Here is a comprehensive guide to the ɬַ tournament and its history, for college basketball fans of every level.
First, the TL/DR version:
- The first ɬַ Division I men's basketball tournament was played in 1939.
- It had eight teams.
- Oregon is the first ɬַ tournament champion, beating Ohio State for the title.
- The ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ tournament.
- The NIT field is now made up of teams that miss the ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ tournament history. The Lions’ 149-115 win over Michigan in 1990 is the highest scoring game in March Madness.
- UCLA has the most ɬַ 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 ɬַ tournament wins by a single coach (101).
MORE: Browse every ɬַ bracket since 1939
When did March Madness start?
The first ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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?
by an Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter, in 1939, but the term didn’t find its way to the ɬַ tournament until (who used to be a sportswriter in Chicago) used it during coverage of the 1982 tournament. The term has been synonymous with the ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ, it is separate from the Division I men's basketball tournament. The NIT was actually founded before the ɬַ tournament, in 1938, but did not become as popular as the ɬַ tournament. The NIT's field is usually made up of the top Division I teams that did not receive an invitation to the ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ tournament career, with 407. From 1989 to 1992, Laettner played in an unprecedented 23 ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ tournament appearances?
There have been 86 ɬַ tournaments since 1939, and there are five schools that have been to more than half of them. Kentucky has the most ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ 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 ɬַ tournament?
Here is the list of every men’s basketball national championship since the ɬַ tournament first started in 1939.
How can I find more March Madness records?
You can find the most recent March Madness record books on ɬַ.org. .
