On Monday, April 8th not only will a National Championship game be played in Phoenix, Arizona, there will be a total solar eclipse seen across the United States. So, what does this mean for the 2024 championship game? Absolutely nothing, but we did the research anyways.

There have been 10 total solar eclipses seen in the United States since the NCAA tournament started in 1939. Below are the champions from these years.

1943 – Wyoming

1945 – Oklahoma A&M (Oklahoma State)

1954 – La Salle

1959 – California

1963 – Loyola Chicago

1970 – UCLA

1979 – Michigan State

1990 – UNLV

1991 – Duke

2017 – North Carolina

Notice any common themes with these champions? 8 of the 10 above teams won their first championship in years with a total solar eclipse in the United States. Wyoming, Oklahoma State, La Salle, California, Loyola Chicago, Michigan State, UNLV, and Duke were crowned NCAA champions for the first time in their schools history. UCLA, and North Carolina both won their 6th title during a total eclipse year.

National titles :

UConn : 5

NC State : 2

Purdue : 0

Alabama : 0

Could the odds be in the favor of Purdue and Alabama to join the elite and be crowned National Champions for the first time in school history? Or will UConn join UCLA and UNC to win their 6th title.

The NCAA first started seeded brackets in 1979, where Michigan State was a 2-seed and defeated Larry Bird and 1-seed Indiana State. Since 1979, there have been two 1-seeds, and two 2-seeds become champions on years with total eclipses in the US.

Will the eclipse play a role in the 2024 National Championship on Monday, April 8th? Will Purdue or Alabama continue the trend of new champions being crowned?