The school with the most appearances without a championship win is the University of Notre
Dame, which has made 33 appearances (including 2013) in the men's Basketball tournament without winning a championship. Its closest bid came in 1978, its sole Final Four appearance, when it lost to Duke 90-86 in the semi-finals.
In theory, the school with the most appearances without winning any games is Iona, which has received eight bids and is credited with no wins. (Iona technically beat Holy Cross 84-78 in the 1980 opening round, but because of NCAA infractions, its win was later vacated.) Through 2013, the most appearances without any wins of any sort (vacated or not) is a distinction shared by
Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Louisiana-Monroe
(formerly Northeast Louisiana University), each of which has received seven bids but has
yet to win a game.
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Kentucky has the most tournament appearances with 50.
UCLA is 2nd with 42 and North Carolina is 3rd with 40.