Here is a comprehensive guide to the NCAA tournament and its history, for college basketball fans of every level.
First, the TL/DR version:
The first NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament was played in 1939.
It had eight teams.
Oregon is the first NCAA tournament champion, beating Ohio State for the title.
The NCAA tournament field grew to 16 teams in 1951, doubled to 32 in 1975 and expanded to its current size of 64 teams in 1985.
An opening-round game was introduced in 2001. Three more games were added to that round in 2011 for the inaugural First Four to take the tournament to its current size of 68 teams
The term “March Madness” was first used in reference to basketball by an Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter, in 1939.
March Madness wouldn’t become associated with the NCAA tournament until Brent Musberger used it during coverage of the 1982 tournament.
One Shining Moment, the anthem of March Madness, was first aired following the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 1987.
It was initially scheduled to run after Super Bowl XXI but the game coverage ran long.
Believe it or not, the NIT (1938) was actually founded before the NCAA tournament.
The NIT field is now made up of teams that miss the NCAA tournament.
UMBC first owned the biggest upset in March Madness history, becoming the first 16-seed to win against a 1-seed. The Retrievers beat No. 1 Virginia 74-54 in 2018. In 2023, FDU joined the club by beating No. 1 Purdue
Duke owns the second-largest comeback and sixth-largest lead blown in NCAA tournament history
The 2001 Blue Devils stormed back to beat Maryland after being down 22 points while Duke’s 1989 team lost despite leading Seton Hall by 18.
Christian Laettner (Duke), is the NCAA tournament’s all-time leading scorer with 407 points. Only 10 players have more than 300 points in March Madness.
Notre Dame’s Austin Carr is not among the 10, but he holds the NCAA tournament’s single-game scoring record with 61 points in a 1970 game against Ohio.
Loyola Marymount is part of the three highest scoring games in NCAA tournament history. The Lions’ 149-115 win over Michigan in 1990 is the highest scoring game in March Madness.
UCLA has the most NCAA men’s basketball national championships with 11, including a stretch of seven titles in a row between 1967 and 1973.
Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski has the most NCAA tournament wins by a single coach (101).
MORE: Browse every NCAA bracket since 1939
When did March Madness start?
The first NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament was in 1939.
Who won the first March Madness?
In 1939, the Oregon Ducks went 29-5 on the season and beat Ohio State 46-33 to win the national title in the first NCAA tournament.
When did March madness expand to 64 teams?
The 1939 tournament featured just eight teams. In 1951, the field doubled to 16, and kept expanding over the next few decades until 1985, when the modern format of a 64-team tournament began. In 2001, after the Mountain West Conference joined Division I and received an automatic bid, pushing the total teams to 65, a single game was added prior to the first round. In 2011, three more teams were added, and with them, three more games to round out the First Four.
Where did the phrase “March Madness” come from?
March Madness was first used to refer to basketball by an Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter, in 1939, but the term didn’t find its way to the NCAA tournament until CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger (who used to be a sportswriter in Chicago) used it during coverage of the 1982 tournament. The term has been synonymous with the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament ever since.
What is One Shining Moment?
One Shining Moment is the anthem of March Madness. The song was written by David Barrett in 1986, and first used for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 1987. After each tournament, the song accompanies a montage of the best moments of March Madness, from every buzzer beater and major upset to reactions of the fans themselves.
Barrett wrote the song as an ode to basketball, but it was first scheduled to run after Super Bowl XXI. After the coverage of the game ran long, the song never aired for the Super Bowl, but CBS producer Doug Towey used it in the following March Madness, where it has lived ever since.
RELATED: The man behind One Shining Moment
Is the NIT part of March Madness?
No. While the National Invitation Tournament (or NIT), is operated by the NCAA, it is separate from the Division I men’s basketball tournament. The NIT was actually founded before the NCAA tournament, in 1938, but did not become as popular as the NCAA tournament. The NIT’s field is usually made up of the top Division I teams that did not receive an invitation to the NCAA tournament.
What is the biggest March Madness comeback?
With 6:12 in the first half of a 2012 First Four game, BYU trailed Iona by 25 points, 49-24. The Cougars rallied to win 78-72 for the largest deficit overcome to win an NCAA tournament game.
The largest rally outside the First Four came in 2001, when Duke was down by 22 points, 39-17, to Maryland in the Final Four yet won 95-84.
Who has scored the most points in March?
Christian Laettner is the player who has scored the most points in an NCAA tournament career, with 407. From 1989 to 1992, Laettner played in an unprecedented 23 NCAA tournament games (reminder, one team can only play six games per year if they make it to the title game, i.e. 24 total throughout a four-year period), while averaging 17.7 points per game.
Only 10 players have eclipsed the 300-point mark during NCAA tournament play:
Points
Player
Team
Years
Games
PPG
407
Christian Laettner
Duke
1989-92
23
17.7
358
Elvin Hayes
Houston
1966-68
13
27.5
328
Danny Manning
Kansas
1985-88
16
20.5
325
Tyler Hansbrough
North Carolina
2006-09
17
19.1
324
Oscar Robertson
Cincinnati
1958-60
10
32.4
308
Glen Rice
Michigan
1986-89
13
23.7
304
Lew Alcindor
UCLA
1967-69
12
25.3
303
Bill Bradley
Princeton
1963-65
9
33.7
303
Corliss Williamson
Arkansas
1993-95
15
20.2
301
Drew Timme
Gonzaga
2021-23
13
23.2
Oscar Robertson’s entry on that list is especially impressive, as Robertson played less than half the games that Laettner did, but finished with 80 percent of Laettner’s point total.
What is the highest scoring March Madness game ever?
The highest scoring game in NCAA tournament history came on March 18, 1990, when Loyola Marymount beat Michigan by a final score of 149-115 to total 264 points. That score is miles ahead of the second place total of 234, also set by Loyola Marymount.
RELATED: Breaking down the highest scoring games in NCAA March Madness history
Here is the full leaderboard:
Points
Winning team
Score
Losing team
Score
Year
264
Loyola Marymount
149
Michigan
115
1990
234
Loyola Marymount
119
Wyoming
115
1988
232
UNLV
131
Loyola Marymount
110
1990
227
Iowa
121
Notre Dame
106
1970
225
Houston
119
Notre Dame
106
1971
223 (OT)
Arizona
114
UNLV
109
1976
221
Arkansas
120
Loyola Marymount
101
1989
220
North Carolina
123
Loyola Marymount
97
1988
216
UNLV
121
San Francisco
95
1977
216 (2OT)
West Virginia
111
Wake Forest
105
2005
Who scored the most points in a March Madness game?
Notre Dame’s Austin Carr holds the record for the most points in an NCAA tournament game, with 61 against Ohio in 1970. Carr was a machine for the Fighting Irish and owns three of the top five single-game NCAA tournament scoring performances.
To get an idea of how impressive his performance was, we rewatched that game to see how Carr scored every one of his record-setting 61 points.
Here is the list of the top 10 single-game scoring performances:
Points
Player
Team
Opponent
Year
61
Austin Carr
Notre Dame
Ohio
1970
58
Bill Bradley
Princeton
Wichita State
1965
56
Oscar Robertson
Cincinnati
Arkansas
1958
52
Austin Carr
Notre Dame
Kentucky
1970
52
Austin Carr
Notre Dame
TCU
1971
50
David Robinson
Navy
Michigan
1987
49
Elvin Hayes
Houston
Loyola Chicago
1968
48
Hal Lear
Temple
SMU
1956
47
Austin Carr
Notre Dame
Houston
1971
46
Dave Corzine
DePaul
Louisville
1978
What team has the most NCAA tournament appearances?
There have been 86 NCAA tournaments since 1939, and there are five schools that have been to more than half of them. Kentucky has the most NCAA tournament appearances with 62*, followed by North Carolina with 53.
Here is the full list of the top 10 teams:
Appearances
Team
First appearance
Most recent appearance
62*
Kentucky
1942
2025
54
North Carolina
1941
2025
52*
Kansas
1940
2025
51*
UCLA
1950
2025
47
Duke
1955
2025
41
Indiana
1940
2023
40*
Villanova
1942
2022
40*
Louisville
1951
2025
39*
Syracuse
1957
2021
38
Michigan State
1957
2025
37
Notre Dame
1953
2022
*Does not include vacated appearances
Which team has the most NCAA tournament wins?
Here is the full top 10:
Wins
Team
134
North Carolina
132*
Kentucky
126
Duke
113*
Kansas
111*
UCLA
76
Michigan State
70*
UConn
68
Indiana
67
Villanova
66*
Syracuse
61*
Louisville
*Does not include vacated appearances
Who has the most NCAA tournament championships?
Since the tournament’s inception, no team has won more than UCLA, which has 11, 10 of which came a span of 12 years from 1964 to 1975.
Who has won every NCAA tournament?
Here is the list of every men’s basketball national championship since the NCAA tournament first started in 1939.
How can I find more March Madness records?
You can find the most recent March Madness record books on NCAA.org. The Final Four record books are here.
