Who Has the Most NCAA Basketball Championships?

The Big Dance, better known as March Madness, is one of the largest and most anticipated tournaments in all of college sports.

Whether you're a diehard Tar Heel or Bruin, here's all you need to know about tournament winners throughout the history of college basketball postseason 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]}
• UConn has won six championships since the start of the tournament.^{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 over 27% of all the championships since 1939.^{Note Reference [2]}
• 36 different universities account for 85 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 South Carolina Gamecocks secured their third championship in the 2023-2024 March Madness tournament.^{Note Reference [1]}
• The Stanford, Baylor, and South Carolina women's basketball programs have each won three championships in the 41 years since the start of the tournament.^{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 17 titles in total, making it the overall title holder by an nine-championship margin.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [2]}
• North Carolina has a combined total of seven titles, six of which coming 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.
• All three of South Carolina's wins were gained by the school's women's team.

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]}