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NCAA basketball champions

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:08:41 +0000

If you are one of those college basketball fans who thinks the season begins in March and ends in late March/early April, you are not alone. The growth of the NCAA Tournament has made March Madness one of the highlights of the sports calendar, but that preoccupation with brackets has tended to make the regular season something of an afterthought.

These days, great seasons aren’t measured so much by conference championships or national rankings as they are by how your team fares in the Big Dance. For the major players, nothing less than a trip to the Final Four even begins to satisfy the fan base.

Who has ended up cutting the nets since the tournament began way back in 1939?

Here’s the list of NCAA men’s basketball champions:

1939: Oregon
1940: Indiana
1941: Wisconsin
1942: Stanford
1943: Wyoming
1944: Utah
1945: Oklahoma A & M
1946: Oklahoma A & M
1947: Holy Cross
1948: Kentucky
1949: Kentucky
1950: C.C.N.Y.
1951: Kentucky
1952: Kansas
1953: Indiana
1954: La Salle
1955: San Francisco
1956: San Francisco
1957: North Carolina
1958: Kentucky
1959: California
1960: Ohio State

Most Final Four wins

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:02:38 +0000

Since UCLA has won the most NCAA men’s basketball championships (11), it stands to reason that the Bruins know their way around the Final Four. And, indeed, the men from Westwood are the all-time leaders in Final Four wins.

Who else made the list?

Here’s the roll call, through the 2009 tournament:

25 – UCLA*
17 – Kentucky
15 – North Carolina
14 – Duke
12 – Indiana
11 – Kansas
8 – Ohio State
7 – Cincinnati
5 – Michigan*
5 – Florida
5 – Georgetown
5 – Louisville
5 – North Carolina State
5 – Oklahoma State
5 – San Francisco

* Does not include vacated years.

See all COLLEGE BASKETBALL lists

Most Final Four appearances

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:00:12 +0000

Dynasties may be a thing of the past in the super-competitive world of college basketball, but the list of schools with the most Final Four appearances is made up of the bluest of hoops blue bloods.

Who has made the final weekend with the most regularity? By advancing through the 2009 tournament, North Carolina stands alone atop the list:

18 – North Carolina
17 – UCLA*
14 – Duke
13 – Kentucky
13 – Kansas
10 – Ohio State
8 – Indiana
8 – Louisville
7 – Michigan State
6 – Arkansas
6 – Cincinnati
7 – Michigan State
6 – Oklahoma State

* Does not include vacated years

See all COLLEGE BASKETBALL lists

Worst NCAA Regional blowouts

Bill Sullivan — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:51:23 +0000

If you advance to the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament, it stands to reason that you’ve probably got a pretty good team. But bad things happen, even to the best of teams, on a given night.

What are some of the biggest blowouts in Regional round history?

Here’s the list, with final margin:

49 — UCLA (109) vs. Wyoming, (60), Regional semifinal, 3-17-1967
47 — Duke (101) vs. Connecticut (54), Regional final, 3-14-1964
43 — *Villanova (90) vs. Penn (47), Regional Semifinal, 3-20-1971
40 — Cincinnati (99) vs. DePaul (59), Regional Semifinal, 3-11-1960
40 — Princeton (109) vs. Providence (69), Regional Final, 3-13-1965

* Result later vacated

Source: ncaa.org

Most consecutive Sweet 16s

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:38:35 +0000

While a spot in the Final Four is college basketball’s big prize, advancing to the Sweet 16 is a good overall measure of excellence. Surviving the rigors and potential pitfalls of the tournament’s first weekend is no small accomplishment and a solid testament to the foundation of a program.

Which schools have made the most consecutive Sweet 16 appearances?

Here’s the list:

13 — North Carolina (1981-93)
9 — Duke (1998-2006)
7 — Duke (1986-92)
6 — UCLA (1975-80)
5 — Kansas (1993-97)
5 — Kentucky (1995-99)
5 — Notre Dame (1975-79)
4 — Arkansas (1993-96)
4 — Indiana (1991-94)
4 — Kansas (2001-04)
4 — Memphis (1982-85)
4 — Michigan St. (1998-2001)
4 — Virginia (1981-84)
3 — 25 times

Source: ncaa.org

Most Sweet 16 appearances

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:21:26 +0000

It takes six victories over three weekends to win the NCAA Tournament, and getting to that second weekend can be the toughest task of all. Round 1 often is for Cinderellas, but as the field gets tougher, winning a second time is a different matter entirely.

No great surprise, then, that the list of schools with the most Sweet 16 appearances is chock full of college basketball’s most fabled institutions.

Who’s on top?

Here goes:
22 — North Carolina (1975-2008)
20 — Kentucky (1975-2005)
19 — Duke (1978-2006)
17 — UCLA (1975-2008)
16 — Kansas ( 1981-2008)
16 — Louisville (1975-2008)
14 – Indiana ( 1975-2002)
14 — Syracuse (1975-2004)
12 — Arizona (1976-2005)
12 — Connecticut (1976-2006)
11 — Georgetown (1980-2007)
11 — Maryland (1975-2003)
11 — Michigan St. (1978-2008)
10 — Arkansas (1978-96)
10 — UNLV (1975-2007)

Source: ncaa.org

Consecutive Final Four appearances

Bill Sullivan — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:20:09 +0000

With so much money being spent on college basketball programs these days, just about anyone can put together a few good players, catch a couple of lucky breaks, and find themselves in the Final Four.

Putting together a sustained run of excellence is quite another matter. As hard as it is to get there once or twice, consider the magnitude of UCLA’s unmatched streak of 10 consecutive trips to the game’s final weekend.

Who else has the most consecutive Final Four appearances?

Here’s the list:

10 – UCLA (1967-76)
5 – Cincinnati (1959-63)
5 – Duke (1988-92)
3 – Houston (1982-84)
3 – Kentucky (1996-98)
3 – Michigan State (1999-01)
3 – North Carolina (1967-69)
3 – Ohio State (1944-46)
3 – Ohio State (1960-62)
3 - San Francisco (1955-57)
3 – UCLA (2006-2008)

See all COLLEGE BASKETBALL lists

Most Final Four games

Bill Sullivan — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:18:27 +0000

While the usual suspects don’t quite have the stranglehold on the Final Four that they once did, you still won’t have much trouble recognizing the schools at the top of the list of most Final Four games.

Here goes, with Carolina’s 2009 run included:

32 – UCLA*
30 – North Carolina
25 – Duke
23 – Kentucky
21 – Kansas
17 – Ohio State
15 – Indiana
13 – Louisville
13 – Michigan
11 – Cincinnati

* Does not include vacated years.

See all COLLEGE BASKETBALL lists

Most NCAA men’s basketball championships

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:18:59 +0000

They haven’t been quite the same since John Wooden hung up his whistle, but the UCLA Bruins still look down on most of the college basketball world. Even though the folks from Westwood have only won one national championship since 1975, their 11 titles overall still ranks as the most ever by one school.

Big money has fostered more and better competition for those coveted Final Four spots, and UCLA’s run of seven straight championships (1967-73) is a record not likely to be challenged, much less broken. That doesn’t mean some of the college game’s other traditional powers won’t be taking a crack at it.

Who else has won the most titles?

Here’s the list, through 2009:

11 — UCLA

7 — Kentucky

5 — Indiana

5 — North Carolina

3 — Kansas

3 — Duke

AP Preseason Basketball Poll

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:34:26 +0000

Some college basketball fans argue that March Madness has made the rest of the season meaningless. If a team storms through the season and conference tournament, then loses on the first weekend of the NCAAs, the season is deemed a failure. Conversely, a team that finishes fourth in its league and catches fire in March is considered a big success.

Still, you’ve got to start somewhere, and the road to the Final Four begins with some early handicapping by way of the first Associated Press poll of the year. If the voters are correct, North Carolina (which got all 72 first place votes) will be cutting down the nets after the championship game. But, as many a previous favorite can attest, the road is long, winding, and full of potholes.

Here’s how they’ll break from the gate:

1. North Carolina
2. Connecticut
3. Louisville
4. UCLA
5. Pittsburgh
6. Michigan State
7. Texas
8. Duke
9. Notre Dame
10. Gonzaga
11. Purdue
12. Oklahoma
13. Memphis
14. Tennessee
15. Arizona State
16. Marquette
17. Miami (FL)
18. USC
19. Florida
20. Davidson
21. Wake Forest
22. Georgetown
23. Villanova
24. Kansas
25. Wisconsin