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Konstantinos Pelechrinis, Associate Professor of Computing and Information, University of Pittsburgh

The 'hot hand' is a real basketball phenomenon – but only some players have the ability to go on these basket-making streaks

Kevin Durant is one of the NBA players who shows the ability to go on hot streaks. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

March Madness is here, and basketball fans are making predictions: Who will be the Cinderella story of the college tournament? Which teams will make a run to the Final Four? And of course, which player is going to get “hot” and carry their team to a championship?

To say a player is “hot” or has “hot hands” means the player is on a streak of making many consecutive shots. A question that has dogged researchers, coaches and fans for years is whether players on these streaks can defy random chance, or if hot hands are just an illusion and fit within statistical norms.

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