Cooper Flagg, Duke basketball practice before Final Four at Alamodome
Cooper Flagg and Duke basketball went through a 50-minute open practice in front of fans inside the Alamodome on Friday ahead of the Final Four in San Antonio.
Duke is men’s college basketball royalty — a blueblood program in every sense of the term, all the way down to its name and colors.
Though the Blue Devils have a proud history, they’ve been especially dominant over the past 35 years, back to when they won their first championship of legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 42-year reign in Durham. During that time, they’ve racked up wins, Final Four appearances and, most of all, NCAA titles.
It’s a storied past that the latest crop of Duke players and coaches are looking to continue into the present.
On Saturday night, the Blue Devils will tip off against Houston in the Final Four of the 2025 men’s NCAA Tournament in San Antonio. They’ve been dominant over the past five months, compiling a 35-3 record that puts them within two victories of matching a program single-season record. They went 19-1 in ACC play, winning the conference regular-season and tournament championships. Even in the pressurized crucible of the NCAA Tournament, they’ve been largely untested, winning their first four games by an average of 19.5 points, none of which have been decided by fewer than seven.
Now, national player of the year Cooper Flagg and coach Jon Scheyer will look to make their own mark and add another piece of hardware to Duke’s already extensive trophy case.
Here’s a look at Duke’s championship history, including how many titles it has won and where it ranks historically:
How many national championships does Duke have?
Duke has won five national championships in its history, all of which have come since 1991. During that stretch, only UConn has won more NCAA men’s basketball titles, with six.
Here’s a look at which years the Blue Devils cut down the nets:
When was Duke’s last national championship?
Duke last won the NCAA Tournament in 2015, the fifth and final of Krzyzewski’s storied career.
Since that first national championship, Duke has never gone more than nine years without a championship, meaning this year’s Final Four could break the program’s longest drought of that period.
It has finished as the national runner-up six times: in 1964, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1999.
How many national championships does Jon Scheyer have?
While a championship this year would be Scheyer’s first since succeeding Krzyzewski as Duke’s head coach in 2022, he has been a part of two title-winning teams — one as a player in 2010, and one as an assistant coach in 2015.
Scheyer was the Blue Devils’ leading scorer on the 2010 championship team, averaging 18.2 points per game that season.
Most college basketball national championships
Duke’s five NCAA men’s basketball championships rank it in a tie with Indiana for fifth among Division I programs. A championship at this year’s Final Four would not only push the Blue Devils past the Hoosiers, but also would put them in a three-way tie for the third-most titles ever — with UConn and, more notably, hated rival North Carolina.
Here’s a look at the programs with the most NCAA championships:
- 1. UCLA: 11
- 2. Kentucky: 8
- T-3. UConn: 6
- T-3. North Carolina: 6
- T-5. Duke: 5
- T-5. Indiana: 5
- 7. Kansas: 4
- T-8. Louisville: 3*
- T-8. Villanova: 3
* Figure includes Louisville’s 2013 national championship, which was later vacated by the NCAA over recruiting violations.
