the Fghting Irish men's and women's basketball programs have proven to be the most successful in the nation.

Notre Dame Boasts Most Successful Combined Basketball Programs

The University of Notre Dame boasts the most successful combined men’s and women’s basketball programs of any institution in the country-whether the teams are compared by combined Associated Press rankings, combined victories, combined winning percentage or combined NCAA graduation rates.

The numbers are based on the 21 programs that earned selection to both the men’s and women’s brackets in the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. Five of those programs have both men’s and women’s teams alive for the NCAA Sweet 16 rounds this weekend.

Notre Dame ranks atop the standings in four combined categories:

  • Associated Press poll rankings (based on March 16 poll): Notre Dame women were #2, men were #8.
  • Victories: 64 (Notre Dame women have 33, men have 31). That qualifies as the all-time Irish combined record, topping the numbers from 2012-13 when the women finished 35-2 and the men ended up 25-10 (for a combined 60).
  • Winning Percentage: .901, based on a combined 64-7 record for the two Notre Dame teams (women are 33-2, men are 31-5).
  • Graduation Success Rate figures: Both the Notre Dame men’s and women’s programs featured perfect 100 figures in the combined four-year individual sport graduation rates released by the NCAA in October 2014.

There are only seven institutions that ranked in both the final regular-season Associated Press men’s and women’s basketball polls last week-and Notre Dame boasts the best combined rankings (four of the seven schools came from the Atlantic Coast Conference):

— Associated Press Poll Rankings

School Men’s Rank Women’s Rank Combined Ranks
1. Notre Dame 8 2 10
2. Kentucky 1 11 12
3. Maryland 12 4 16
4. Duke 4 16 20
5. Baylor 16 5 21
6. Louisville 17 8 25
7. North Carolina 15 15 30

Italics indicate schools with both teams alive this week in the NCAA Sweet 16. All four compete in the ACC.

Here’s how the 21 programs with teams in both the men’s and women’s NCAA brackets rank in terms of combined wins, with Notre Dame at the top:

— Victories

School Men’s Wins Women’s Wins Combined Wins
1. Notre Dame 31 33 64
2. (tie) Kentucky 36 24 60
2. (tie) Maryland 28 32 60
2. (tie) Gonzaga 34 26 60
5. Wichita State 30 29 59
6. Baylor 24 32 56
7. (tie) Duke 31 23 54
7. (tie) Dayton 27 27 54
9. Louisville 26 27 53
10. North Carolina 26 26 52
11. (tie) Iowa 22 26 48
11. (tie) BYU 25 23 48
11. (tie) Ohio State 24 24 48
14. Boise State 25 22 47
15. (tie) Arkansas 27 18 45
15. (tie) Oklahoma 24 21 45
15. (tie) N.Mex. St. 23 22 45
18. Texas 20 24 44
19. Iowa State 25 18 43
20. LSU 22 17 39
21. Oklahoma State 18 20 38

Italics indicate schools with both teams alive this week in the NCAA Sweet 16.

Here’s how the 21 schools with representatives in both NCAA brackets rank in terms of combined winning percentage, with Notre Dame again at the top:

— Winning Percentage

School Men’s Record Women’s Record Combined Win %
1. Notre Dame 31-5 33-2 .901 (64-7)
2. (tie) Maryland 28-7 32-2 .869 (60-9)
2. (tie) Gonzaga 34-2 26-7 .869 (60-9)
4. Wichita State 30-4 29-5 .867 (59-9)
5. Kentucky 36-0 24-10 .857 (60-10)
6. Baylor 24-10 32-3 .811 (56-13)
7. Duke 31-4 23-10 .794 (54-14)
8. Louisville 26-8 27-6 .782 (54-15)
9. Dayton 27-9 27-6 .782 (54-15)
10. North Carolina 26-11 26-8 .732 (52-19)
11. Iowa 22-12 26-7 .716 (48-19)
12. BYU 25-10 23-10 .705 (48-20)
13. New Mexico St. 23-11 22-8 .703 (45-19)
14. Boise State 25-9 22-11 .701 (47-20)
15. Ohio State 24-11 24-11 .685 (48-22)
16. Oklahoma 24-10 21-12 .671 (45-22)
17. Arkansas 27-9 18-14 .6617 (45-23)
18. Iowa State 25-9 18-13 .6615 (43-22)
19. Texas 20-14 24-10 .647 (44-24)
20. LSU 22-11 17-14 .609 (39-25)
21. Oklahoma State 18-14 20-12 .593 (38-26)

Italics indicate schools with both teams alive this week in the NCAA Sweet16.

Here’s how the 21 schools with teams in both NCAA brackets rank in terms of combined GSR, with Notre Dame again at the top:

— Graduation Success Rate

School Men’s GSR Women’s GSR Combined GSR
1. (tie) Notre Dame 100 100 200
1. (tie) Duke 100 100 200
1. (tie) Dayton 100 100 200
4. (tie) Iowa 100 92 192
4. (tie) Maryland 100 92 192
6. Texas 100 90 190
7. Kentucky 89 100 189
8. Gonzaga 91 92 183
9. Oklahoma 77 100 177
10. Baylor 92 80 172
11. BYU 82 86 168
12. Iowa State 64 100 164
13. (tie) N.Carolina 88 69 157
13. (tie) Wichita St. 64 93 157
15. Boise State 69 79 148
16. Louisville 58 89 147
17. Ohio State 53 92 145
18. LSU 50 92 142
19. Arkansas 55 75 130
20. Oklahoma State 22 63 85
21. New Mexico St. 13 63 76

Italics indicate schools with both teams live this week in the NCAA Sweet 16.

The 2014 GSR numbers cover grant-in-aid student-athletes who enrolled between 2004 and 2007 at all Division I institutions.

The Notre Dame men’s basketball team already has established a modern record for victories in a season with 31 to date. The previous high was a 27-7 mark in 2010-11. (The all-time record came in the 1908-09 season at 33-7.)

The Irish women’s team now has won at least 30 games in five straight seasons-including 31-8 in 2010-11, 35-4 in 2011-12, 35-2 in 2012-13 and 37-1 in 2013-14.

Both the Notre Dame men’s and women’s basketball teams won their respective 2015 ACC Championship titles in Greensboro. That marks the 13th time in ACC history that the same institution claimed both basketball championships in the same year–and the first time since 2011 when Duke did it. The only four ACC schools to accomplish that feat are Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State.

The Notre Dame women’s team won both the ACC regular-season title and the ACC Championship crown in both 2014 and 2015.

In terms of NCAA seeding, the Irish women in 2015 received a #1 seed, while the men earned a #3 seed. That’s the best combined seeding at Notre Dame since 2011 when the women were #2 and the men were #2.

The only schools whose men’s and women’s teams both made it to the 2015 NCAA Sweet 16 bracket are Notre Dame, Duke, Louisville, North Carolina and Gonzaga-with four of the five coming from the ACC.

The ACC has five men’s teams (Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and North Carolina State) and five women’s teams (Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and Florida State) in the NCAA Sweet 16.

— by John Heisler, senior associate athletics director