Last Time Kentucky Won Men's NCAA Tournament: Full List of Championships

The Wildcats are dancing into the second weekend of March Madness for the first time since 2019.

The Wildcats celebrate their 2012 national championship. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament is onto weekend No. 2. After four straight days of hoops, brackets have been busted, dreams have made, and the field of 68 has been dwindled down to the Sweet 16.

Of the 16 teams remaining, six (!) are from the SEC, all four No. 1 seeds are still alive, and the biggest "underdog" to make it through the first weekend is No. 10 Arkansas from the West region.

There's also the Kentucky Wildcats, who after a 22-11 season, earned the No. 3 seed in the Midwest region and are back into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.

But when's the last time the Big Blue won the NCAA tournament? Let's take a look:

When Did Kentucky Last Win the NCAA Tournament?

Kentucky last won the NCAA tournament in 2012. The team was led by head coach John Calipari, and also featured some top-tier talent in Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist—among others.

The Wildcats finished the 2011-12 season a remarkable 38-2 and a perfect 16-0 in the SEC. Their only losses came at Indiana in early December and to Vanderbilt in the SEC Championship game. Still, Kentucky went onto the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, and ran through the bracket with relative ease. Their closest wins were two eight-point victories over Louisville in the Final Four and Kansas in the national championship.

The win was monumental not only for Kentucky—who took home its first title since 1998—but also for Calipari, who got the monkey off his back. Despite six Final Four appearances in his career with three different teams, '12 remains Cal's only title in his 32 years as a college head coach.

The Wildcats also had six players selected in the subsequent NBA draft, including Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist as the top two picks. Here's a full look:

Round	Pick	Player	Team
1	1	Anthony Davis	New Orleans Hornets
1	2	Michael Kidd-Gilchirst	Charlotte Bobcats
1	18	Terrance Jones	Houston Rockets
1	29	Marquis Teague	Chicago Bulls
2	42	Doron Lamb	Milwaukee Bucks
2	46	Darius Miller	New Orleans Hornets

Outside of 2012, Kentucky has won the NCAA tournament an additional seven times. Here's a look at all eight titles:

Full List of Kentucky Wildcats NCAA Championships

The Kentucky Wildcats have won the NCAA tournament eight times. Here's a look at all of them—including their seed and region in the bracket and the final score of the title game:

Year	Seed	Region	Final Result
1948	N/A	East	58-42 over Baylor
1949	No. 1	East	46-36 over Oklahoma A&M
1951	N/A	East	68-58 over Kansas
1958	N/A	Mideast	84-72 over Seattle
1978	1Q	Mideast	94-88 over Duke
1996	No. 1	Midwest	76-67 over Syracuse
1998	No. 2	South	78-69 over Utah
2012	No. 1	South	67-59 over Kansas

While Kentucky's first four titles were all won by head coach Adolph Rupp, their final four were won by different coaches—Joe B. Hall in 1978, Rick Pitino in '96, Tubby Smith in '98, and Calipari in '12.

How Kentucky Has Performed Since Its Last Title

Kentucky has been pretty hit or miss since its last national championship in 2012. After losing six players to the NBA that offseason, the Wildcats missed the tournament entirely in '13 before qualifying again in '14—making it all the way back to the title game before a loss to the UConn Huskies.

Overall, the Wildcats have five Sweet Sixteen, four Elite Eight, two Final Four, and one title appearance since last raising the trophy in '12. In the last four years, they’ve had two first-round exits, a second-round exits, and did not make the tournament at all in '21.

So is this the year they make another run at the title?

Can Kentucky Make Another NCAA Title Run?

The short answer is yes, the Wildcats are as poised as ever to compete for a national championship once again. After Calipari left the program last April, Mark Pope took over as head coach and has immediately taken the team to the second weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2019.

An even deeper run, ending in a title, would do wonders not only for a first-year coach in Pope, but a program that's been longing for postseason success.

Let the game(s) begin.

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