List of NCAA Division I men's basketball champions

The 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 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and the media often describes the winner as the national champion of college basketball. The NCAA tournament has been held annually since 1939, except for 2020, when it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. 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.Official 2009 NCAA Men's Final Four Records Book, p. 69. Teams can gain invitations by winning a conference championship or receiving an at-large bid from a 10-person committee. 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; Indianapolis, the city where the NCAA is based, will host the Final Four every five years until 2040. Each winning university receives a rectangular, gold-plated trophy made of wood.2008 ESPN Sports Almanac, p. 536.

The first NCAA tournament was organized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. 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. In the early years of the tournament, it was considered less important than the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), a New York City-based event. 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.2008 ESPN Sports Almanac, p. 314. The 1949–50 CCNY team won both tournaments (defeating Bradley in both finals), and is the only college basketball team to accomplish this feat. By the mid-1950s, the NCAA tournament became the more prestigious of the two events, and in 1971 the NCAA barred universities from playing in other tournaments, such as the NIT, if they were invited to the NCAA tournament. Only twice has there been no national champion in a calendar year. 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. A situation in which no official winner was declared did not happen again until the 2020 cancellation.

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. Michigan is the most recent champion, defeating UConn in the 2026 national championship game. 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.

National championship games +LegendIndicatorMeaningItalics*Championship game appearance vacated by the NCAAScoreEach score is linked to an article about that particular championship gameYearEach year is linked to an article about that particular NCAA Tournament

+NCAA Division I men's basketball national championship gamesYearChampionWinning head coachScoreRunner-upLosing head coachVenueCityRef. 1939OregonOhio StatePatten GymnasiumEvanston, Illinois 1940IndianaKansasMunicipal AuditoriumKansas City, Missouri 1941WisconsinWashington State 1942StanfordDartmouth 1943WyomingGeorgetownMadison Square GardenNew York City, New York 1944UtahDartmouthFerrin and Ferrin, p. 142. 1945Oklahoma A&MNYU 1946Oklahoma A&MNorth Carolina 1947Holy CrossOklahoma 1948KentuckyBaylor 1949KentuckyOklahoma A&MHec Edmundson PavilionSeattle, Washington 1950CCNYBradleyMadison Square GardenNew York City, New York 1951KentuckyKansas StateWilliams ArenaMinneapolis, Minnesota 1952KansasSt. John'sHec Edmundson PavilionSeattle, Washington 1953IndianaKansasMunicipal AuditoriumKansas City, Missouri 1954La SalleBradley 1955San FranciscoLa Salle 1956San FranciscoIowaMcGaw HallEvanston, Illinois 1957North CarolinaKansasMunicipal AuditoriumKansas City, Missouri 1958KentuckySeattleFreedom HallLouisville, Kentucky 1959CaliforniaWest Virginia 1960Ohio StateCaliforniaCow PalaceDaly City, California 1961CincinnatiOhio StateMunicipal AuditoriumKansas City, Missouri 1962CincinnatiOhio StateFreedom HallLouisville, Kentucky 1963Loyola ChicagoCincinnati 1964UCLADukeMunicipal AuditoriumKansas City, Missouri 1965UCLAMichiganMemorial ColiseumPortland, Oregon 1966Texas WesternKentuckyCole Field HouseCollege Park, Maryland 1967UCLADaytonFreedom HallLouisville, Kentucky 1968UCLANorth CarolinaLos Angeles Memorial Sports ArenaLos Angeles, California 1969UCLAPurdueFreedom HallLouisville, Kentucky 1970UCLAJacksonvilleCole Field HouseCollege Park, Maryland 1971UCLAVillanova**AstrodomeHouston, Texas 1972UCLAFlorida StateLos Angeles Memorial Sports ArenaLos Angeles, California 1973UCLAMemphis StateSt. Louis ArenaSt. Louis, Missouri 1974NC StateMarquetteGreensboro ColiseumGreensboro, North Carolina 1975UCLAKentuckySan Diego Sports ArenaSan Diego, California 1976IndianaMichiganSpectrumPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania 1977MarquetteNorth CarolinaOmni ColiseumAtlanta, Georgia 1978KentuckyDukeThe CheckerdomeSt. Louis, Missouri 1979Michigan StateIndiana StateSpecial Events CenterSalt Lake City, Utah 1980LouisvilleUCLA**Market Square ArenaIndianapolis, Indiana 1981IndianaNorth CarolinaSpectrumPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania 1982North CarolinaGeorgetownLouisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans, Louisiana 1983NC StateHoustonUniversity ArenaAlbuquerque, New Mexico 1984GeorgetownHoustonKingdomeSeattle, Washington 1985VillanovaGeorgetownRupp ArenaLexington, Kentucky 1986LouisvilleDukeReunion ArenaDallas, Texas 1987IndianaSyracuseLouisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans, Louisiana 1988KansasOklahomaKemper ArenaKansas City, Missouri 1989MichiganSeton HallKingdomeSeattle, Washington 1990UNLVDukeMcNichols Sports ArenaDenver, Colorado 1991DukeKansasHoosier DomeIndianapolis, Indiana 1992DukeMichigan**MetrodomeMinneapolis, Minnesota 1993North CarolinaMichigan*Louisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans, Louisiana 1994ArkansasDukeCharlotte ColiseumCharlotte, North Carolina 1995UCLAArkansasKingdomeSeattle, Washington 1996KentuckySyracuseContinental Airlines ArenaEast Rutherford, New Jersey 1997ArizonaKentuckyRCA DomeIndianapolis, Indiana 1998KentuckyUtahAlamodomeSan Antonio, Texas 1999ConnecticutDukeTropicana FieldSt. Petersburg, Florida 2000Michigan StateFloridaRCA DomeIndianapolis, Indiana 2001DukeArizonaMetrodomeMinneapolis, Minnesota 2002MarylandIndianaGeorgia DomeAtlanta, Georgia 2003SyracuseKansasLouisiana SuperdomeNew Orleans, Louisiana 2004ConnecticutGeorgia TechAlamodomeSan Antonio, Texas 2005North CarolinaIllinoisEdward Jones DomeSt. Louis, Missouri 2006FloridaUCLARCA DomeIndianapolis, Indiana 2007FloridaOhio StateGeorgia DomeAtlanta, Georgia 2008KansasMemphis**AlamodomeSan Antonio, Texas 2009North CarolinaMichigan StateFord FieldDetroit, Michigan 2010DukeButlerLucas Oil StadiumIndianapolis, Indiana 2011ConnecticutButlerReliant StadiumHouston, Texas 2012Kentucky KansasMercedes-Benz SuperdomeNew Orleans, Louisiana 2013Louisville***MichiganGeorgia DomeAtlanta, Georgia 2014UConn KentuckyAT&T StadiumArlington, Texas 2015DukeWisconsin Lucas Oil StadiumIndianapolis, Indiana 2016Villanova North CarolinaNRG StadiumHouston, Texas 2017North CarolinaGonzagaMark FewUniversity of Phoenix StadiumGlendale, Arizona 2018VillanovaMichiganAlamodomeSan Antonio, Texas 2019VirginiaTexas TechChris BeardU.S. Bank StadiumMinneapolis, Minnesota 2020Tournament not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic (scheduled)Atlanta, Georgia (scheduled) 2021BaylorGonzagaMark FewLucas Oil StadiumIndianapolis, Indiana 2022KansasNorth CarolinaHubert DavisCaesars SuperdomeNew Orleans, Louisiana 2023UConnSan Diego StateNRG StadiumHouston, Texas 2024UConnPurdueState Farm StadiumGlendale, Arizona2025FloridaHoustonAlamodomeSan Antonio, Texas2026MichiganUConnLucas Oil StadiumIndianapolis, Indiana2027Ford FieldDetroit, Michigan2028Allegiant StadiumParadise, Nevada2029Lucas Oil StadiumIndianapolis, Indiana 2030AT&T StadiumArlington, Texas2031Mercedes-Benz StadiumAtlanta, Georgia

Multiple champions

+Teams with multiple championshipsTeamNumberYears won UCLA111964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995 Kentucky81948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998, 2012 North Carolina61957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017 UConn61999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, 2024 Duke5 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015 Indiana51940, 1953, 1976, 1981, 1987 Kansas41952, 1988, 2008, 2022 Florida32006, 2007, 2025 Villanova31985, 2016, 2018 Louisville1980, 1986, 2013* Cincinnati21961, 1962 Michigan21989, 2026 Michigan State21979, 2000 NC State21974, 1983 Oklahoma State21945, 1946 San Francisco21955, 1956

National champion coaches A total of 54 coaches have won a national championship. Of those, 17 have won multiple championships. John Wooden leads all coaches with ten championships, followed by Mike Krzyzewski at five, Adolph Rupp at four, and Jim Calhoun, Bob Knight, and Roy Williams tied at three. Rick Pitino is the only coach to win a national championship at multiple schools, winning with Kentucky in 1996 and Louisville in 2013; however, the latter championship has been vacated by the NCAA. +National champion coachesCoachNumberTeamYears won1Kansas19521Virginia20191Syracuse20031Kansas19883UConn1999, 2004, 2011 1Kentucky20122Louisville1980, 19861Stanford19422Florida2006, 20071Baylor20211Michigan19891Wisconsin19411Florida20251Kentucky19781UCLA19951UTEP19661Michigan State19791Oregon19391CCNY19502UConn2023, 20242Oklahoma State1945, 19461Loyola Chicago19631Michigan State20002Cincinnati1961, 19621Holy Cross19473Indiana1976, 1981, 19875Duke1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 20151La Salle19541Villanova19851Michigan20262Indiana1940, 19531Marquette19771North Carolina19571California1959 1UConn20141Arizona19971Utah1944Kentucky1996Louisville2013*1Arkansas19944Kentucky1948, 1949, 1951, 19582Kansas2008, 20221Wyoming19431NC State19742North Carolina1982, 19931Kentucky19981UNLV19901Ohio State19601Georgetown19841NC State19831Maryland20023North Carolina2005, 2009, 201710UCLA1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 19752San Francisco1955, 19562Villanova2016, 2018

Champions by conference

+Championships by contemporary conference membership Conference Number Years won Teams Ref(s) 151957, 1974, 1982, 1983, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia 12014UConn 1984, 1985, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2023, 2024Georgetown, Louisville*, Syracuse, UConn, Villanova 21952, 1988Kansas 111940, 1941, 1953, 1960, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1987, 1989, 2000, 2026Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin 32008, 2021, 2022Baylor, Kansas 11990UNLV Independents61944, 1947, 1954, 1963, 1966, 1977Holy Cross, La Salle, Loyola Chicago, Marquette, Utah, UTEP 21980, 1986Louisville 11950CCNY 41945, 1946, 1961, 1962Cincinnati, Oklahoma State (1938–1962)11943Wyoming 121948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2025Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky 151939, 1942, 1959, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995, 1997 Arizona, California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA 21955, 1956San Francisco

Multiple runners-up