List of NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four participants

From the first tournament in 1939 to 1951, the National Semifinals were also considered the Regional Championships, with the National Championship was held separately a week later. During this period, the tournament was divided into the East and West Regions. From 1952 to 1955, the Regional Championships were held at four sites, with two designated for the East and two for the West. In 1956, the four regions were given unique names for the first time.

From 1946 to 1981, a consolation game was conducted before the Championship for the losing teams of the National Semifinals; the winning team was awarded third place and the losing team was awarded fourth place. In 1982, the NCAA eliminated the game and the two losing teams of the semifinal games are considered tied for third place in the official record book.

At the conclusion of the championship game, one player is awarded the Most Outstanding Player award. Eleven times a player was awarded the MOP without being on the championship team. Five players have won the award twice, one player, Lew Alcindor, won the award three times.

Since 1939, 95 schools have appeared in the Final Four. Four additional schools, Minnesota, Saint Joseph's, UMass, and Western Kentucky, had their only appearance vacated. This table shows non-vacated Final Four appearances and victories by school; vacated records are shown in parentheses. The Third Place column is blank for schools whose Final Four appearances were before 1946 or after 1981.

Teams appearing in consecutive Final Fours

Eleven teams have appeared three or more times in the Final Four in consecutive tournaments. In the following table, National Champions are indicated by bold years, runners-up by underlined years, and third place by italics.

Since 1939, 158 head coaches have appeared in the Final Four. Six additional coaches have had their only Final Four appearance vacated. This table shows non-vacated Final Four appearances and victories by coach; vacated records are shown in parentheses. The Third Place column is blank for coaches whose Final Four appearances were before 1946 or after 1981.

Coaches still active in Division I are highlighted in green.

Multiple Schools

Fifteen coaches have non-vacated Final Four appearances with multiple schools. Of these, 14 have coached two schools and only one, Rick Pitino, has coached three schools. Two additional coaches appeared with multiple schools but had all appearances with one of those schools vacated. Larry Brown appeared with UCLA and Kansas but his only appearance with UCLA school were vacated. John Calipari appeared with UMass, Memphis, and Kentucky, but his only appearances at UMass and Memphis were vacated. Five coaches are still active, with Calipari, Huggins, Larrañaga, and Sampson coaching at a school they have already taken to the Final Four. Pitino is the only coach on this list currently active at a school he has not taken to the Final Four.

Coaches who also played in the Final Four

Seven coaches have both played and coached in the Final Four. Hubert Davis at North Carolina and Dick Harp at Kansas did so at the same school. Bob Knight and Dean Smith are the only two coaches to win a championship as player and coach.

The following table shows Final Four appearance statistics based on teams' conference affiliations contemporaneous to their appearance. Therefore some schools are included across multiple conferences. Conferences are listed by their current or final name as found in the official NCAA record book.

There have been 26 unique conferences appearing in the Final Four, of which 19 are still in existence.