As March comes to a close, we near the end of the madness. College basketball will all be over come Monday (April 6), and all we’ll be left with is Lebron, Kobe and a whole lot of travelling.

Well I don’t want that. And I’m sure most of America’s sports fans don’t want that either.

If you think about it, the NCAA tournament brings American’s closer. All March long, people of different age, race, gender and class gather around, asking each other how their bracket is doing. Las Vegas’ economy goes through the roof. Families sit down together in hopes for a mid-major to upset the big team. Schools like Cleveland State and Siena get airtime and recognition from across the entire country.

Did you know that Siena has only 3,000 students? That’s almost the size the size of Aquinas—and they beat Ohio State!

I can’t stop watching it. I’m constantly checking statistics, switching back and forth from CBS Sports to ESPN, all while keeping my bracket in the palm of my hand. I’m obsessed. I love coming home from class and turning on the television just in time to see an upset game—like Western Kentucky over Illinois. I love knowing that out of every team in the tournament, Utah had the best free-throw percentage, yet they still were upset by a team most thought shouldn’t have even been in the tournament.

And now that it is drawing to an end, I can’t help but think about all the possibilities of what could have been—the what ifs.

What if Siena had pulled off the upset on Louisville in the second round? What if American had held on to their lead and triumphed over Villanova? Or if Pitt had been the first one-seed to lose? They only beat East Tennessee State by ten…

What if St. Mary’s had been in the tournament instead of Arizona? Or Creighton? Would they have made it to the Sweet Sixteen? Or if Davidson had made it to the tournament? Would America’s golden boy Stephen Curry made a miracle run again? Curry averaged 28.6 points per season this year, including four 40-plus point games. What if he was in the madness? What if Curry played in the ACC?

What if coach Calhoun of UConn was still in the hospital and couldn’t make it to the rest of the tournament? Would UConn beat Purdue? Or Missouri?

What if Rick Pitino had stayed with Providence? Or Kentucky? Or the NBA? Would Louisville have been the number one overall in the tournament? If they had a different coach, could they have beat MSU? What if Alabama State beat Morehead State? Would it have mattered? Could it have changed Louisville’s path? What if Louisville was still in Conference USA? What would be of Louisville? Of Memphis?

What if VCU had beaten UCLA? Could Eric Maynor have been the next Stephen Curry? He averaged 22.4 points per game. Or if North Dakota State had upset Kansas like Bucknell did five years ago? Would the nation be ga-ga for Ben Woodside, who dropped 37 points in the Bisons loss?

What if UNC’s Ty Lawson hadn’t messed up his toe? They beat Radford by 43 points without him—would they have won by 70 with him? What if Lawson hadn’t come back? Would UNC have made it to the Final Four?

What if Syracuse hadn’t shot 0-10 from behind the arc against the Sooners in the first half? Or if Jonny Flynn hadn’t injured his hip after being run over by Blake Griffin? Would he have scored more than 22?

What if Oklahoma had a three-point shooter? Would they have ousted UNC? Would they have been unstoppable?

What if the play-in game was eliminated? What if the bracket was extended to accept 128 teams instead of 64?

What if instead of a tournament, college basketball was like college football? What if there were bowl games?

What if?