Andy Wittry | NCAA.com | March 3, 2018 Why losing streaks don't matter in March Madness Best Dunks from the National Championship Share Are you sitting down? Because you probably should before reading this: Losing streaks don't really matter when filling out your NCAA tournament bracket. What!? Blasphemy! Yes, you read that second sentence correctly. Go back and read it again if you want. There's a variety of strategies basketball fans employ when making their March Madness picks: which school's colors they like better, which team's mascot might win in a theoretical fight, which school's name is more fun to say and yes, how teams have recently performed on the court. We're here to dispel that final notion, or myth, if you will. We analyzed the last 20 years of NCAA tournament results and found that 68 teams entered the tournament on a losing streak of at least two games. Forty of those teams (just over 58 percent) won their Round of 64 matchup. Length of Losing Streak Number of Teams Combined Tournament Wins Avg. Tournament Wins Per Team Five losses 1 0 0.00 Four losses 2 1 0.50 Three losses 15 13 0.87 Two losses 50 64 1.28 In total, those teams combined for 78 wins in the NCAA tournament, including 16 Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and five Final Fours, so more than a third of those teams made the second weekend, if not further. Tournament Finish After Losing Streak Number of Teams First Four 2 Round of 64 26 Round of 32 16 Sweet 16 16 Elite Eight 3 Final Four 5 This data doesn't suggest that you should automatically pencil in a team on a three-game losing streak into the Final Four, but don't write off a team in the first round just because it left a sour taste in your mouth when you saw that it lost its regular-season finale and its first-round matchup in its conference tournament. Here's a complete list of teams in the last 20 years that have entered the tournament on a losing streak of at least two games. Year School Losing Streak Tournament Finish 2017 Florida 2 games Elite Eight 2017 South Carolina 2 games Final Four 2017 Oklahoma State 3 games Round of 64 2017 Butler 2 games Sweet 16 2017 Dayton 2 games Round of 64 2016 Vanderbilt 2 games First Four 2016 Wisconsin 2 games Sweet 16 2016 Iowa State 2 games Sweet 16 2016 Syracuse 3 games Final Four 2015 Oklahoma State 2 games Round of 64 2015 Ole Miss 2 games Round of 64 2015 St. John's 2 games Round of 64 2014 North Carolina 2 games Round of 32 2014 Kansas State 3 games Round of 64 2014 Arizona State 3 games Round of 64 2014 Iowa 3 games First Four 2013 Oklahoma 2 games Round of 64 2013 Minnesota 3 games Round of 32 2013 La Salle 2 games Sweet 16 2013 California 2 games Round of 32 2011 Villanova 5 games Round of 64 2011 Wisconsin 2 games Sweet 16 2011 Purdue 2 games Round of 32 2011 Georgetown 4 games Round of 64 2010 Clemson 2 games Round of 64 2010 Missouri 2 games Round of 32 2010 Villanova 2 games Round of 32 2010 Syracuse 2 games Sweet 16 2009 Connecticut 2 games Final Four 2009 California 2 games Round of 64 2009 Clemson 2 games Round of 64 2008 Louisville 2 games Elite Eight 2008 Indiana 2 games Round of 64 2007 Vanderbilt 2 games Sweet 16 2007 Virginia 2 games Round of 32 2007 Stanford 2 games Round of 64 2007 UCLA 2 games Final Four 2007 Duke 3 games Round of 64 2006 West Virginia 2 games Sweet 16 2006 North Carolina State 4 games Round of 32 2006 Alabama 2 games Round of 32 2006 Oklahoma 2 games Round of 64 2006 Wisconsin 3 games Round of 64 2005 Charlotte 3 games Round of 64 2004 Wake Forest 3 games Sweet 16 2004 Memphis 2 games Round of 32 2004 Providence 3 games Round of 64 2004 North Carolina 2 games Round of 32 2003 Florida 3 games Round of 32 2003 Maryland 2 games Sweet 16 2003 Alabama 2 games Round of 64 2003 Cincinnati 2 games Round of 64 2002 Georgia 2 games Round of 32 2002 UCLA 2 games Sweet 16 2001 Georgia 2 games Round of 64 2001 Virginia 2 games Round of 64 2001 Notre Dame 3 games Round of 32 2001 Xavier 2 games Round of 64 2000 Indiana 2 games Round of 64 2000 North Carolina 2 games Final Four 2000 Syracuse 2 games Sweet 16 2000 Purdue 2 games Elite Eight 1999 Purdue 3 games Sweet 16 1999 Iowa 2 games Sweet 16 1998 Michigan State 2 games Sweet 16 1998 West Virginia 3 games Sweet 16 1998 Western Michigan 2 games Round of 32 1998 Oklahoma State 2 games Round of 32 College basketball rankings: Even unranked teams find success in the NCAA tournament Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 — its modern format — only four of 35 national champions were unranked to start the season. That’s about one in every nine years. READ MORE Only .025 percent predicted the 2021 Final Four teams in the Bracket Challenge Game UCLA's upset of No. 1 Michigan in the Elite Eight turned what could have been a record-high number of perfect picks into a tiny number that went 4-for-4. READ MORE A huge majority of NCAA brackets have a No. 1 seed winning the 2021 championship Here is how many brackets predicted each seed to win the national championship, from Gonzaga and the No. 1 seeds through Drexel and the rest of the No. 16 seeds. READ MORE