Thursday, April 24, 2014

Indiana - 5 Titles

One of my personal favorites is Indiana University.  They've won a total of five championships in 1940, 1953, 1976, 1981, and 1987.  Though they haven't won in nearly 30 years, they were won the tournament early on (in its second year) and they've had numerous Sweet 16 appearances.  Their current coach, Tom Crean, has been with the program for only a few years, but in that time he has managed to dig the team out of it's rock-bottom 2009 season into a truly amazing team in the 2012-2013 season.  Below is an image of Assembly Hall, which is where the Hoosiers play.


North Carolina - 5 Titles

North Carolina is currently tied with Indiana University in that they also have five championship titles.  North Carolina has had a sweet spot with basketball fans, primarily since Michael Jordan attended prior to his amazing stint in the NBA.  Below is an image of their arena.


Kentucky - 8 Titles

The University of Kentucky currently has eight titles in all.  They recently won in 2012 and even went all the way to the championship game in 2014, but fell to the University of Connecticut.  Below is an image of their arena.  As you can see from the image, Rupp Arena is quite large and they're happy to flaunt their banners.


UCLA - 11 Titles

The NCAA men's basketball tournament is one that has become synonymous with the month of March.  Most often people refer to the excitement during the tournament as March Madness because the majority of it occurs during that month, but it is also called The Big Dance.  This tournament was created in 1939 by Harold Olsen, who was the coach of Ohio State at the time.  Since it's inception, the tournament has produced many national champions.

UCLA currently holds the title for the most wins with eleven in all, even though they haven't claimed champion status since 1995.  Below is an image of Pauley Pavilion, which is the arena in which they play.