March Madness Played Out, Sports Illustrated Style

Pat Forde has gone the distance, playing out the 68 team field that might have been for the NCAA Tournament and March Madness. Did your team win it all?

Did your team win it and claim the NCAA title in the Sports Illustrated March Madness Brackets?

Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde took it the distance and projected the 68 teams that might have been invited to dance had the NCAA Tournament have taken place, then he took it all the way to the championship to declare a winner in the 68 team virtual field for 2020.

So who wins in this version of March Mad-sad-ness?

According to Forde, "Kansas defeats Gonzaga for the men's NCAA tournament championship on a tip-in by Silvio De Sousa, while NCAA Enforcement reps (and much of the rest of the nation) tries not to hurl."

The Jayhawks, who are in the midst of NCAA investigations, much like North Carolina wins a national title while the rest of the college basketball world cheers on anyone else but them- LSU, and Arizona who are also working their way through troubled NCAA waters, and Duke simply because, well they are Duke- to cut down the nets in Atlanta.

"That postgame scenario may stray into the fanciful, but two elements of what’s above are serious: Kansas was the best team of the 2019-20 season and most of the country would have been rooting against the Jayhawks, who are beak-deep in the NCAA crime-and-punishment process."

"A theoretical title doesn’t mean the Jayhawks should raise a banner—that would be as bogus as the school claiming it was victimized by Adidas in the college basketball corruption scandal. Kansas has been the overall No. 1 tourney seed twice before under Self (2010 and ’16) and failed to make the Final Four either time. So you never know."

While the Jayhawks- along with North Carolina- be the most reviled champs of all-time- again throw Duke and Christian Laettner, for Kentucky fans who I assume still hate me into this one- and you can see where this scenario is much more fun since it is virtual and didn't actually occur. 

The good part here is that if you don't like this outcome, just make your own, no one will know and no one can change it, but as with anything, this will be debated for decades as to who would have one, if the games had actually been played.