Men's NCAA Tournament 2025: Hottest Teams Heading into Selection Sunday

Winning early in the year is always a good thing, yet college basketball teams are always working to peak as the postseason begins.

There's no better time to be surging than in March.

Sure, it doesn't guarantee success in a conference tournament—let alone the Big Dance. Confidence matters, though, and plenty of programs around the country haven't endured a loss lately.

Each program highlighted, as of March 11, had notched seven-plus consecutive wins at least entering their conference tournament.

Automatic Bids

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Drake: New coach, revamped roster, no problem. Drake is headed to the Big Dance for the third straight year after a victory over Bradley secured the Missouri Valley tournament title and extended Drake's run to seven wins in a row.

High Point: The newest Big South champion, High Point has rattled off 14 consecutive wins and punched its ticket to the NCAA tourney. This will be the program's first-ever trip to March Madness.

Robert Morris: Rounding out the low-major list is Robert Morris, which defeated Youngstown State to claim the Horizon League championship. The triumph pushed the Colonials' streak into double digits and snapped the program's decade-long Big Dance drought.

BYU Cougars

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Following a loss to Cincinnati on Feb. 8, BYU dropped to 15-8 and the "fifth team out" of the projected March Madness field by B/R's Kerry Miller.

Jump ahead to today, and the Cougars are a lock.

The change in perception is a product of eight consecutive wins, and the competition only bolsters it. BYU in this streak has upended Arizona, Iowa State and Kansas, along with tourney-bound West Virginia twice.

Before the Cougars officially begin preparing for the Big Dance, they're the fourth seed in the Big 12 tournament.

Duke Blue Devils

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Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg

Louisville is riding a nine-game win streak into the ACC tournament, and Clemson is right behind at eight consecutive victories.

But there's no denying Duke's status in the conference.

Within this eight-game streak, the Blue Devils have simply dominated their competition. The smallest margin of victory—a rivalry win at North Carolina—is 13 points, and the others have all been 18 or higher.

Duke begins the ACC tournament in the quarterfinals and is seeking to reclaim the championship it recently won in 2023.

Houston Cougars

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LJ Cryer

Houston is unfamiliar with the whole "losing" thing.

Since a 4-3 start in November, the Cougars have ripped off a 23-1 record. Their lone setback happened by one point... in overtime... against Texas Tech—which will probably be no worse than a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tourney.

Given that sizzling season, it's not surprising to see Houston is taking a 10-game streak into the Big 12 tournament.

As with BYU, though, part of the discussion is the competition the Coogs have derailed. Madness-bound Arizona, Baylor (twice), Iowa State, Kansas and Texas Tech could not solve UH recently.

Houston presumably will be a No. 1 seed in March Madness.

Michigan State Spartans

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Tom Izzo

Early in February, Michigan State hit a rough patch. Losses to USC, UCLA and Indiana halted the excitement of a preceding 13-game surge.

So, you know, the Spartans just started a new streak.

Once again, it's also about who MSU is taking down. Within this seven-game run, Sparty has notched five AP Top 25 victories—Maryland, rival Michigan (twice), Purdue and Wisconsin—plus a road triumph at NCAA lock Illinois.

Michigan State, the regular season Big Ten champion, is poised to hold a top-three seed in March for the first time since 2019.

UC San Diego Tritons

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Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones

No matter what happens in the Big West tournament, the selection committee will be talking about UC San Diego.

If the Tritons win the conference, it's simply about seeding. If they get upset and don't secure the automatic bid, they'll be part of the at-large discussion.

The point, either way, is simple: This has been a tremendous team.

Entering the pivotal league competition, UC San Diego boasts 13 straight wins. Only two of those triumphs have included a single-digit margin, so the Tritons have hardly been at even the slightest risk of a loss during the last seven weeks.

UC San Diego, in the program's first-ever season of NCAA tournament eligibility, is just two victories from making its Big Dance debut.

Xavier Musketeers

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Sean Miller

The good news: Xavier has notched seven consecutive wins and, as of this writing, has jumped to the good side of the Bracket Matrix cutline.

The less-good news: Xavier is the absolute last team in.

Nevertheless, the Musketeers should be thrilled about this situation because of where they stood one month ago. While holding a 14-10 record, Xavier had little margin for error remaining—and was steadily fading from the bubble.

While the recent slate has been favorable, Xavier has trailed in the second half for a grand total of 18 seconds in those matchups.

Xavier would benefit immensely from a victory over NCAA lock Marquette in the Big East tournament quarterfinals.