North Carolina pulls closer to Kentucky in NCAA basketball titles
North Carolina’s 71-65 victory over Gonzaga in the finals of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on Monday night in Glendale, Ariz. moved the Tar Heels closer to Kentucky in the number of national championships.
UCLA is the all-timer leader with 11 titles. Kentucky ranks second with eight titles. North Carolina’s victory moved the Tar Heels into sole possession of third place with six championships. Duke and Indiana are now tied for fourth place in the rankings with five titles each.
The story behind UNC's 6th NCAAT championship. "Our guys were tough as nails." And were again and again (and again): https://t.co/2dXoQlQzm7
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) April 4, 2017
In fact, since Kentucky defeated Utah for the 1998 national championship, North Carolina has won three titles compared to just one for Kentucky. The Tar Heels have climbed that ladder to cut down the nets on Monday night in 2005, 2009 and now 2017 under Roy Williams. Kentucky took home the trophy in 2012 under John Calipari.
Williams’ three titles tie him with Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun and Indiana’s Bobby Knight in fourth place on the career list. UCLA’s John Wooden leads the pack with 10 championships. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is second with five titles. Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp ranks third with four championships.
Here are some links from Monday night’s game:
▪ For the Tar Heels, mission accomplished, writes Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News and Observer.
▪ It took a title for North Carolina to forget, writes Dana O’Neil of espn.com.
▪ How Joel Berry and his band of brothers pushed North Carolina past almost, writes Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer.
▪ Ugly game provides beautiful redemption for North Carolina, writes Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports.
▪ That grand Gonzaga dream is gone with the wind, writes Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
▪ North Carolina creates new ending to familiar championship path, writes Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated.
Here are the charts:
Schools with multiple NCAA basketball titles
School | No | Years |
UCLA | 11 | 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995 |
Kentucky | 8 | 1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998, 2012 |
North Carolina | 6 | 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017 |
Duke | 5 | 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015 |
Indiana | 5 | 1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, 1987 |
Connecticut | 4 | 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014 |
Louisville | 3 | 1980, 1986, 2013 |
Kansas | 3 | 1952, 1988, 2008 |
Cincinnati | 2 | 1961, 1962 |
Florida | 2 | 2006, 2007 |
Michigan State | 2 | 1979, 2000 |
North Carolina State | 2 | 1974, 1983 |
Oklahoma State | 2 | 1945, 1946 |
San Francisco | 2 | 1955, 1956 |
Villanova | 2 | 1985, 2016 |
Last 20 NCAA Men’s Basketball title games
Year | Champion | Runner-up | Score | Coach |
1998 | Kentucky | Utah | 78-69 | Tubby Smith |
1999 | Connecticut | Duke | 77-74 | Jim Calhoun |
2000 | Michigan State | Florida | 89-76 | Tom Izzo |
2001 | Duke | Arizona | 82-72 | Mike Krzyzewski |
2002 | Maryland | Indiana | 64-52 | Gary Williams |
2003 | Syracuse | Kansas | 81-78 | Jim Boeheim |
2004 | Connecticut | Georgia Tech | 82-73 | Jim Calhoun |
2005 | North Carolina | Illinois | 75-70 | Roy Williams |
2006 | Florida | UCLA | 73-57 | Billy Donovan |
2007 | Florida | Ohio State | 84-75 | Billy Donovan |
2008 | Kansas | Memphis | 75-68* | Bill Self |
2009 | North Carolina | Michigan State | 89-72 | Roy Williams |
2010 | Duke | Butler | 61-59 | Mike Krzyzewski |
2011 | Connecticut | Butler | 53-41 | Jim Calhoun |
2012 | Kentucky | Kansas | 67-59 | John Calipari |
2013 | Louisville | Michigan | 82-76 | Rick Pitino |
2014 | Connecticut | Kentucky | 60-54 | Kevin Ollie |
2015 | Duke | Wisconsin | 68-63 | Mike Krzyzewski |
2016 | Villanova | North Carolina | 77-74 | Jay Wright |
2017 | North Carolina | Gonzaga | 71-65 | Roy Williams |
Coaches with multiple NCAA basketball titles
Coach | School(s) | Titles |
John Wooden | UCLA | 10 |
Mike Krzyzewski | Duke | 5 |
Adolph Rupp | Kentucky | 4 |
Jim Calhoun | Connecticut | 3 |
Bobby Knight | Indiana | 3 |
Roy Williams | North Carolina | 3 |
Denny Crum | Louisville | 2 |
Billy Donovan | Florida | 2 |
Henry Iba | Oklahoma State | 2 |
Ed Jucker | Cincinnati | 2 |
Branch McCracken | Indiana | 2 |
Rick Pitino | Kentucky/Louisville | 2 |
Dean Smith | North Carolina | 2 |
Phil Woolpert | San Francisco | 2 |