Hot or Not? UConn Prevails Either Way in Capturing NCAA Tournament Crowns
Which cliche is most accurate? If a team is on a winning streak entering the NCAA Tournament, it has momentum on its side and is peaking at the right time. On the other hand, some observers contend a loss before the start of the playoffs is deemed a wake-up call. Last year, Connecticut became the seventh champion in past nine tourneys to enter playoffs on a losing note. This season, UConn repeated entering the tourney with the most triumphs of the last 10 kingpins (seven).
All of Duke's champions under coach Mike Krzyzewski entered the NCAA tourney with fewer than eight straight triumphs. Since the last undefeated team in Division I (Indiana was 32-0 in 1975-76), there have been 47 national champions. Twenty-five of those squads entered the tourney on a winning streak and 22 entered with a defeat. The longest winning streak of a champion-to-be in that span was by UCLA, which won 13 in a row in 1995 before posting six more triumphs in the playoffs. Louisville accounted for two of the other double-digit victory streaks for champions-to-be entering the playoffs.
Of the 25 aforementioned squads entering on a winning note, the average winning streak was six in a row. Following in reverse order is how those 47 post-unbeaten IU titlists entered the NCAA playoffs (including conference tournaments):