Past March Madness winners by year

The Villanova Wildcats are the defending champions after defeating North Carolina in last year's NCAA Division I Championship Game.

Villanova is a strong contender to win the title again in 2017.

Other recent winners of the NCAA tournament include Duke, UConn, Louisville and Kentucky.

Below is a list of all the past NCAA champions by year:

1939 - Oregon

1940 - Indiana

1941 - Wisconsin

1942 - Stanford

1943 - Wyoming

1944 - Utah

1945 - Oklahoma A&M

1946 - Oklahoma A&M

1947 - Holy Cross

1948 - Kentucky

1949 - Kentucky

1950 - CCNY

1951 - Kentucky

1952 - Kansas

1953 - Indiana

1954 - La Salle

1955 - San Francisco

1956 - San Francisco

1957 - North Carolina

1958 - Kentucky

1959 - California

1960 - Ohio State

1961 - Cincinnati

1962 - Cincinnati

1963 - Loyola Chicago

1964 - UCLA

1965 - UCLA

1966 - Texas Western

1967 - UCLA

1968 - UCLA

1969 - UCLA

1970 - UCLA

1971 - UCLA

1972 - UCLA

1973 - UCLA

1974 - North Carolina State

1975 - UCLA

1976 - Indiana

1977 - Marquette

1978 - Kentucky

1979 - Michigan State

1980 -Louisville

1981 - Indiana

1982 - North Carolina

1983 - North Carolina State

1984 - Georgetown

1985 - Villanova

1986 - Louisville

1987 - Indiana

1988 - Kansas

1989 - Michigan

1990 - UNLV

1991 - Duke

1992 - Duke

1993 - North Carolina

1994 - Arkansas

1995 - UCLA

1996 - Kentucky

1997 - Arizona

1998 - Kentucky

1999 - Connecticut

2000 - Michigan State

2001 - Duke

2002 - Maryland

2003 - Syracuse

2004 - Connecticut

2005 - North Carolina

2006 - Florida

2007 - Florida

2008 - Kansas

2009 - North Carolina

2010 - Duke

2011 - Connecticut

2012 - Kentucky

2013 - Louisville

2014 - Connecticut

2015 - Duke

2016 - Villanova