It's no easy feat to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Although 68 teams participate each year, the path to reach the tournament is grueling and requires a level of consistency not every team is capable of achieving. Getting a bid to the tournament is a major honor, but to do so year after year throughout a long span is vastly more impressive.
Even some of the most renowned college basketball powerhouses endure a down year that causes them to miss out on tournament. Programs such as Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina have all missed out on the big dance within the past five years.
Despite the high degree of difficulty to reach the tournament, some top-tier programs have remained consistent in their ability to qualify year after year. We're going to take a look at the teams that have the longest active streaks of qualifying for the NCAA tournament.
The Longest Active NCAA Tournament Streaks
Team
Years in a Row
Last Year Missed
Michigan State
26
1997
Gonzaga
25
1998
Purdue
9
2014
Houston
6
2017
Tennessee
6
2017
Baylor
5
2018
Colgate
5
2018
Kansas*
5*
2018*
Michigan State has missed the NCAA tournament just twice during Tom Izzo's illustrious tenure as the program's head coach. The Spartans have gone to 26 consecutive NCAA tournaments and will look to make it 27 in 2025. They've won just one national championship during that span, which came back in 2000.
Gonzaga is hot on Michigan State's tails in terms of the longest active streak of NCAA tournament appearances. Despite making it every year since 1998, the Bulldogs have not won a national championship in program history.
No other team boasts a double-digit tournament streak, though Purdue would qualify for their 10th in a row if they make it in 2025.
Now, we'll look at the longest-ever streaks of making the NCAA tournament.
Historic NCAA Tournament Streaks: The All-Time Leaders
Team
Years in a Row
Years
Kansas*
28
1990 to 2017
North Carolina
27
1975 to 2001
Michigan State
26
1998 to 2024 (active)
Gonzaga
25
1999 to 2024 (active)
Duke
24
1996 to 2019
Wisconsin
19
1999 to 2017
Indiana
18
1986 to 2003
Kentucky
17
1992 to 2008
Despite Kansas's vacated tournament appearance in '18, they still own the longest-ever streak of making the NCAA tournament at 28. They appeared in the big dance each season from 1990 to 2017 and won a national championship in 2008. Overseeing Kansas's lengthy streak were Roy Williams (1990 to 2003) and Bill Self ('04 to 2017).
North Carolina was a tournament mainstay from 1975 to 2001. During their 27-year span of consecutive tournament berths, the program added two national championship victories to its resume; in 1982 and 1993. The team was coached by Dean Smith throughout most of the streak––23 of the 27 seasons––though the final four years of their run were coached by Bill Guthridge and Matt Doherty.
Michigan State and Gonzaga, who boast the longest active streaks of making the tournament, are also among the longest in history. Tom Izzo has been at the helm for the entirety of the Spartans' 26-year streak, while Gonzaga has been coached by Dan Monson (1999) and Mark Few (2000 to 2024).