NCAA Basketball: Longest active NCAA Tournament streaks in 2023

Longest active NCAA Tournament streaks

4. Purdue – 8 years

Purdue checks in at No. 4 on the list, albeit 15 years behind third-place Gonzaga.

Matt Painter is still waiting on his first Final Four appearance, but that could change this season as Purdue has the National Player of the Year, Zach Edey, and has earned a No. 1 seed for the first time in 27 years. Painter has a gifted basketball mind and excels at roster-building; the breakthrough in March will come soon enough.

3. Gonzaga – 23 years

Before Mark Few was promoted to head coach in 1999, Gonzaga had made a total of two NCAA Tournaments. Ever. In 24 years as Gonzaga’s head coach, Few has yet to miss the tournament.

The Zags have made the second weekend every year since 2015, including two Elite Eight appearances and two national runner-up finishes. In just over two decades, Few has transformed Gonzaga from a pesky mid-major to a perennial national power.

2. Michigan State – 25 years

Tom Izzo has been at Michigan State for 28 years, with 27 NCAA Tournaments taking place in that span. Like clockwork, the Spartans have gone dancing 25 years in a row. In those 25 appearances, Michigan State has made the Final Four eight times. That works out to a Final Four appearance roughly once every three years under Izzo.

What else is there to say? They call him “Mr. March” for a reason.

1. Kansas – 33 years

Kansas’ current NCAA Tournament streak is the longest in the history of the sport, and it doesn’t seem like it will end anytime soon. The last time the Jayhawks missed the tournament was in 1989, when they were ineligible. Roy Williams left for North Carolina on a streak of 14 straight bids, and Bill Self has yet to miss the NCAA Tournament in his 20 seasons in Lawrence.

Self has won two national championships in his tenure and could be headed for a third this season. If they can pull it off, Kansas would be the first school since Florida in 2006 and 2007 to win back-to-back national championships.

At the time of writing, the status of Self’s health is largely unknown. The school announced that he would miss the Big 12 Tournament after undergoing a medical procedure for an “illness.” Hopefully, he will recover fully and be back on the sidelines for March Madness.