There’s a pretty interesting debate that permeates college basketball every time March rolls around and tournament season picks up.
It has to do with the idea of momentum versus rest, of making a run for glory or picking your spots for success, and, of course, it has to do with superstitions. All of it boils down to a simple question:
Does a team winning its conference tournament indicate future success in the NCAA Tournament?
The answer is surprisingly more complicated that you might expect. Looking back at conference tournament winners in the Big Ten, Big 12, Big East, ACC, SEC and Pac-12 since 1998—the only conferences to produce an NCAA champion in that span—provides an answer that really just leads to more questions.
But as you get ready to fill out your brackets, it’s worth considering the last 20+ years of college basketball and the drastic shift in what previous postseason success means for the Big Dance.
Let’s dig into it.
