We are ranking the top 10 March Madness Champions. Almost no champion faces the same problems or has the same advantages as anyone else. However, a rankings system has to take into account the state of the sport during the championship season and try to keep a thread that connects the criteria.
That is for sure true for the winners of the NCAA Tournament bracket. When making a list of the best March Madness winners of the last 30 years, you look at winners from the senior-heavy seasons, the one-and-done era, and the time when the best high school prospects didn’t even go to college. With the portal, you will now be able to take into account schools that are currently in the NIL format and a free-agent approach to transfers. That doesn’t even take into account how the tournament is run now, with the pod system and true seeding. Oh, and there was a tournament that was canceled and another that was held in a sort of bubble with few people.
That’s what makes ranking these champions so fun: you get to go back in time and think about what was going on in their lives when they did one of the best things they ever did. Their one chance to shine.
So, here is a list of the top 10 March Madness Champions.
March Madness Champions: #1 – Duke Blue Devils, 1992
March Madness Champions: #1 – Duke Blue Devils, 1992
The top team is the oldest team on this list. The Duke Blue Devils returned most of their 1991 championship team. Mike Krzyzewski won his second national championship thanks to Christian Laettner, Grant Hill, and Bobby Hurley, who served as the cornerstone of one of the most unified teams over the previous 30 years. In the final act, the Blue Devils defeated the Fab Five Michigan Wolverines 71-51 in the national championship game. Of course, Laettner’s shot to beat Kentucky in the East Region final was the most famous thing about this team.
March Madness Champions: #2 – Kentucky Wildcats, 1996
March Madness Champions: #2 – Kentucky Wildcats, 1996
This season, Rick Pitino’s Wildcats went 34-2. The only teams to beat them were John Calipari’s UMass team (whom Kentucky would go on to beat in the Final Four) and Mississippi State in the SEC championship game (whom Kentucky would also beat in the Final Four). The Cats were led by Tony Delk, Antoine Walker, and Walter McCarty. Ron Mercer, Derek Anderson, and Mark Pope were also big parts of the team. Kentucky blew through the Midwest Region, beating Wake Forest (where Tim Duncan played) and UMass/Syracuse to win the national championship.
March Madness Champions: #3 – Duke Blue Devils, 2001
March Madness Champions: #3 – Duke Blue Devils, 2001
This Blue Devils team had so much talent it was crazy. Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, and Nate James led the Blue Devils to their third national championship. This was the end of a four-year stretch in which Duke went 133-15. They were great because: Williams won the NABC Player of the Year award, and Battier won the Naismith and Wooden awards. Yes, there were two players of the year on the same team. Three of their four losses that season were by two points or less, and their comeback against Maryland at the height of their rivalry is still one of the best moments in program history.
March Madness Champions: #4 – Kentucky Wildcats, 2012
March Madness Champions: #4 – Kentucky Wildcats, 2012
Anthony Davis was the leader of this group of Wildcats. He had one of the best “one-and-done” seasons ever. Kentucky only lost twice all season: to Indiana on a last-second shot and to Vanderbilt in a strange way in the SEC championship game. Davis was the best defender on the team. He basically shut down the paint and got every rebound. This gave Doron Lamb, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Terrence Jones, Marquis Teague, and Darius Miller the freedom to take risks on defense and trust their shots on offense. This Kentucky team wasn’t as strong as some of their other championship teams, but they were one of the best at defense.
March Madness Champions: #5 – UConn Huskies, 1999
March Madness Champions: #5 – UConn Huskies, 1999
It’s not often that two teams play each other all year and then meet in the national championship game. Baylor and Gonzaga will do this in 2021, and so will UConn and Duke in 1999. That season, UConn went 34-2. Khalid El-Amin, Ricky Moore, Kevin Freeman, and Jake Voskuhl, led by Richard Hamilton’s 21.5 points per game, were also on the team. The Huskies beat 12 teams that were ranked during the season. Even though they only lost two games and won the Big East regular season and tournament, they were sent to the West Region and had to play in Denver and Phoenix. Jim Calhoun used the lack of respect as a selling point and led the team to its first Final Four, where they met Duke in the championship game. That game was perfect. Hamilton beat Duke’s Trajan Langdon by a score of 27-25, and the Huskies won their first title with a score of 77-74.
#6 – North Carolina Tar Heels, 2009
March Madness Champions: #6 – North Carolina Tar Heels, 2009
The championship for the 2017 Tar Heels is called “Redemption,” but the 2009 Heels were all about dominating. In the 2008 Final Four, Kansas blew North Carolina out of the gym, but everyone came back to finish the job and win the championship, which they did. Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Danny Green ran away with the regular season and then smoked the tournament, winning every game by at least 12 points. In the championship game in Detroit, they beat Michigan State, making Roy Williams’ best Tar Heels team the winners.
#7 – Baylor Bears, 2021
March Madness Champions: #7 – Baylor Bears, 2021
All season, Gonzaga’s perfect record got most of the attention, but these Bears were right there with the Zags. No other champion on this list had to go through as much as they did. Remember that this was the COVID season, where games were played in empty arenas and schedules were subject to change at any moment. Due to COVID problems, Baylor had to cancel or move 10 games. In February, the Bears program was basically shut down for two weeks. Baylor’s first loss of the season came in their first game after the COVID shutdown, which was against Kansas. Once the tournament started, Baylor’s physical play helped them get to the championship game, where they beat unbeaten Gonzaga. The trio of MaCio Teague, Davion Mitchell and Jared Butler were suffocating that season.
#8 – Villanova Wildcats, 2018
March Madness Champions: #8 – Villanova Wildcats, 2018
This Villanova team had one of the best offenses ever to win a national championship. National Player of the Year Jalen Brunson led a lineup with Mikal Bridges, Donte DiVincenzo, Omari Spellman, Phil Booth and Eric Paschall were so efficient and could beat you in a variety of ways, including peppering threes from anywhere. The Wildcats would begin the season 22-1 before hitting some turbulence late in the season (they lost three games in a six-game stretch in February) (they lost three games in a six-game stretch in February). Nova blew through the tournament. In the Final Four, they beat Kansas and Michigan by a lot and won their third title, and second in three years.
#9 – Florida Gators, 2007
March Madness Champions: #9 – Florida Gators, 2007
This is the last team to win the national title twice in a row. A year after surprising everyone by winning their first title, the Gators ran it back and became the first school since Duke in 1991-1992 to win back-to-back titles. Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Taurean Green, and Lee Humphrey were one of the most cohesive starting units on this list. They got off to a 24-2 start before losing three straight road games at the end of the regular season. Florida got back on track and won the SEC and NCAA tournaments, beating a very good Ohio State Buckeyes team in the finals. In the same year, Florida also beat Ohio State in football to win the national title.
#10 – North Carolina Tar Heels, 2005
March Madness Champions: #10 – North Carolina Tar Heels, 2005
Roy Williams was brought back to his alma mater, North Carolina, to restore its glory, and he did it in just two seasons. The 2004-2005 Tar Heels were led by juniors Raymond Felton, Sean May, and Rashad McCants. They lost their first game of the season to Santa Clara, but then went 33-4 and beat No. 1 Illinois in the final. Ol’ Roy wins his first national title and brings Carolina back to glory just three years after the team had its worst season ever, going 8-20.
Thank you for reading our content on the top 10 March Madness Champions!
