Final Four remix: What if the Elite Eight had gone totally differently?

This year’s NCAA Tournament has felt different. It just has.

Perhaps it is because of the conspicuous absences. No Florida. No Michigan. No Connecticut. No Syracuse. Even tournament regulars like Creighton and St. Louis failed to make the field of 68.

Or maybe it is because this year’s edition of March Madness has not been that mad at all. The mayhem has been lukewarm. The bedlam that has come to define the NCAA Tournament was present for the first couple of rounds (looking at you, Georgia State and UAB), but the drama subsided by the round of 16.

The biggest surprise of this year’s Sweet 16 was NC State. Sure, the Wolfpack defeated a one-seed in Villanova in the third round. But this is an NC State team that went over .500 in the ACC and posted impressive regular season wins over Duke, North Carolina and Louisville. Not exactly a Cinderella.

Last year, Dayton battled Stanford for the right to play in the Elite Eight. Two years ago? Wichita State faced La Salle in the Sweet 16 (a nine-seed vs. a 13-seed), while Florida Gulf Coast captured the hearts of millions of Americans with a remarkable run that featured improbable upsets and exhilarating alley-oops.

We cannot have an FGCU in the Sweet 16 every year. But this year followed the script a bit too well. In 2011, Butler and VCU met in a Final Four clash. And, of course, in 2006 George Mason officially messed up everything we thought we knew about everything when they knocked off Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State and Connecticut en route to a Final Four berth.

So, where were we? Ah, yes. Three one-seeds have found a home in the Final Four this year, which has left us with mundane headlines but has simultaneously given us two heavyweight fights in Kentucky-Wisconsin and Duke-Michigan State. The underdog stories are captivating and defy our expectations, but there is also something to be said for the traditional powerhouses taking center stage in early April.

There will be infinitely many Final Four previews, trailers, promos and primers out there. Some will say Kentucky will win, no questions asked. Others will hop on the Badger Express hype train and laud Frank Kaminsky for being the best player ever. Some will claim Jahlil Okafor and Duke will overwhelm Michigan State, while others will point out how Tom Izzo’s Spartans are peaking at just the right time and are capable of winning it all.

Nothing I write in this column in terms of Final Four predictions will blow you away. There will be plenty of predictions out there, much like there will be ungodly amounts of analysis about 19-year-olds playing on this pressure-filled stage.

You will read those articles, as will I. But it is in our human nature to look back, to reflect and to ask “What if?” from time to time. As fans, it is fine to bulldoze ahead during March because the tournament has such a whiplash effect on viewers, meaning it is dangerous to dwell on any one team’s departure from the tournament. It moves too fast. There is too much looking ahead to do. Your bracket is in shambles after the first slate of games, so you flip the switch to “forget about my bracket” mode and subsequently realize the short lifespan of the tournament itself is far more depressing than your erroneous bracket.

Before you know it, boom. Tourney’s over. It is coming, and quite frankly, it is a little sad. But let us just pretend for a minute here. Let us just say that Notre Dame had beaten Kentucky, that Arizona had avenged last year’s loss to Wisconsin, that Louisville had defeated Michigan State and that Gonzaga had pulled off the upset against Duke.

It could so easily have happened.

Jerian Grant hits that buzzer-beater for Notre Dame and shatters Kentucky’s perfect season. Sam Dekker does not drain that dagger of a looping three-pointer in crunch time for Wisconsin, and Arizona wins in dramatic fashion. Mangok Mathiang sinks that second free throw to put Louisville up by one with just seconds to go, and Michigan State’s final shot at the buzzer somehow stays out. Gonzaga finds a way to quell the Blue Devils’ late surge, shocking Coach K and Duke.

Missed opportunities are the very fabric of the difference between winning and losing. I get it. But the Final Four would have felt so different without any one-seeds.

Arizona-Notre Dame would have been an intriguing matchup. Arizona’s Kaleb Tarczewski and Notre Dame’s Zach Auguste are powerful interior players, while the fans would have been spoiled by getting to watch two of the best athletes in the entire tournament—Arizona forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant—play on the same floor.

As for Gonzaga-Louisville, Kevin Pangos is an elite talent and directs traffic effortlessly for the Bulldogs, but Louisville is long, strong and more talented in the paint. For Rick Pitino’s Cardinals, Montrezl Harrell is a matchup nightmare, and Terry Rozier’s hands actually never stop moving on defense.

In this alternative Final Four, it is virtually impossible to identify a clear favorite. However, I think Arizona would have defeated Louisville in the title game. Despite Pitino’s savvy and experience in big games, I think Sean Miller’s Wildcats would have won it all. Behind veteran guards T.J. McConnell and Gabe York, the Cats could have attacked the Cards in a multitude of ways. Tarczewski gave Wisconsin big man Frank Kaminski fits at times in their Elite Eight encounter, but he still would have had his hands full with Louisville’s size and athleticism in the paint. Luckily for the Wildcats, with the one-two punch from their guards — in addition to the consistent production from Hollis-Jefferson — they would still have been in a manageable spot and could have played inside out if Louisville’s big fellas were marshaling the paint successfully.

Oh, right, I have been using the conditional tense here. None of that was real. Kentucky, Wisconsin, Duke and Michigan State have already taken the only four seats at the cool kids’ table.

Notre Dame-Arizona, Louisville-Gonzaga and Arizona-Louisville, however, would have been incredible contests. May those hypothetical games rest in peace.