The belt vs. the champion
6 seasons with a NCAA tournament finalThe belt doesn't care about brackets. But how often does it end the season in the same hands as the trophy? Here's the team that won each season's last NCAA tournament game next to the team holding the belt when the season's games ran out.
5Seasons it matched
83%Match rate
1Seasons it didn't
5Current matching streak
| Season | Champion | Belt at season's end | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | Denver | Denver | Same team |
| 2024–25 | Western Michigan | Western Michigan | Same team |
| 2023–24 | Denver | Denver | Same team |
| 2022–23 | Quinnipiac | Quinnipiac | Same team |
| 2021–22 | Denver | Denver | Same team |
| 2020–21 | UMass | Cornell |