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Dan Hurley isn't the only person who has been around for the entirety of this UConn Huskies golden era, winning back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024 before a Final Four bid in 2026.
Three players on Hurley's squad for the 2025-26 season — Solo Ball, Jaylin Stewart and Alex Karaban — have already won at least one championship with the program. But of those players, there's only one who has been around for all of UConn's dominance, including the 2023 and 2024 titles: Karaban.
The veteran forward, yet again, has been a key contributor to the Huskies' squad that reached the 2026 Final Four by shocking Duke in the Elite Eight. If UConn is able to win just two more games, Karaban would be winning his third championship with the team in four years, putting him on the exclusive list of three-time national champions.
Here's a look at the players who were on the most NCAA Tournament champions all-time, and the list Karaban could join with another UConn title.
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What player has won the most NCAA basketball championships?
Regardless of gender, the only players to win four NCAA basketball championships remains Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck. All three players spent every season from 2013-2016 at UConn, and in all four seasons, the Huskies won the NCAA Tournament, making them the most decorated winners in women's college basketball history.
Stewart stands out from the bunch, as she also won the Final Four Most Outstanding Player award in all four years.
On the men's side, no player has ever won four NCAA basketball titles in a career, but there is a collection of stars who won three.
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3-time NCAA basketball champions
Men's college basketball hasn't seen a three-time individual champion since the early 1970s.
Just eight players have accomplished the feat, and they were all a member of the dynastic UCLA Bruins of the late 1960s and early 1970s that won seven total titles.
Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), 1967-69
Considering every player on the list of three-time champions is a member of John Wooden's UCLA squads, there is easily no star bigger than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was then known as Lew Alcindor.
Long before he became one of the best players in NBA history and the league's all-time leading scorer for decades, Abdul-Jabbar had a historic NCAA career, leading UCLA to titles in 1967, 1968 and 1969. He was with the Bruins as a freshman in 1966, but UTEP won the title that year — the only season from 1964-73 that UCLA wasn't crowned.
The Basketball Hall of Famer was also a three-time most outstanding player of the NCAA Tournament, a three-time national player of the year, a three-time unanimous first-team All-American, and was named the inaugural Naismith College Player of the Year in 1969.
One of the most legendary basketball players ever in any regard, Abdul-Jabbar's dominance makes him the most well-known player to win three NCAA men's basketball titles.
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Lynn Shackelford, 1967-69
A teammate of Abdul-Jabbar's for all three of UCLA's titles from 1967-69 was Lynn Shackelford.
Shackelford was also a starter for those three championship squads under Wooden, known as an elite shooter despite there being no 3-point line at the time. Later on, Shackelford became a sixth-round NBA Draft pick, a broadcaster for ESPN, CBS and NBC, and a member of the crew of the game show "Almost Anything Goes," and the sports director for the 10 PM news for five years on KHJ-TV.
Shackelford was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023.
Curtis Rowe, 1969-71
One of three players to win titles at UCLA in 1969, 1970 and 1971 was 6-foot-7 forward Curtis Rowe.
Rowe, a starter for all three of those Bruins titles, went on to become the No. 11 pick in the 1971 NBA Draft to the Detroit Pistons, with one All-Star selection.
He was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993.
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Sidney Wicks, 1969-71
When Abdul-Jabbar stepped away from UCLA, Sidney Wicks became one of the focal points of the Bruins' success. As a 6-foot-8 forward/center, he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 1970, the Helms National Co-Player of the Year in 1970, and the USBWA and Sporting News Player of the Year in 1971.
Wicks, a consensus All-American in 1970 and 1971, became the No. 2 pick in the 1971 NBA Draft to the Portland Trail Blazers, and he won Rookie of the Year to start a career that included four All-Star selections.
Wicks was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 1985, and he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Steve Patterson, 1969-71
Initially, Steve Patterson was UCLA's backup center to Abdul-Jabbar in 1969. But afterward, he became the starter before Bill Walton came along, and the Bruins' success continued.
In 1969-70, Patterson averaged 12.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, putting up 17 points in the 1970 championship matchup vs. Jacksonville University. The next year, the center averaged 12.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, and in the final game of his career, the 1971 championship matchup vs. Villanova, Patterson scored 29 points.
Patterson became the 18th overall pick in the second round of the 1971 NBA Draft, playing in the league until 1976 with the Cavaliers and Bulls. He later became the head men's basketball coach at Santa Rosa Junior College and Arizona State.
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Henry Bibby, 1970-72
The starting point guard of UCLA's title squads from 1970-72, Henry Bibby was around for the first 47 games of the team's eventual 88-game winning streak. The son of MLB pitcher Jim Bibby, and later the father of NBA guard Mike Bibby, Henry was another of Wooden's many UCLA players to leave the program with a decorated resume.
Bibby was taken with the 58th overall pick in the 1972 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. He spent nine years in the league, including NBA Finals appearances in 1977 and 1980 with the 76ers. Bibby also won a CBA championship with the Lancaster Lightning in 1982.
After his playing career, Bibby also had an extensive coaching career that included time as a head coach in the CBA, winning two more titles, an assistant in the NCAA (Arizona State, USC), the head coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks in 2005, and an assistant with the NBA's 76ers, Grizzlies and Pistons.
Larry Farmer, 1971-73
Finally, two UCLA players were around for the 1971, 1972 and 1973 titles, one of which was Larry Farmer. A teammate of Bill Walton's for the Bruins, Farmer was the only player who participated in all the games for the UCLA teams that went 89–1 (.989).
Instead of going to the NBA or ABA, Farmer decided to become an assistant coach under Wooden at UCLA. And in 1981, when Larry Brown resigned from his role as Bruins head coach, it was Farmer who took over.
Farmer guided UCLA from 1981-84, going 61-23 overall. He went on to coach at Weber State and Loyola Chicago, along with being an assistant for the Golden State Warriors, Rhode Island University, Hawaii and Western Michigan.
Larry Hollyfield, 1971-73
Along with Farmer, Larry Hollyfield was a member of the 1971-73 UCLA champions. He played one year at Compton Junior College, going 33-0 and winning the state title, before transferring to UCLA in 1970-71.
Hollyfield didn't play much for the 1971 title team, but became more of a key player in his last two years. Between high school and college, from his junior year of high school on, Hollyfield's teams had a combined record of 184–1 with championships in each of the six seasons.
He became the 105th overall pick to the Trail Blazers in the 1973 NBA Draft, but did not play professionally.
Since Hollyfield and Farmer, no NCAA men's basketball player has become a three-time champion.
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