Who Has the Most NCAA Basketball Championships?

By

Chloe Appleby

Updated on April 8, 2025

Edited by

Lyss Welding

• Fact-checked by Marley Rose

Learn more about our editorial process

Find out which teams claim the most titles in men’s and women’s college basketball from the very first NCAA tournament in 1939 to today.

Credit: Image Credit: C. Morgan Engel/Contributor / NCAA Photos / Getty Images

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 12 and eight titles respectively, account for roughly 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

• The programs at UConn have won 18 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