The NCAA tournament for women’s college basketball recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. The first tournament was held in 1982 as Louisiana Tech won the national championship in Norfolk, Virginia.
More than four decades years later, there are still countless programs searching for a first national title. In this year’s Final Four in Dallas, South Carolina is the only former champion, having won in 2017 and 2022. Virginia Tech is in the Final Four for the first time, LSU is back for the first time since 2008, and Iowa is in the national semifinals for the first time in three decades.
If South Carolina repeats as champs, the Gamecocks will join Baylor and Stanford in the group of three-time national title winners. And should LSU win, coach Kim Mulkey would be the first in the sport to lead two different programs to a national championship. She also won a title as a player (1982) and assistant coach (1988) with Louisiana Tech, and coached Baylor to all three of its titles.
But which team has the most national championships?
That crown belongs to the UConn Huskies, who have won an astounding 11 titles under longtime coach Geno Auriemma. All of those championships came between 1995 and 2016, and the Huskies had six teams during that stretch that went undefeated. UConn dominated the sport for two decades with players like Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Tina Charles and Breanna Stewart.
Behind UConn is its longtime rival, Tennessee, which has won eight titles. All of those teams were coached by the legendary Pat Summitt. She won her first championship in 1987 and her last in 2008 — a team that was led by Candace Parker. The Lady Vols haven’t been back to the Final Four since.
Baylor and Stanford have each won three, while South Carolina, Notre Dame, Louisiana Tech and USC each have two.
And then several programs have just one championship: Texas A&M, Maryland, Purdue, North Carolina, Texas Tech, Texas, and Old Dominion.
