Andy Wittry | NCAA.com | March 3, 2018

Why losing streaks don't matter in March Madness

Best Dunks from the National Championship

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