UCONN Is Riding More Impressive Winning Streak Than Butler

Both the Connecticut Huskies and the Butler Bulldogs enter the national championship game with double-digit winning streaks as Connecticut has not lost in 10 games and Butler has won the last 14 games in which it has played. Yet, not all winning streaks are equal and Connecticut's winning streak has been the more impressive one, making them the hotter team.

Over the course of the Huskies' 10-game winning streak, they have managed to outscore their opponents by a very impressive 16.1 points per 100 possessions. That tops the 14.4 points per 100 possessions with which the Bulldogs have outscored their last 14 opponents.

Although the Huskies are owners of the more dominant winning streak, Butler's has come with a little more consistency. The standard deviation for the Bulldogs' offensive rating during their winning streak is 8.1 points per 100 possessions and the standard deviation for their defensive rating is 10.6 points per 100 possessions.

On the other hand, Connecticut's standard deviations for their offensive rating and defensive rating are 12.3 and 12.7 points per 100 possessions, respectively.

The reason behind Connecticut's more inconsistent results is that the Huskies have won in a couple of really big blowouts in addition to playing in more closely contested affairs while Butler has been unable to win in quite the same commanding fashion and has played in a higher percentage of close games.

Ten of Butler's 14 wins have come with a winning margin of fewer than 10 points compared to six of Connecticut's 10 wins being single-digit affairs.

Should Connecticut emerge victorious tonight, the Huskies may very well have the fact that they have played a better quality of basketball during their winning streak than the Bulldogs did during theirs to thank.