The 15 College Basketball Programs With Multiple National Championships

College basketball provides one of the most exciting postseason formats in sports. Each March, 60+ teams battle for the right to be called champion.

The winning squad must survive six games over the course of two weeks in order to cut down the nets. It is a task that proves difficult for most.

There are tons of teams that have never played for or won a national championship. Many have never even made the Final Four.

In other cases, we’ve seen a school reach the sport’s pinnacle only to never return again. There are those, though, that have successfully hoisted the title trophy on more than one occasion.

College Basketball Teams With the Most National Championships.

There are 15 schools that own multiple national titles. A few have even pulled off the feat in back-to-back years.

Below, we’ll list those teams in order from least to most. It will end with the bluest of bloods, with one team topping the list as the only program with double digit championships.

Oklahoma State Cowboys

National titles: 2

The Cowboys have two national championships under their belt, going back-to-back in the 1945 and 1946 campaigns.

The ’45 team went 27-4 before beating New York University in the championship game. The ’46 squad completed the repeat with a win over North Carolina in Madison Square Garden.

Both lineups were led by Bob Kurland, a three-time All-American that led the nation in scoring. He was named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player in both seasons.

North Carolina State Wolfpack

National titles: 2

The Wolfpack won their first college basketball championship in 1974 to cap a 29-1 season. It beat Marquette in the title game after knocking off Providence, Purdue, and defending champ UCLA.

A decade later, NC State won its second title in 1983 over Houston. That game provided one of the most indelible scenes in NCAA Tournament history.

With the game tied and the final seconds ticking from the clock, Wolfpack forward Lorenzo Charles caught a teammate’s missed shot attempt and dunked it through the net to win. Head coach Jim Valvano postgame reaction lives on each and every March.

San Franciso Dons

National titles: 2 

Led by Future NBA Hall of Fame center Bill Russell, the Dons won back-to-back championships in 1955 and 1956. Their big man averaged more than 20 points and 20 rebounds in both seasons.

San Francisco went 27-1 in ’55, beating Colorado in the Final Four and LaSalle in the title game. The next year was more of the same.

The Dons beat UCLA, Utah, and SMU in the NCAA Tournament before knocking off Iowa to complete a perfect 28-0 season.

Michigan State Spartans

National titles: 2

The Spartans won their first title in 1979 in an iconic game that included Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. It would be the precursor to an epic NBA rivalry.

Michigan State beat an undefeated Indiana State team to win that championship. Two decades later, they’d win their second.

Tom Izzo took Sparty to a 2000 national title, which came over the Florida Gators. Michigan State beat Valpo, Utah, Syracuse, Iowa State, and Wisconsin along the way. Each of their NCAA Tournament wins came by double digits.

Cincinnati Bearcats

National titles: 2

Cincinnati is one of the winningest programs in college basketball history. The Bearcats rank 12th all-time with more than 1,900 wins.

Much of that success came in the 1960s. The team won back-to-back championships in ’61 and ’62 before finishing runner-up in ’63.

The 1961 team took down an undefeated Ohio State squad in the title game after knocking off the likes of UCLA, Colorado, and Creighton.

The next year, the Bearcats won a championship rematch over the Buckeyes after running through Kentucky and Wake Forest.

Louisville Cardinals

National titles: 3*

Louisville is the first three-time national champion, though the NCAA only recognizes two of those titles. The Cardinals’ 2013 championship was vacated as a result of a recruiting scandal under Rick Pitino.

In 1980, the program won its first national title. The run to the championship game included a pair of overtime victories over Kansas State and Texas A&M. They’d go onto beat UCLA in the final contest.

A few years later, the Cardinals upset top-ranked Duke to win its second title.

Villanova Wildcats

National titles: 3

The Wildcats pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history to win their first national title in 1985. That came as an eight-seed over defending champion Georgetown.

Villanova entered that season unranked. It is one of seven teams to win a championship after starting the season outside the Top 25.

It would be another three decades before the program won its second title. That came in 2016 on a buzzer beating shot to down North Carolina. Two years later, they annihilated Michigan to land a third championship.

Florida Gators

National titles: 3

Florida has been one of the most dominant college basketball programs of the last 25 years. All three of the Gators’ titles have come in the 21st Century.

The first two came in back-to-back seasons in 2006 and 2007. The Gators beat UCLA to win their first championship before making another dominant run with many of the same players the following year. The second title win came over Ohio State.

The most recent net cutting came in 2025. Florida dramatically overcame a 12-point deficit in the final moments against Houston to secure the season’s final win.

Kansas Jayhawks

National titles: 4

We now begin getting into the sport’s true blue bloods. Kansas is the first program on the list with four national championships. The Jayhawks are one of college basketball’s most storied teams.

Kansas owns the second-most wins in the sport’s history, just behind Kentucky. Their success has stretched across multiple eras.

The program’s first championship came in 1952 with a win over St. John’s. A second came in 1988, a third in 2008, and the most recent in 2022.

Indiana Hoosiers

National titles: 5

Indiana is synonymous with basketball. The Hoosiers are one of college basketball’s all-time programs. The team owns five national titles, each of which came between 1940-1990.

The Hoosiers beat previously mentioned Kansas in 1940 to secure their first title. They then bested the Jayhawks again in 1953.

In 1976, it was Michigan that fell victim to a national championship defeat at the hands of Indiana. Five years later, the Hoosiers won title No. 4. No. 5 came soon after in 1987.

An NCAA Tournament fun fact about that most recent championship: “One Shining Moment” debuted as the college basketball postseason theme song after Indiana’s one-point win over Syracuse.

Duke Blue Devils

National titles: 5

Duke is the fourth-winningest college basketball program in history with more than 2,300 wins. That trails only Kentucky, Kansas, and rival North Carolina.

Given that success, it’s no surprise to see them on this list. The Blue Devils are one of just six programs with five titles.

All of those championships have come since 1991. Each came with head coach Mike Krzyzewski at the helm.

Duke went back-to-back in ’91 and ’92, a run highlighted by Christian Laettner’s buzzer beater against Kentucky. The Blue Devils secured a third title in 2001, a fourth in 2010, and a fifth in 2015.

North Carolina Tar Heels

National titles: 6

The Tar Heels sit just above rival Duke in many major college basketball categories. That includes all-time wins, Final Four appearances, and national championships.

UNC owns six titles dating all the way back to 1957.  A second would come 25 years later in 1982 thanks to a clutch shot from Michael Jordan. The guard sank a jumper with 15 seconds left against Georgetown to provide a one-point win.

North Carolina’s four most recent championships have come in 1993, 2005, 2009, and 2017. They’ve also been a national runner-up on six occasions.

UCONN Huskies

National titles: 6

UConn has quickly moved up this list thanks to back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024. Arguably the most successful team of the last 30 years, each of the Huskies’ six championships has come since 1999.

When getting to the final game, UConn is perfect. They own a spotless 6-0 overall record in championship appearances.

Prior to winning those most recent titles, the Huskies cut down the nets in 2014, 2011, 2004, and 1999.

Kentucky Wildcats

National titles: 8

Kentucky is the winningest program in college basketball history with more than 2,400 total wins. The Wildcats’ success has been consistent for nearly a century.

The program picked up its first title win in 1948 over the Baylor Bears. It successfully defended that title in 1949.

After picking up their third championship in four seasons with a 1951 victory, the Wildcats won the program’s fourth in 1958.

It would be another two decades before the team won its next in 1978. That would be followed up with victories in 1996 and 1998. The most recent championship came in 2012 under John Calipari.

UCLA Bruins

National titles: 11

The program with the most college basketball national championships is UCLA. The Bruins have cut down the nets 11 different times.

It remains the lone school in the nation to boast double digit titles, many of which came during John Wooden’s dominant stint in Los Angeles.

Between 1964 and 1975, the Bruins won 10 championships. It’s a college basketball dynasty yet to be matched.

The 11th title win came 20 years later in 1995. UCLA took down Arkansas is what is still the program’s most recent championship.