An review of NCAA tournament history highlights the dominance of “blue blood” programs, while lesser-known schools like Cincinnati and Dayton have also had their moments in the spotlight.
However, Ohio teams faced early exits in the 2025 NCAA Tournaments. The Ohio State University (OSU) women’s team was eliminated at home in the Round of 32, and the low-seeded Xavier and Akron men’s teams lost in the first round.
It’s been 13 years since an Ohio school reached the Final Four, when the OSU men’s team lost a semifinal to Kansas in 2012. The Buckeyes were prominent in the early years, reaching the first national championship game in 1939 and making seven more Final Four appearances through 1968. This included a stretch where OSU and Cincinnati both made the Final Four together. OSU won the championship in 1960 under coach Fred Taylor, with notable players like John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas, and Bob Knight, along with East High School stars Mel Nowell and Joe Roberts. Cincinnati defeated OSU in the 1961 championship game and repeated the feat in 1962.
Only one women’s team from Ohio has reached the Final Four; OSU made it to the 1993 title game, led by current assistant coach Katie Smith.
In broader terms, North Carolina and California have the most men’s Final Four appearances. Eleven states have never had a school make it to the Final Four, and all were shut out again this year. On the women’s side, Connecticut leads with 23 Final Four appearances under head coach Geno Auriemma. A larger number of states (23) have never reached the women’s Final Four, partly due to the tournament’s later start compared to the men’s. Kansas State, a No. 5 seed, is the only team still in contention from that group.