Past March Madness winners: full list of NCAA tournament champions

March Madness is upon us, as Villanova looks to defend last year’s title, North Carolina aims to avenge their title-game loss, and a host of other contenders look to etch their names into the history books.

Villanva and North Carolina are both No. 1 seeds in this year's tournament, along with Kansas and Gonzaga. 

The tournament begins in earnest on Thursday. The First Four was played earlier this week. 

A handful of teams have dominated recent history. Though Villanova won last year, Duke and UConn have both won two national titles since 2010. Kentucky and Louisville have also won in the last few years, while North Carolina won in 2009. 

The full list of past NCAA champions is as follows, led by 11-time winners UCLA.

Past champions

1939: Oregon
1940: Indiana
1941: Wisconsin
1942: Stanford
1943: Wyoming
1944: Utah
1945: Oklahoma A&M
1946: Oklahoma A&M
1947: Holy Cross
1948: Kentucky
1949: Kentucky
1950: CCNY
1951: Kentucky
1952: Indiana
1953: Indiana
1954: La Salle
1955: San Francisco
1956: San Francisco
1957: North Carolina
1958: Kentucky
1959: California
1960: Ohio State
1961: Cincinnati
1962: Cincinnati
1963: Loyola-Chicago
1964: UCLA
1965: UCLA
1966: Texas Western
1967: UCLA
1968: UCLA
1969: UCLA
1970: UCLA
1971: UCLA
1972: UCLA
1973: UCLA
1974: NC State
1975: UCLA
1976: Indiana
1977: Marquette
1978: Kentucky
1979: Michigan State
1980: Louisville
1981: Indiana
1982: North Carolina
1983: NC State
1984: Georgetown
1985: Villanova
1986: Louisville
1987: Indiana
1988: Kansas
1989: Michigan
1990: UNLV
1991: Duke
1992: Duke
1993: North Carolina
1994: Arkansas
1995: UCLA
1996: Kentucky
1997: Arizona
1998: Kentucky
1999: Connecticut
2000: Michigan State
2001: Duke
2002: Maryland
2003: Syracuse
2004: Connecticut
2005: North Carolina
2006: Florida
2007: Florida
2008: Kansas
2009: North Carolina
2010: Duke
2011: Connecticut
2012: Kentucky
2013: Louisville
2014: Connecticut
2015: Duke
2016: Villanova