Hot or Not?: Nova 4th NCAA Titlist in Last 5 Years Entering Tourney With Loss
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. After squandering a 10-point lead in the last five minutes, Villanova's championship this season marked the fourth time in the last five years the titlist entered the playoffs after a defeat in their conference tourney. All five 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 40 national champions. Twenty-two of those teams entered the tourney with a victory; 18 entered with a defeat after Nova bowed against Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament final. 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 22 aforementioned squads entering on a winning note, the average winning streak was six in a row. Following in reverse order is how those 40 post-unbeaten IU titlists entered the NCAA playoffs (including conference tournaments):