Life is good at the top of Division I. (USA Today)

Counting NCAA tournament wins since 2000 is little more than a blinkered exercise in setting arbitrary and subjective quantitative goalposts. Much like a good portion of real life. Let’s do this.

                     NCAA tournament         National
                     wins since 2000     titles since 2000
1.   Kansas                38                    1
2.   Michigan State        36                    1
3.   Duke                  34                    2
     North Carolina        34                    2
5.   Florida               33                    2
6.   Connecticut           32                    3 (4 since 1999!)
     Kentucky              32                    1

After Connecticut and Kentucky there’s a big drop — equivalent to one national championship run — before you get down to plucky underdogs like Arizona, Louisville, Syracuse, and Wisconsin. No other program has won more than 25 games. (Full team list at the bottom of this post. Limber up your scrolling finger.) 

On the other side of this coin a clear majority of the programs in Division I — 59 percent — has yet to win a single NCAA tournament game this century. That winless bunch includes the following legacy major-conference programs:

Nebraska
Northwestern
Oregon State
Providence
Rutgers
South Carolina

(“Legacy” meaning “major-conference” is a contested adjective in 2014. By some lights East Carolina is now a major-conference program. The Pirates haven’t won a tournament game in the past 15 years either.)

Not content with already sheltering the only major-conference team to have never even participated in the NCAA tournament, the Big Ten has made it a policy to go out and acquire other programs that haven’t won a tournament game this century. Go figure.

Meanwhile the ACC has pursued a decidedly un-Big-Ten strategy and chosen to acquire teams that do win NCAA tournament games. The results are clear to see:

Based on 2014-15 memberships
                     NCAA tournament
                     wins since 2000
1.   ACC                   176                    
2.   Big Ten               151
3.   SEC                   121
4.   Big 12                118
5.   Pac-12                 96
6.   Big East               77
7.   American               69
8.   Atlantic 10            31
9.   West Coast             25
10.  Mountain West          18
11.  Missouri Valley        17

Rest of Division I         137

In terms of recent March glory the American is UConn and everyone else.  No other major or near-major conference has such a large share of its tournament wins (46 percent) concentrated in just one team.

There have been 143 winning teams in the NCAA tournament since 2000:

                     NCAA tournament
                     wins since 2000
1.   Kansas                38
2.   Michigan State        36
3.   Duke                  34
     North Carolina        34
5.   Florida               33
6.   Connecticut           32
     Kentucky              32
8.   Arizona               25
9.   Louisville            24
     Syracuse              24
     Wisconsin             24
12.  UCLA                  23
13.  Ohio State            19
     Texas                 19
15.  Butler                17
     Illinois              17
     Maryland              17
18.  Gonzaga               16
     Memphis               16
     Pitt                  16
21.  Xavier                15
22.  Oklahoma              13
     Marquette             13
     Tennessee             13*
     Villanova             13
26.  Indiana               12
     Purdue                12
     West Virginia         12
29.  Oklahoma State        11
     Stanford              11
31.  Georgetown            10
     Michigan              10
33.  Cincinnati             9
     Missouri               9
     Oregon                 9
36.  Baylor                 8
     Iowa State             8
     Washington             8
     NC State               8*
     VCU                    8*
41.  Georgia Tech           7
     LSU                    7
     Wichita State          7
44.  Boston College         6
     Kansas State           6
     Notre Dame             6
     Temple                 6
     Texas A&M              6
     USC                    6
     Wake Forest            6
51.  Alabama                5
     George Mason           5
     Miami                  5
     San Diego State        5
     Southern Illinois      5
     Tulsa                  5
     Vanderbilt             5
58.  Cal                    4
     Creighton              4
     Dayton                 4
     Kent State             4
     Mississippi State      4
     Nevada                 4
     Saint Joseph's         4
     Utah                   4
     Brigham Young          4*
     Western Kentucky       4*
68.  Auburn                 3
     Davidson               3
     Florida State          3
     Milwaukee              3
     Ole Miss               3
     Ohio                   3
     Saint Louis            3
     Seton Hall             3
     Siena                  3
     UAB                    3
     UNLV                   3
     Virginia               3
     Washington State       3
     La Salle               3*
     Saint Mary's           3*
     Siena                  3*
84.  Arizona State          2
     Bradley                2
     Bucknell               2
     Cornell                2
     Florida Gulf Coast     2
     Harvard                2
     Murray State           2
     New Mexico             2
     Northern Iowa          2
     Pacific                2
     Penn State             2
     Richmond               2
     Morehead State         2*
     Northwestern State     2*
     South Florida          2*
     Vermont                2*
     UNC Asheville          2**
101. Arkansas               1
     Central Michigan       1
     Charlotte              1
     Cleveland State        1
     Colorado               1
     Colorado State         1
     DePaul                 1
     Fresno State           1
     George Washington      1
     Georgia                1
     Georgia State          1
     Hampton                1
     Indiana State          1
     Iowa                   1
     Lehigh                 1
     Manhattan              1
     Mercer                 1
     Minnesota              1
     Montana                1
     Norfolk State          1
     North Dakota State     1
     Old Dominion           1
     Pepperdine             1
     St. John's             1
     San Diego              1
     Stephen F. Austin      1
     UNC Wilmington         1
     Utah State             1
     Virginia Tech          1
     Winthrop               1
     Wyoming                1
     Albany                 1*
     Arkansas Pine Bluff    1*
     Cal Poly               1*
     Clemson                1*
     Florida A&M            1*
     James Madison          1*
     Monmouth               1*
     Mount Saint Mary's     1*
     Niagara                1*
     North Carolina A&T     1*
     Oakland                1*
     UTSA                   1*

*  Won one game prior to round of 64
** Won two games prior to round of 64 

The newest full-fledged no-asterisk members of this “We made it to the round of 32” club are Mercer, North Dakota State, and Stephen F. Austin. Salute.