This time of year, basketball fans all want to know the teams with the most NCAA Final Four appearances. We’ll get into that and more below. Heading into March Madness, the North Carolina Tar Heels lead the way for men’s basketball. UNC has 21 Final Four appearances. The women’s basketball team with the most appearances is Connecticut with 22.
Teams with the Most NCAA Final Four Appearances (Men’s basketball)
No surprise, the teams with the most NCAA Final Four appearances are Blue Bloods. UNC with 21. They are followed by UCLA with 18, and both Duke and Kentucky with 17 appearances each. The numbers are current heading into the 2024 NCAA basketball tournament. UCONN, who won the 2023 NCAA Tournament, has six appearances.
Teams with the Most NCAA Final Four Appearances (Women’s Basketball)
For the women’s teams, UConn has been to 22 Final Fours. The next most is 18 by Tennessee. They are followed by Stanford with 15 and Louisiana Tech with 10. UConn last made it to the Final Four in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Which schools have the most March Madness titles?
Now, the next question that fans have after the total Final Four appearances, is which schools have the most March Madness titles? The men’s teams are still lead by UCLA with 11. The Bruins have not won a championship since 1995 to show how dominant they were in the Wooden era. Next is Kentucky with eight (2012), and then North Carolina with six (2017).
The women’s teams are led by UConn with 11 championships. They last won the tournament in 2016. Next is Tennessee with eight (2008). Baylor (2019) and Stanford (2021) each have three championships. Caitlin Clark and Iowa Women’s basketball team fans will want to know how many championships that Iowa has won? Despite a lot of postseason success, they have not won a title. The closest they came was in the 2023 NCAA Tournament when they lost to LSU in the championship game. They are projected to be a #1 seed in the 2024 NCAA Women’s Tournament, but they’ll have to get past South Carolin, LSU, Stanford and some other great teams to see their first championship.
Why is Making the Final Four such a Big Deal?
For many programs, making the NCAA Final Four is the sign that you’ve made it into elite company. It is the culmination of a long tournament that starts with 68 teams now. March Madness is one of the few tournaments where smaller and less well-known teams can become “Cinderella” and make a deep run against the odds. The games are generally played on a Friday (for the women) or Saturday (for the men) letting fans attend and watch without having to worry about work or school the next day. The games are normally played on a larger stage allowing a large number of fans of each team to attend the game. So few teams make it to this stage of the tournament, that it remains a significant accomplishment for college basketball teams.
