Busting Brackets
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NCAA Basketball: Longest active NCAA Tournament streaks in 2023

By Cooper Watson

LAWRENCE, KANSAS - FEBRUARY 28: Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks applauds his team prior to a game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Allen Fieldhouse on February 28, 2023 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KANSAS - FEBRUARY 28: Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks applauds his team prior to a game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Allen Fieldhouse on February 28, 2023 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /
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NCAA Tournament Head coach Hubert Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
NCAA Tournament Head coach Hubert Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

Of the 363 Division I teams, only nine have NCAA Tournament streaks of four years or longer. Perhaps more surprisingly, only one Blue Blood makes the cut.

With North Carolina missing the NCAA Tournament this season, the Tar Heels’ 11-year NCAA Tournament streak has ended. To be fair, it would have ended had there been an NCAA Tournament in 2020, but it’s officially ended this season. Carolina had the fourth-longest streak of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances entering this season.

Of the 17 teams that had NCAA Tournament streaks of 10 years or longer, eight have come to an end this season.

Notable NCAA Tournament streaks ended this season

North Carolina – 11 years

The Tar Heels had the fourth-longest streak in the country before this season, which was one of the most disappointing outings in the history of the sport. Carolina became the first preseason No. 1 team to miss the NCAA Tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. An unexpected fall from grace for one of college basketball’s most storied programs coming off a trip to the national championship game.

Villanova – 9 years

In Kyle Neptune’s first season as Villanova’s head coach, the Wildcats missed the NCAA Tournament, ending a nine-year streak that was the fifth-longest active streak in the country. To be fair, Villanova ended the season playing like an NCAA Tournament team, going 7-3 in their last 10 games. Had Justin Moore been healthy for the entire season, they would likely be dancing right now. Nevertheless, Nova’s nine-year streak that saw the program win two national championships has come to an end.

Michigan – 6 years

Michigan had an eventful six-year NCAA Tournament run under both John Beilein and Juwan Howard. Four of those bids came under Beilin, including the Wolverine’s national runner-up season in 2018. That said, Howard had taken Michigan to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament two years in a row before missing the Dance this season.

Virginia Tech – 5 years

Virginia Tech’s 2022-23 season was hampered by injuries, with Hunter Cattoor missing a string of games in early January and Darius Maddox missing the last 13 games of the season. Had the Hokies been relatively healthy, they would have made a run at a sixth straight NCAA Tournament. The streak is over, but VT fans should still feel comfortable with Mike Young at the helm.

Ohio State and Texas Tech also had four-year streaks come to an end, while LSU and Wisconsin had three-year streaks flame out.

Now for the list of streaks that are still active, with only nine teams currently holding runs of longer than four years.

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