With 64 NCAA tournament games in the books, the majority of March Madness is behind us and the fact that we’re now moving into April signifies that we’re in the final stages. As the remaining four undefeated college teams converge in one city, each vying not only for the NCAA national championship title to determine the two teams that will battle it out for that year’s best college team and their place in March Madness history. The last remaining four? You may have heard of them collectively referred to as the Final Four.

Many of these teams will put their names among the iconic Final Four squads that have shaped decades of college basketball tradition and influence where some of the top high school recruits will go next year.

NCAA Teams That Have Advanced to Most Final Fours

As with the Sweet 16 and Elite 8, there are a handful of college programs that have advanced to the Final Four bracket — the fifth round of the tournament — more than any other NCAA Men’s basketball teams. And the names and team colors of these programs aren’t unfamiliar to college basketball fans. Here’s the list of the college teams that have the most Final 4 appearances in NCAA men’s basketball history.

Below is a breakdown of the schools with the most Final Four appearances in NCAA men’s basketball history—a mix of dynasties, legends, and programs that define college hoops in March. Whether you’re filling out your bracket or just brushing up on hoops history, these are the teams that have set the standard when it comes to tournament success.

These top-tier programs, often referred to as “blue bloods,” have not only dominated their conferences but also made consistent noise on the national stage. Names like UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, and Kentucky are staples on this list, their jerseys and logos practically synonymous with March. But newer powerhouses have also started to carve out their own legacy with frequent appearances in the modern tournament era.

Officially some of these NCAA programs have had their appearances vacated due to violations, but we’re ignoring the vacated ones. While we don’t justify whatever happened at this growing list of colleges, the NCAA as a whole doesn’t have a clean record in terms of morals and the fans of these vacated accomplishments will never forget them.

Most Final Four Appearances

At the top of the list is the University of North Carolina who has appeared in the Final Four a record 21 times while the UCLA Bruins are second with 19 appearances in the Final Four, but what’s really interesting is that the Kentucky Wildcats are third on the list with 17 showings.

Why is that interesting? It’s because the UK Wildcats are #1 on the list of teams that have the most Elite Eight appearances. On that particular ranking, Kentucky was #1 with nearly 40 appearances in the Elite Eight while UNC was second on that list with approximately 30 showings. This simply means that UNC advanced from that Round of Eight much more often (20/28) than Kentucky did (17/38).

Even more impressive are the UCLA Bruins who have appeared in 20 Elite Eights and advanced 18 of those times onto the Final Four for a .900 winning percentage. The Bruins most certainly were bolstered by a strong run of fourteen Final Four appearances from 1962-1980 – the majority of which were under legendary Coach John Wooden. It helped that Wooden had two of the top three college basketball players of all-time in Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton. Rounding out the top five are a couple college basketball Blue Bloods: the Duke Blue Devils (16) and Kansas Jayhawks (15).