This is a list of NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four participants.
From the first tournament in 1939 to 1951, the national semifinals were also considered the regional championships, with the national championship held separately a week later. During this period, the tournament was divided into the East and West Regions. From 1952 to 1955, the regional championships were held at four sites, with two designated for the East and two for the West. In 1956, the four regions were given unique names for the first time.
From 1946 to 1981, a third place consolation game was conducted before the national championship game for the losing teams of the national semifinals; the winning team was awarded third place and the losing team was awarded fourth place. In 1982, the NCAA eliminated the game and the two losing teams of the semifinal games are considered tied for third place in the official record book.
At the conclusion of the championship game, one player is awarded the Most Outstanding Player award. Eleven times a player was awarded the MOP without being on the championship team. Five players have won the award twice; one player, Lew Alcindor, won the award three times.
Since 1939, 95 different schools have appeared in at least one Final Four. Four additional schools, Minnesota, Saint Joseph's, UMass, and Western Kentucky, have had their only appearance vacated.
Teams have appeared in the Final Four in consecutive tournaments 42 times. A total of 26 different programs have had consecutive Final Four appearances.
Since 1939, 158 head coaches have appeared in the Final Four. Six additional coaches have had their only Final Four appearance vacated. This table shows non-vacated Final Four appearances and victories by coach; vacated records are shown in parentheses. The Third Place column is blank for coaches whose Final Four appearances were before 1946 or after 1981.
Fifteen coaches have non-vacated Final Four appearances with multiple schools. Of these, 14 have coached two schools and only one, Rick Pitino, has coached three schools. Two additional coaches appeared with multiple schools but had all appearances with one of those schools vacated. Larry Brown appeared with UCLA and Kansas but his only appearance with UCLA school were vacated. John Calipari appeared with UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky, but his only appearances at UMass and Memphis were vacated. Five coaches are still active, with Calipari, Huggins, Larrañaga, and Sampson coaching at a school they have already taken to the Final Four. Pitino is the only coach on this list currently active at a school he has not taken to the Final Four.
Eight head coaches have both played and coached in the Final Four. Dick Harp at Kansas, Hubert Davis at North Carolina and Jon Scheyer at Duke did so at the same school. Dean Smith and Bob Knight are the only two coaches to win a championship as player and coach.
The following table shows Final Four appearance statistics based on teams' conference affiliations contemporaneous to their appearance.
There have been 26 unique conferences appearing in the Final Four, of which 19 are still in existence.
There have been 25 Final Fours with multiple teams from the same conference. In two of these Final Fours, one of the conference team's appearance was later vacated later by the NCAA. The Big Ten has achieved this nine times, with one appearance later vacated, tying them with the Atlantic Coast Conference for non-vacated multi-team Final Four appearances. The Big East is the only conference to have three teams in the Final Four, which was in 1985.
Teams from the same conference have played against each other in nine National Semifinal games. Only three times have teams from the same conference played each other in the National Championship Game.
<small>â Teams played each other in National Semifinal</small>
<small>â¡Teams played each other in National Championship Game</small>
<small>*Ohio State's appearance was vacated by the NCAA</small>
Schools from 37 states, along with the District of Columbia, have appeared in the Final Four. An additional state, Minnesota, had its only appearance vacated.
Eleven Final Fours have featured two teams from the same state. North Carolina and Ohio both have three Final Fours with two teams, and Kentucky is the only other state to more than once. Teams from the same state have played each other four times in a National Semifinal and twice in the National Championship, both times Cincinnati and Ohio State in 1961 and 1962.
<small>â Teams played each other in National Semifinal</small>
<small>â¡Teams played each other in National Championship Game</small>
Fourteen Final Four appearances have been vacated by eleven schools. Two of these schools won the Third Place Game and five schools were the National Runner-Up, with Michigan vacating two runner-up finishes. Only one school, Louisville, has had a national championship vacated.
General
Men's Final Four 2023 Records Book (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
Specific