How Many 1 Seeds Have Won March Madness?
1-seeds are the highest-ranked teams going into the March Madness tournament. As expected, the winner of the tournament is most often one of the four 1-seeds. However, upsets happen and lower seeds have won on many occasions. Keep reading to find out how many 1-seeds have won the NCAA DI Men’s Basketball National Championship.
1-Seeded Teams That Have Won March Madness
Of the 36 times that March Madness has been held since its expansion in 1985, a 1-seeded team has won the championship title 23 times. Listed below are the 23 teams that have won the NCAA Basketball Tournament:
- Indiana Hoosiers (1987)
- UNLV Rebels (1990)
- Duke Blue Devils (1992)
- UNC Tar Heels (1993)
- Arkansas Razorbacks (1994)
- UCLA Bruins (1995)
- Kentucky Wildcats (1996)
- UConn Huskies (1999)
- Michigan State Spartans (2000)
- Duke Blue Devils (2001)
- Maryland Terrapins (2002)
- UNC Tar Heels (2005)
- Florida Gators (2007)
- Kansas Jayhawks (2008)
- UNC Tar Heels (2009)
- Duke Blue Devils (2010)
- Kentucky Wildcats (2012)
- Louisville Cardinals (2013)
- Duke Blue Devils (2015)
- UNC Tar Heels (2017)
- Villanova Wildcats (2018)
- Virginia Cavaliers (2019)
- Baylor Bears (2021)
- Kansas Jayhawks (2022)
Most Back-to-Back Wins by 1-Seeded Teams
On two occasions, 1-seeded teams have won March Madness for five consecutive tournaments. The first streak occurred between Duke’s 1992 win and Kentucky’s 1996 win. The most recent streak occurred between North Carolina’s 2017 win and Kansas’s 2022 championship.
FAQ
How many 1-seeded teams have won March Madness?
Since the NCAA tournament was expanded in 1985, 23 1-seeded teams have won March Madness. That means that only just over a third of the total championships (13) have been won by basketball teams who were not awarded the No. 1 seed in their region at the beginning of the postseason.