The 11 College Basketball Teams With The Most Final Four Appearances

There’s still some work to be done if you’re one of the teams that make it to the Final Four, and while only one of them will walk away with a national championship, it’s hard to be too disappointed in any squad that manages to come that close to a title in the first place.

The NCAA Tournament only boasted eight teams when it was played for the first time in 1939, so while the “Final Four” technically existed then, it goes without saying it was a bit easier to make it that far than it’s been since March Madness expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

As things currently stand, you need to rattle off four consecutive wins against some of the best basketball teams in the country to punch your ticket to the Final Four (the name the NCAA officially adopted in the mid-1980s), and that particular feat is much easier said than done.

However, there are some programs that have managed to pull it off more frequently than any other.

North Carolina: 21

As I mentioned above, the path to the Final Four is a bit longer than it was when the NCAA Tournament was played for the first time, but we’ll be taking every single installment into consideration for the sake of simplicity.

As things currently stand, no team has made it to the Final Four more frequently than North Carolina, which checked that box for the first time in 1946 prior to losing to Oklahoma A&M in the championship game.

Dean Smith was the head coach for 11 of those runs, while Roy Williams added another five to the total to help the Tar Heels pad their lead against the rival that recently moved into a tie for second place.

Duke: 18

Duke appeared in its first Final Four close to 20 years after UNC made it for the first time, and while Vic Bubas helped the Blue Devils make it there three times in four seasons after their inaugural appearance in 1963, they really started racking them up after Mike Krzyzewski arrived in Durham.

Coach K made it to the Final Four 13 times (which broke a record previously set by a man we’ll get to in a second) during his hallowed career.

That included the absurd stretch between 1986 and 1994 where Duke got there seven times in nine years while winning two of the five national championship games it played in.

UCLA: 18

If you’re fairly well-versed in college basketball history, you know the coach I was talking about is the man, myth, and legend who was John Wooden.

Wooden was at the helm when UCLA made it to the Final Four for the first time in 1962. He’d lead them to a national championship two years later, which marked the first of ten they’d win over the course of 12 seasons.

It only took Wooden 14 years to get the 12 Final Four appearances that remained the record for a coach until Krzyzewski broke it; UCLA still holds the record for most consecutive appearances with 10 beginning in 1967 (Wooden was there for nine of them before Gene Bartow took over).

It’s worth noting they’d have sole possession of second if not for the wins they vacated for using ineligible players during the 1979-80 season.

Kentucky: 17

The top of this list is predictably dominated by the blue bloods who have earned that status thanks in no small part to their sustained success in the NCAA Tournament, and Kentucky definitely fits the bill.

Kentucky got its first Final Four in 1942 under the watch of Adolph Rupp, who helped the Wildcats make it there six times while winning four national championships in the process.

Joe Hall added another three after taking over, while Rick Pitino had the same amount during the six years Kentucky was eligible for the NCAA Tournament during his time in Lexington.

John Calipari was responsible for four, but the Wildcats haven’t made it to the Final Four since 2015—the second-longest drought in the history of the program.

Kansas: 16

Kansas made it to the Final Four for the first time in the tournament’s second year of existence, and every single coach it’s had since then has managed to make it that far at least once.

No one has done it more frequently than Roy Williams and Bill Self, who are currently tied with four apiece.

The Jayhawks have ended up competing in the title game six times and have four national titles to show for it.

Michigan State: 10

I’ve used generic photos for every team on this list so far, but there’s a reason Tom Izzo gets the nod here.

Michigan State made the Final Four for the first time in 1959 and added another during its national championship run 20 years later.

It was still in search of a third when Izzo took over in 1995, and he’s made it to eight of them (including a three-year streak beginning in 1999 where two Final  Four appearances sandwiched a title) while coming within one game of his ninth this season.

Ohio State: 10

We’ve got another team that would be higher on this list if not for some vacated games, as Jim O’Brien led Ohio State to the Final Four in 1999 before being implicated in the Boban Savovic recruiting scandal.

With that said, the Buckeyes have still done pretty well for themselves with 10 appearances stretching back to the very first Final Four under Harold Olsen in 1939.

However, the bulk of them are fairly ancient history; Olsen was responsible for four during a tenure that ended in 1946 after a three-year streak, while Fred Taylor had four between 1960 and 1968 (Thad Matta had the other two in 2007 and 2012).

Ohio State has also only been able to convert one of them into a title, as their lone championship came during Taylor’s reign in 1960.

Indiana: 8

Indiana also got in on the action pretty early by making it to the Final Four in 1940 (they won a title that year).

Branch McCracken was responsible for that one and the other the Hoosiers had during his second championship run in 1953, but as you can probably guess, Bobby Knight is responsible for the lion’s share.

The infamous skipper got his first Final Four appearance in his second season in 1972 and won three national championships before upping the tally to five in 1992.

Mike Davis brought the total to eight a decade later, but Indiana is still looking to snap the drought that now stretches close to 25 years.

Louisville: 8

Louisville is the last team on this list to be bitten by the vacancy bug, as the Cardinals would have 10 if not for the recruiting scandal that transpired under Rick Pitino’s watch (he officially has one thanks to the Final Four in 2005 that is technically the last one they’ve appeared in as far as the NCAA is concerned).

The Cardinals didn’t make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament until 1959, and Denny Crum deserves the majority of the credit here thanks to the six Final Fours he had during a 30-year stint where he won two championships in the 1980s.

Houston: 7

Houston was tied with seven other teams for the most Final Fours in history prior to the start of this year’s NCAA Tournament, but moved up with a win that lowered that number to one.

The Cougars weren’t one of the last four teams left standing until 1967 (the first of back-to-back Final Fours), and Guy Lewis retired with five under his belt and was the only head coach who managed to get them that far before Kelvin Sampson arrived in 2014.

Sampson breathed new life into the program before leading the Cougars to their first Final Four since 1984 in 2021 prior to repeating the feat in 2025.

UConn: 7

It’s kind of wild to think UConn had never made it to the Final Four before 1999, as the program that’s been a perennial contender for the past few decades didn’t have much success before Jim Calhoun arrived in Storrs.

Calhoun had four Final Four appearances and three national championships during his tenure. Dan Hurley currently has the silver medal with two, while Kevin Ollie takes home the bronze with the one he got while leading the Huskies to a title in 2014.

UConn has certainly taken advantage of those Final Four opportunities, as its appearance in 2009 is the only time it’s failed to get a championship after making it that far.