship margin.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [2]}
• North Carolina has a combined total of seven titles, six of which come from the men’s program.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [2]}
• Baylor and Stanford claim four championships each. Three of each of their four titles were taken home by the women’s teams.
• The men’s and women’s programs from Maryland have contributed equally, each winning one championship.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [2]}

Lowest Seed to Win March Madness

Villanova’s men’s basketball team, entering the tournament as an eight seed, was the lowest seed to win March Madness in 1985, 66-64 over Georgetown.^{Note Reference [2]}

The women’s March Madness tournament has only seen first, second, and third seeds win. Notably, North Carolina and Tennessee won the championships in 1994 and 1997 as third seed teams.^{Note Reference [3]}

Highest Seed to Win March Madness

The highest seed to win the Big Dance is understandably the first seed. Here’s what we know about the top-seeded winners.

Men’s No. 1 Ranked Teams to Win the NCAA Basketball Championship

• 18 different men’s programs since 1939 have won March Madness as first seeds.^{Note Reference [2]}
• The North Carolina Tar Heels have won March Madness six times, five of which as first seeds.^{Note Reference [2]}
• The first time a first seed won the tournament was in 1982, over 40 years after the NCAA tournament first began.^{Note Reference [2]}

Women’s No. 1 Ranked Teams to Win the NCAA Basketball Championship

• Since the start of the women’s March Madness tournament, 10 different teams have won as first seeds.^{Note Reference [3]}
• UConn’s program won 10 out of their 11 championships as a first seed.^{Note Reference [3]}
• From 2013-2016, UConn was a first seed and brought home the championship trophy.^{Note Reference [3]}

Most March Madness Appearances

Which Conference Claims the Most NCAA Basketball Championships?

The Pac-12 is the overall top-winning conference with 23 titles from eight different universities, including 11 wins from the UCLA men’s program and three titles from Stanford’s women’s program.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [2], Note Reference [4], Note Reference [5]}

Men’s Conference Title Winners

• When it comes to men’s college basketball, the Pac-12 and ACC dominate. The Pac-12 has won over 21% of all championships and the ACC claims exactly 20%.^{Note Reference [2], Note Reference [5]}
• With 11 wins each, the Big Ten and the SEC have claimed just over 25% of titles won combined.^{Note Reference [2], Note Reference [5]}
• The American, Mountain West, A-10, and West Coast conferences have each won two national titles.^{Note Reference [2], Note Reference [5]}

Women’s Conference Title Winners

• The Big East and SEC are tied for the highest number of championships won in women’s basketball history, each claiming 11 titles, or a combined 55% of titles.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [4]}
• The SEC and the Big 12 both have three women’s basketball programs that have won a national championship.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [4]}
• The ACC, Big Ten, Conference USA, and Sunbelt Conferences each have claimed national titles since 1982.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [4]}

Who Has the Most Wins in College Basketball?

Wins are wins, whether they happen in a championship or during the regular season. These teams have won the most games during the 2021-2022 season, both by total number of wins and by winning percentage.

Most Wins in College Basketball

All-Time Winning Streaks

Some of the greatest teams in the history of college basketball have been known for their game-winning streaks, like UConn’s 111-game streak in women’s basketball or UCLA’s 88-game streak in men’s, both spanning over three seasons.^{Note Reference [15], Note Reference [16]}