History of the Men's NCAA Final Four

The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, has a basketball tournament that begins each March since 1939. Teams can automatically qualify for the tournament by winning their conference tournament at the end of the regular season or by being the regular season champion if that league has no conference tournament. At-large teams are then chosen by committee to fill out the field, teams are seeded in brackets and play commences at various sites across the U.S. The four teams that advance from each bracket will meet at a pre-determined site to decide the champion in a pair of semi-final games and a final contest--these last three games have long been termed the "Final Four."

  1. Appearances

    • Two schools have dominated the NCAA Men's Final Four in terms of appearances. The University of California at Los Angeles and North Carolina have made 18 trips to the Final Four as of 2009. Duke University is second in this category with 14 appearances while perennial powerhouses Kansas and Kentucky have gone a total of 13 times each. Ohio State with ten Final Fours is the only other school with double digit appearances. Indiana and Louisville are tied with eight apiece, while Oklahoma State and Michigan State have each gone to this event on seven separate occasions.

    Titles

    • UCLA has won the Final Four 11 times, easily the most of any institution. Under Coach John Wooden, their basketball squad went to and won the Final Four ten times during the span from 1964 through 1975. Kentucky has been crowned the men's champion seven times while Indiana and North Carolina have five titles between them. Kansas and Duke are the only other schools that have won both of their Final Four contests and emerged with the title more than twice, accomplishing this feat three times.

    Upset

    • The lowest seeded teams to ever reach a Final Four as of 2009 are Louisiana State University, which did so in 1986, and George Mason, which made it that far in 2006. However, neither team was able to win the event. The lowest seeded team to make it to the championship game was Villanova in 1985, which then went on to secure the title with a stunning 66-64 victory over the top seeded Georgetown Hoyas. Villanova managed to hit 22 of their 28 field goal attempts and 22 of 27 free throws. This Final Four was also significant in that it contained three teams from the Big East Conference--Georgetown, Villanova and St. John's. The Villanova victory is considered the biggest upset ever in the Final Four.

    1966

    • In one of the most important Final Fours in terms of what it meant on levels outside of sports, the all-black Texas Western Miners defeated both Utah and then Kentucky to claim the championship. Coached by Don Haskins, the Miners took on an all-white Kentucky squad coached by Adolph Rupp. The final score was 72-65, with Bobby Joe Hill leading Texas Western with 20 points. Texas Western almost did not make it to this Final Four. Kansas guard Jo Jo White hit a 25 foot jump shot to apparently end the team's run in the game leading up to the Final Four, but was ruled out of bounds by a referee in a contest that Texas Western eventually won 81-80 in two overtimes.

    1979

    • The Final Four that really gave the NCAA Tournament new meaning and gave it huge popularity was the 1979 event held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Michigan State was led by Earvin "Magic" Johnson, a charismatic guard that was six foot eight, while undefeated Indiana State had Larry Bird, a sharp-shooting and excellent passing forward. In the semi-finals Michigan State destroyed Penn, the last Ivy League school to make it to a Final Four, by some 34 points. Bird's 35 points helped his club get by DePaul by two. In the most watched Final Four game ever, the nation saw Bird struggle mightily against Johnson's team as Michigan State won handily. Johnson had 24 points to Bird's 19; the pair went on to continue their rivalry in the NBA.