MADISON, Wis. – With all eyes on the NCAA men's basketball tournament, the spotlight once again shines on the University of Wisconsin athletic department. A run of tremendous success, especially in football and men's basketball, continues for another season.
 
The NCAA has been handing out invitations to its Division I men's basketball tournament since 1939. In that time, no school has qualified for a bowl game and the NCAA tournament in the same academic year in more consecutive seasons than Wisconsin.

UW's football team has qualified for a bowl game and its men's basketball team has earned an invitation to the NCAA tournament for 15 straight years (every year since the start of the 2002 season). That is the longest streak in NCAA history. The next longest belongs to Texas, which qualified for a bowl and the NCAA tournament 12 straight seasons from 1998-99 to 2009-10 (see chart below).

Currently, the next-longest active streak is four years, held by North Carolina and Baylor.
 
Since the start of the 1996 season (over the last 21 years), Wisconsin's football and men's basketball teams have combined for more bowl appearances and NCAA tournament appearances than any other school in the country (see chart below). The Badgers have played in 20 bowl games and 20 NCAA tournaments over that span, for a total of 40. Florida ranks second with 20 bowl appearances and 15 NCAA tournaments (35) while Texas (16 bowl games, 18 NCAA tournaments) and Michigan State (14 bowl games, 20 NCAA tournaments) are tied for third.

The Wisconsin men's basketball team earned the No. 8 seed in the East Region and will play No. 9 seed Virginia Tech on Thursday at 8:40 p.m. CT in Buffalo, N.Y. UW is making its 19th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, tied for the fifth-longest streak in NCAA history.

The UW football team is coming off a year in which it went 11-3 and finished the season ranked ninth in the country. Wisconsin won the 2017 Cotton Bowl and has played in a bowl game in 15 straight seasons, tied for the sixth-longest active streak in the country.

Consecutive years of bowl game and NCAA men's basketball tournament appearances (history)
1.    15    Wisconsin (2002-03 to 2016-17 - current)
2.    12    Texas (1998-99 to 2009-10)
3.    9      Michigan State (2007-08 to 2015-16)
       9      Florida (1998-99 to 2006-07)

Consecutive years of bowl game and NCAA men's basketball tournament appearances (current)
1.    15    Wisconsin (2002-03 to 2016-17)
2.    4      Baylor (2013-14 to 2016-17)
       4      North Carolina (2013-14 to 2016-17)

Most combined bowl game and NCAA men's basketball tournament appearances since 1996
1.    40    Wisconsin
2.    35    Florida
3.    34    Texas
       34    Michigan State

Most consecutive NCAA men's basketball tournament appearances (history)
1.    28    Kansas (1990-present)
2.    27    North Carolina (1975-2001)
3.    22    Duke (1996-present)
4.    20    Michigan State (1998-present)
5.    19    Wisconsin (1999-present)
       19    Gonzaga (1999-present)

Most consecutive bowl game appearances (current)
1.    35    Florida State (1982-present)
2.    24    Virginia Tech (1993-present)
3.    20    Georgia (1997-present)
4.    18    Oklahoma (1999-present)
5.    17    LSU (2000-present)
6.    15    Wisconsin (2002-present)
       15    Boise State (2002-present)