Winningest NCAA Basketball Programs 1971 - 2022

['72 Orange]

Below is a link to a dynamic graph that shows the progress of the top 10 winningest NCAA basketball programs (regular season only) since 1971. As the years go by you see programs like Penn, Long Beach St., Marquette, St. Johns, San Francisco etc.. come and go, move up and down in the rankings. Syracuse makes its first appearance during the 1976 season; vaults into the #3 position in the early 1990's, fall out in the mid 1990's and then jump back up to #3 at the end of the decade. We finished in the #5 position with 1,211 regular season wins behind the classic Blue Bloods:

1,332 - No Carolina
1,304 - Kansas
1,295 - Kentucky
1,280 - Duke

The best is that UConn does not show up anytime in the top 10 going back to 1971!
dynamic graph

 

[Sherman20]

T

Below is a link to a dynamic graph that shows the progress of the top 10 winningest NCAA basketball programs (regular season only) since 1971. As the years go by you see programs like Penn, Long Beach St., Marquette, St. Johns, San Francisco etc.. come and go, move up and down in the rankings. Syracuse makes its first appearance during the 1976 season; vaults into the #3 position in the early 1990's, fall out in the mid 1990's and then jump back up to #3 at the end of the decade. We finished in the #5 position with 1,211 regular season wins behind the classic Blue Bloods:

1,332 - No Carolina
1,304 - Kansas
1,295 - Kentucky
1,280 - Duke

The best is that UConn does not show up anytime in the top 10 going back to 1971!
dynamic graph

We’re a top 10 program over the past 50
Years. That’s why a solid coaching hire should be able to get this program back on track quickly.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

T

We’re a top 10 program over the past 50
Years. That’s why a solid coaching hire should be able to get this program back on track quickly.

If you are going by total regular season Ws sure. We have been consistently good. Not many bad seasons. But for good seasons we aren't top 10.

During that span we have less NCAA Champs than UCLA, Kentucky, UNC, Duke, Indiana, UConn, Kansas, Louisville, Nova, Florida, Michigan State, and NC State. Also we have the same amount of titles and Final Fours but less title games than Michigan.

That is 13 teams with better highs. A few of them had more lows than SU but wouldn't you give that up for those highs?

 

[dasher]

If you are going by total regular season Ws sure. We have been consistently good. Not many bad seasons. But for good seasons we aren't top 10.

During that span we have less NCAA Champs than UCLA, Kentucky, UNC, Duke, Indiana, UConn, Kansas, Louisville, Nova, Florida, Michigan State, and NC State. Also we have the same amount of titles and Final Fours but less title games than Michigan.

That is 13 teams with better highs. A few of them had more lows than SU but wouldn't you give that up for those highs?

I would not put Florida or N.C. State ahead of us because they have two titles. UConn is a interesting one. From 71 to 90, they were horrible. 3 losing seasons in the past decade. Along with 4 titles.

 

[GooseMutt]

Ahhh, glory days

 

[MDCuse]

T

We’re a top 10 program over the past 50
Years. That’s why a solid coaching hire should be able to get this program back on track quickly.

The history is there but the further we go from those perennial top 25 teams, the harder it is to convince kids about the "history" of the program.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I would not put Florida or N.C. State ahead of us because they have two titles. UConn is a interesting one. From 71 to 90, they were horrible. 3 losing seasons in the past decade. Along with 4 titles.

During the 64+ team era (1985+) I would put it as:

Final Four Programs
1. Duke- 5 titles, 4 additional NCGs, 4 additional FFs
2. UNC- 4 titles, 1 additional NCG, 7 additional FFs
3. Kentucky- 3 titles, 2 additional NCGs, 3 additional FFs
4. UConn- 4 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 1 additional FF

Elite 8 Programs
5. Kansas- 2 titles, 3 additional NCGs, 5 additional FFs
6. Nova- 3 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
7. Florida- 2 titles, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
8. Michigan- 1 title, 4 additional NCGs, 0 additional FFs

Sweet 16 Programs
9. Michigan State- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 6 additional FFs
10. Louisville- 2 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
11. SU- 1 title, 2 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
12. UCLA- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 3 additional FFs
13. Zona- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
14. Indiana- 1 tile, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
15. Arkansas- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
16. UNLV- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF


If Nova wins it all I would put them 4th. If Kansas wins it all I would put them #3. Duke is set as my #1 no matter what happens.

 

[CU44SE]

During the 64+ team era (1985+) I would put it as:

Final Four Programs
1. Duke- 5 titles, 4 additional NCGs, 4 additional FFs
2. UNC- 4 titles, 1 additional NCG, 7 additional FFs
3. Kentucky- 3 titles, 2 additional NCGs, 3 additional FFs
4. UConn- 4 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 1 additional FF

Elite 8 Programs
5. Kansas- 2 titles, 3 additional NCGs, 5 additional FFs
6. Nova- 3 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
7. Florida- 2 titles, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
8. Michigan- 1 title, 4 additional NCGs, 0 additional FFs

Sweet 16 Programs
9. Michigan State- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 6 additional FFs
10. Louisville- 2 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
11. SU- 1 title, 2 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
12. UCLA- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 3 additional FFs
13. Zona- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
14. Indiana- 1 tile, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
15. Arkansas- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
16. UNLV- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF

If Nova or Kansas win it all I would put them #3. Duke is set as my #1 no matter what happens.

oh come on, didnt you hear. UNC and Duke are overrated, they have never met in the tournament until this week!!

 

[Alsacs]

During the 64+ team era (1985+) I would put it as:

Final Four Programs
1. Duke- 5 titles, 4 additional NCGs, 4 additional FFs
2. UNC- 4 titles, 1 additional NCG, 7 additional FFs
3. Kentucky- 3 titles, 2 additional NCGs, 3 additional FFs
4. UConn- 4 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 1 additional FF

Elite 8 Programs
5. Kansas- 2 titles, 3 additional NCGs, 5 additional FFs
6. Nova- 3 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
7. Florida- 2 titles, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
8. Michigan- 1 title, 4 additional NCGs, 0 additional FFs

Sweet 16 Programs
9. Michigan State- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 6 additional FFs
10. Louisville- 2 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
11. SU- 1 title, 2 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
12. UCLA- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 3 additional FFs
13. Zona- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
14. Indiana- 1 tile, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
15. Arkansas- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
16. UNLV- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF

If Nova or Kansas win it all I would put them #3. Duke is set as my #1 no matter what happens.

Good job this is a good scope of the situation.

 

[Alsacs]

 

[SWC75]

A look at "The Streak"

In the early 60’s Syracuse basketball was at a very low ebb. They set an NCAA record by losing 27 games in a row. The team was mostly used by SU football players to keep in shape during the winter. When Manley Field House was built as an indoor practice facility for the football team, the school...

syracusefan.com

 

[HRE Otto IV]

If you go back to 1980 then you have to move a few teams ahead of SU in my list.

UNC gets a title and also another NCG which makes UNC vs Duke this year the tie breaker for #1
Kentucky gets another FF
Louisville gets another title plus another 2 FFs which would move them up to 5th
Indiana gets another title moving ahead of SU to 8th
UCLA gets another NCG moving ahead of SU
SU goes down to #13
Georgetown gets a title and another title game too which moves them 14th right behind us
UNLV falls out

 

[PoppyHart]

For someone my age, going back to 1971, for incoming Freshman recruits, would be equivalent to going back to 1941 when I was a freshman. I’m not THAT old!

At some point we have to be honest and accept the changing landscape, give deference to the recent past (10-15 years), and project into the future for at least 5-10 years with programs like Zaga and Nova, among others, that are uniquely positioned for stability or growth.

The Beatles are an all-time great. I’m sure if we used all-time album sales, or number of #10 singles, they would never be displaced on the music lists. But, if a band is akin to a “program”, they wouldn’t crack the top 100 for people under 20.

 

[Cuseball]

During the 64+ team era (1985+) I would put it as:

Final Four Programs
1. Duke- 5 titles, 4 additional NCGs, 4 additional FFs
2. UNC- 4 titles, 1 additional NCG, 7 additional FFs
3. Kentucky- 3 titles, 2 additional NCGs, 3 additional FFs
4. UConn- 4 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 1 additional FF

Elite 8 Programs
5. Kansas- 2 titles, 3 additional NCGs, 5 additional FFs
6. Nova- 3 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
7. Florida- 2 titles, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
8. Michigan- 1 title, 4 additional NCGs, 0 additional FFs

Sweet 16 Programs
9. Michigan State- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 6 additional FFs
10. Louisville- 2 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
11. SU- 1 title, 2 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
12. UCLA- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 3 additional FFs
13. Zona- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
14. Indiana- 1 tile, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
15. Arkansas- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
16. UNLV- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF


If Nova wins it all I would put them 4th. If Kansas wins it all I would put them #3. Duke is set as my #1 no matter what happens.

Not bad. Very good work.

A couple comments.
Uconn Is not ahead of Kansas. A couple additional titles does not surpass the 5 extra final fours and the continual excellence of Kansas.

Louisville does not have two titles and does not have 2 final fours. They have been stripped from the records. They fall further down the list.

I would have Mich State above Florida and Michigan.

Cuse!

 

[TinyManInside]

During the 64+ team era (1985+) I would put it as:

Final Four Programs
1. Duke- 5 titles, 4 additional NCGs, 4 additional FFs
2. UNC- 4 titles, 1 additional NCG, 7 additional FFs
3. Kentucky- 3 titles, 2 additional NCGs, 3 additional FFs
4. UConn- 4 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 1 additional FF

Elite 8 Programs
5. Kansas- 2 titles, 3 additional NCGs, 5 additional FFs
6. Nova- 3 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
7. Florida- 2 titles, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
8. Michigan- 1 title, 4 additional NCGs, 0 additional FFs

Sweet 16 Programs
9. Michigan State- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 6 additional FFs
10. Louisville- 2 titles, 0 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
11. SU- 1 title, 2 additional NCGs, 2 additional FFs
12. UCLA- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 3 additional FFs
13. Zona- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 2 additional FFs
14. Indiana- 1 tile, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
15. Arkansas- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF
16. UNLV- 1 title, 1 additional NCG, 1 additional FF


If Nova wins it all I would put them 4th. If Kansas wins it all I would put them #3. Duke is set as my #1 no matter what happens.

So basically we've underachieved relative to the sum total of winning that we've done. I'm not sure I wanted to see this data.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Not bad. Very good work.

A couple comments.
Uconn Is not ahead of Kansas. A couple additional titles does not surpass the 5 extra final fours and the continual excellence of Kansas.

Louisville does not have two titles and does not have 2 final fours. They have been stripped from the records. They fall further down the list.

I would have Mich State above Florida and Michigan.

Cuse!

I was going off of NCAAT performance. If you add regular season then Kansas goes ahead of UConn.

Lol for Louisville

Michigan State is hard to judge. Michigan has played in the NCG 5x, but State has 3 more FFs. Florida has 3 less FFs but 1 more title. I think a title is worth more than 3 FFs. Although winning back to back isn't as great. Another thing that hurts Michigan State IMO is they haven't won since 2000. These kids playing weren't even alive to remember it. If we are adding regular season though then Michigan State moves ahead of those 2.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

So basically we've underachieved relative to the sum total of winning that we've done. I'm not sure I wanted to see this data.

Maybe, maybe not. The regular season W data was including another 14 seasons before 1985. I like to go by 1985 as it was the 1st full NCAAT. Everyone had to win 6 games for a title.

 

[Sherman20]

I would not put Florida or N.C. State ahead of us because they have two titles. UConn is a interesting one. From 71 to 90, they were horrible. 3 losing seasons in the past decade. Along with 4 titles.

Exactly. Florida and NC State aren’t anywhere near as historically great programs as Syracuse. Florida had a great class that gelled really well and decided to run it back after they won the title. Highly unusual. And one of NC State’s titles is widely considered one of the biggest miracles in CBB history. I’d even put Maryland ahead of NC State and Florida in the CBB hierarchy. Syracuse is tied for 10th for most Final Fours (at 6) with several other programs. If you look at the modern 64-team tourney era (post 1984), Syracuse is easily among the top 10 programs in most metrics.

 

[Sherman20]

So close to replacing Indiana on this list with two (1987 and 2003). Ugh. Keith @&@#** Smart!

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Exactly. Florida and NC State aren’t anywhere near as historically great programs as Syracuse. Florida had a great class that gelled really well and decided to run it back after they won the title. Highly unusual. And one of NC State’s titles is widely considered one of the biggest miracles in CBB history. I’d even put Maryland ahead of NC State and Florida in the CBB hierarchy. Syracuse is tied for 10th for most Final Fours (at 6) with several other programs. If you look at the modern 64-team tourney era (post 1984), Syracuse is easily among the top 10 programs in most metrics.

We are not easily Top 10. Look at my post. Florida has 1 other title game and 3 FFs overall besides the 2 titles. They have the same amount of FFs and NCGs in the modern era of the NCAAT as SU (1985 on). Why should SU be ahead of them? How in the heck is Maryland and their 2 FFs in back to back years better than Florida?

Since 1985 SU is tied for 6th in FFs. Four of those teams we are tied with have either more titles or more NCGs. Then you have Louisville with one less FF but 1 more title. So you can easily put SU 11th since 1985.

As for the regular season SU only has 4 conference tournament titles over than span, and only 9 regular season conference champs. We were the Big East bride maids every year, that does not make up for NCAA titles. For comparison Louisville has 13 (4 Big East) and 10 (3 Big East) respectfully. Florida is at 4 and 7. Sorry but our 2 more conference champs do not equal a 2nd National Title.

I put us ahead of UCLA. They are also at 4 and 9. Should they move ahead of us? What about Zona? They have 1 less FF but they also have twice as many conf tourney Ws (8) and nearly 2x regular champs (17). One could easily argue that regular season success makes up for our 1 more Final Four, especially when that one extra Final Four was a fluke run.

I am not trying to knock our success. We have had plenty of it. Most schools would kill for our modern era (since 1985) history. But I also am trying to be fair. If we aren't winning our conference or conference tournament, IMO you can't jump teams with better NCAAT performance. We are consistently good which is hard to do. But we aren't often great. We are always here but never there.

 

[OrangeCrush22]

If you are going by total regular season Ws sure. We have been consistently good. Not many bad seasons. But for good seasons we aren't top 10.

During that span we have less NCAA Champs than UCLA, Kentucky, UNC, Duke, Indiana, UConn, Kansas, Louisville, Nova, Florida, Michigan State, and NC State. Also we have the same amount of titles and Final Fours but less title games than Michigan.

That is 13 teams with better highs. A few of them had more lows than SU but wouldn't you give that up for those highs?

60% of all final four teams ever are made up for 8 schools and Syracuse is one of them.

 

[Eric15]

A couple additional titles does not surpass the 5 extra final fours and the continual excellence of Kansas.

Kansas is kind of like the Ohio State football of college basketball. It feels as if they're more or less the 2nd or 3rd best team in the country every single year. But for some reason they don't seem to cash in many national titles in comparison to their success. Even their 2008 title (their only one in the past 34 years) was kind of a miracle in that Memphis had to miss an insane amount of free throws to blow that.

 

[tbonezone]

Does JB even understand that the longer he sticks around accomplishing nothing the more his legacy fades ? someone close needs to talk to him and say HEY...it's over. stand down soldier.
time to retire.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Not bad. Very good work.

A couple comments.
Uconn Is not ahead of Kansas. A couple additional titles does not surpass the 5 extra final fours and the continual excellence of Kansas.

Louisville does not have two titles and does not have 2 final fours. They have been stripped from the records. They fall further down the list.

I would have Mich State above Florida and Michigan.

Cuse!

Would you rather have a vacated national championship or no national championship?