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The Last 5 March Madness Winners and Their Path to Victory
There have been plenty of upsets in recent March Madness tournaments. However, three of the last four national champions were No. 1 seeds. Time will tell if that is one basketball trend that continues in this year’s tournament.
Kansas spent the first five weeks of the season as the No. 1 team in the national polls before Tennessee took over the top spot. Auburn held the No. 1 spot for eight weeks, and the Tigers earned every first-place vote in The Associated Press in five of those weeks.
Duke, led by all-everything freshman Cooper Flagg, is another top contender, while UConn heads into the tournament as the two-time defending national champions. Who will emerge as the 2025 March Madness winners?
Will any players emerge and be considered among the best March Madness players of all time?
Look At The Recent March Madness Champions
Huskies Eyeing A 3-Peat
UConn, Kansas, and Baylor have won the last four titles. Can they return to the top of the college basketball mountain?
None of those programs will be in the top 10 in the odds of winning the national title when the NCAA tournament begins with the First Four games in Dayton on March 18 and 19. The national championship game is set for April 7 in San Antonio.
2024: Huskies Go Back-To-Back
UConn rolled past all comers en route to becoming the first team since the 2005-06 and 2006-07 Florida Gators to win back-to-back college basketball national championships.
It started with a 39-point win over Stetson and a 75-58 vanquishing of Northwestern. San Diego State fell by 30 points, and then the Huskies punched their ticket to the Final Four by cruising past Illinois 77-52.
It was more of the same in the Final Four as freshman Stephon Castle had 21 points in the Huskies’ 86-72 win over Alabama.
Despite 37 points from National Player of the Year Zach Edey, UConn defeated Purdue 75-60 to win the national title in one of the most lopsided NCAA championship scores. Tristen Newton led the way with 20 points and seven assists.
2023: Huskies Take Care Of Business
The clock did not strike midnight for the Cinderella teams in the 2023 March Madness bracket.
None of the No. 1 seeds make it to the Elite Eight.
Florida Atlantic, a No. 9 seed in the East Regional, benefitted from Purdue’s stunning loss to Fairleigh Dickinson to reach the NCAA Final Four.
Miami, the No. 5 seed in the Midwest, West regional No. 4 seed UConn, and San Diego State, the No. 5 seed in the South, also advanced to the Final Four.
UConn took out West Coast Conference powers Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga by 15 and 28 points to get to the Final Four.
Adama Sanogo’s 21 points and 10 rebounds powered the Huskies past Miami 72-59. Tristen Newton had 19 points in a 76-59 vanquishing of San Diego State in an improbable national title game.
Sanogo earned Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors as the Huskies were again NCAA basketball champions.
2022: Rock Chalk, Jayhawks
Plenty of Blue Blood programs reached the Final Four, with North Carolina advancing as a No. 8 seed against No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s.
Texas Tech pushed Duke in the Sweet 16 before the Blue Devils took care of business against Arkansas to join the Tar Heels in the NCAA Final Four.
Kansas was the only No. 1 seed to get to New Orleans for the Final Four. The Jayhawks posted single-digit point victories against Creighton and Providence.
Villanova won a defensive slugfest in the Elite Eight against Houston 50-44, meaning all the teams in the Final Four were former March Madness champions.
North Carolina topped Duke in one national semifinal behind 28 points from Caleb Love in the latest chapter in one of the best college sports rivalries. In contrast, David McCormack’s 25 points lifted Kansas to an 81-65 victory against Villanova.
Kansas rallied from a 16-point deficit to end North Carolina 72-69 to win the title. Ochai Agbaji was the Final Four MOP. McCormick and Jalen Wilson led the way in the title game with 15 points.
2021: Bears Win It All
Things got off to a chaotic start in the 2021 NCAA tournament, with four teams seeded 13 or lower winning in the first round. However, the focus quickly turned to Gonzaga’s quest to become the first team since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers to finish a season undefeated.
The Bulldogs won four games in the West Regional by an average of 24 points, hoping to join the list of undefeated college basketball teams.
It was nearly a Final Four with all No. 1 or No. 2 seeds before No. 11 UCLA topped No. 1 Michigan in the East Regional.
Baylor and Houston joined Gonzaga and UCLA in the Final Four.
Jared Butler scored 17 points, and Davion Mitchell had 11 assists in a 78-59 Baylor win. The Bears had to wait to see who they would play in the NCAA basketball championship game, as the UCLA-Gonzaga game was headed to overtime.
Drew Timme’s 25 points paved the way for Gonzaga to remain undefeated with the 93-90 victory.
Points were much harder to come by, with Baylor winning 86-70 behind 22 points from Butler, the Final Four MOP.
2020: What Might Have Been
Some conference tournaments didn’t happen due to the global pandemic, so some of the automatic qualifiers went to teams with the best regular-season records.
Florida State (ACC) and Kentucky (SEC) were named the automatic qualifiers in two of the power conferences. No bid was awarded in the Pac-12, Big 12, Big Ten, or the Big East.
The tournament was called off on March 12. Unlike the 2020 event, it won’t be long before there are college basketball games today to bet on.
March Madness FAQs
Who won March Madness?
UConn has won the last two NCAA Division I men’s basketball championships.
How many teams have won the NCAA men's basketball championship?
There have been 36 programs to win the Division I men’s national title.
Which school has won the most NCAA basketball championships?
UCLA has won a record 11 national championships, 10 of which came under the tutelage of John Wooden.
Who won last year's NCAA men's basketball title?
UConn won the title in 2024 despite losing multiple starters to the NBA.
