College basketball blue bloods ranked by all-time legacy

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06 April 2015: Wisconsin Badgers forward Frank Kaminsky (44) celebrates in action during the NCAA Championship Basketball game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Duke Blue Devils, at the Lucas Oil Stadium, in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire/Corbis via Getty Images) /

18. Wisconsin

Record: 1,618-1,218 (.571 Winning Percentage)
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 24
Final Fours: Four (1941, 2000, 2014, 2015)
National Titles: One (1941)
Notable Alums: Wes Matthews, Michael Finley, Frank Kaminsky

The Wisconsin Badgers are the first Big Ten entrant on the blue blood list, and their path through NCAA history has been an interesting one. The Badgers had some tremendous success in the 1940s, winning the national championship in 1941 and going back to the Elite Eight in 1947, but that run ended with a long dry spell.

Wisconsin basketball went through the dark ages for quite a while, failing to return to the NCAA Tournament until 1994, but they have been back on the upswing since then. A breakthrough moment came in 1999 when Wisconsin coaching legend Dick Bennett took the Badgers back to the Final Four for the first time since they won it all in 1941.

Bennett stepped down in 2001, and Bo Ryan took the reigns the following year. Ryan took the Badgers to new heights, making the NCAA Tournament every year he was the coach, including back to back Final Four appearances in 2014 and 2015.

That 2015 Final Four was one of Wisconsin’s finest hours when they knocked off an unbeaten Kentucky team before falling to Duke in the national title game. Ryan stepped down the following year and handed the program to Greg Gard, who is looking to build on the solid work that Ryan did in order to keep the Badgers in the national conversation for years to come.

Wisconsin missed the tournament for the first time since 1998 in 2018, a remarkable run of consistency in the modern age, but they bounced back with a March Madness bid this year.