I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but I love a good alternative history story. These are stories where a crucial piece is changed creating a highly entertaining and thought-provoking ripple effect. It's more commonly referred to as playing the 'What-If' game, and it's one of my favorite pastimes.

Last week we discussed what could have been had both Mariota and Manziel enrolled at Oregon. Today, we'll swap sports and look at the hardcourt, where an injury may have cost the Ducks an NCAA title.

Let's set the stage. Last March, the Oregon basketball team looked as much a title contender as any team in the nation. Coming off an Elite Eight appearance the year before, the uber-talented team was led by stud offensive players Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey, and also the best rim protecting duo in the nation in Jordan Bell and Chris Boucher. The trio of capable ball handlers of Payton Pritchard, Dylan Ennis and Casey Benson rounded out the supporting cast.

The team had also weathered the expectations that come with a top five preseason ranking (fifth by both major polls) and the backlash from opening the season with a pair of disappointing early losses, both with Brooks' sidelined with a foot injury, that nearly sent them out of the polls. After falling to No. 23 nationally, following losses to Baylor and Connecticut, the team rattled off 17 straight wins including an upset of then unbeaten and second-ranked UCLA.

Oregon lost twice in 29 games from Nov. 13 to March 10. That stretch of basketball is as good as the program has ever seen. And it's not like they did so against cupcakes. On Feb. 4, the Ducks provided one of the most memorable beatdowns in school history, as they knocked in 16-of-25 shots from deep to hand the fifth-ranked Arizona Wildcats a 27-point defeat — the most lopsided loss for Arizona in nearly a decade.

But things changed in a significant way the night before the Ducks and Wildcats were set for a rematch in Las Vegas in the Pac-12 Tournament final. Boucher, the conference's leader in shot block average, had torn his ACL in the team's narrow win over California. His time at Oregon was done, and once the news leaked out the following afternoon, with a game against UA hours away, many feared Oregon's chances of making a deep run into March was as well.

As we all know, that's not what happened. Oregon recovered like a prize fighter taking a fierce three-punch combo and reached the Final Four for the first time in nearly 80 years. And, they did so without the team's fourth best player. The team came just one point from reaching the championship game, as North Carolina hung on to win 77-76 in Phoenix.

But, what if Boucher had been in the line-up on April 1? Would the Ducks have knocked off the Tar Heels? And if so, what next?

Let's start with that game. North Carolina was the best rebounding team in the country. And, while the Ducks post-Boucher injury was really limited to just Bell to patrol the paint, the Tar Heels were able to throw Kennedy Meeks, Isaiah Hicks and Tony Bradley out there along with a slew of long rangy 6-foot-7 guys.

The perception heading in, was that UNC would dominate the glass, and also the game. That's not what happened, until it's exactly what happened. Oregon actually held the edge on the glass until the final six seconds when the Tar Heels missed four straight foul shots, but gobbled up two consecutive offensive rebounds to clinch it.

It's possible, and I'll say likely that that final ticks of the game doesn't play out like that if Boucher is in the game in place of Casey Benson for that final sequence. Instead of Jordan Bell on one block and Dylan Ennis on the other, Boucher and Bell are out there and they get one of those two. Oregon then has a chance to win with a handful of second left, and who knows?

More than likely, the Ducks aren't in that position with Boucher on the floor for the first 40 minutes, though. While the rebound numbers were even, UNC did have the edge in scoring in the paint and second chance point. That likely isn't the case with him out there. Without Boucher, the Ducks played small, often times with three players 6-foot-3 or shoer on the court at once. With Boucher, they could go double-big to neutralized the Tar Heels size.

And if he's the difference in that game (as much as I'm conflicted given where I attended college), I think he's also the difference in the national title game a few days later, and the Ducks beat Gonzaga to win their first national title.

Obviously, there are a lot of fringe benefits from that, like better recruiting, national perception and maybe when people bring up Oregon basketball it's about the natty and not the peculiar floor at Matthew Knight Arena.

While that's one revised form of this story, there's also another. I actually wonder if Oregon gets to Phoenix with Boucher playing the entire tournament.

Bell and Dorsey elevated their games in the NCAA tournament unlike any players I can remember in program history.

Many forget that Dorsey had averaged just 13.3 points per game and shot just 38.9-percent from three in 34 games prior to the tournament. It was a rather disappointing season. Then he averaged 23.8 points and made a stupid 60.6-percent of threes in five games earning the nickname Mr. March along the way.

I don't think the addition of Boucher impacts any of that. Where I do think it comes in to play is with Bell. The Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year took his game to another level. Bell averaged 12.6 points per game, grabbed 13.2 rebounds and blocked 3.2 shots a game in the tourney, all while making 75.6-percent of his shots.

For the three weekends in March and into April, Bell was simply on a mission, and I'm not sure it's the same one he goes on with the insurance of having another player like Boucher next to him. With Boucher also available, Bell has margin for error. Without him, he doesn't. I truly think the absence of Boucher forced Bell to be better. And with Bell better, the Ducks reached the pinnacle of what they could become.

Remember, that third round win over Rhode Island and Sweet 16 win over Michigan were extremely close games. Both came down to the final minute before the Ducks punched their tickets to the next round. Bell played flawlessly in both. What if he didn't? What if with Boucher next to him he played well, but not like the man on fire we saw? I think the team drops one of those two games, and the season is remembered in completely different terms.

I also think Bell winds up coming back for his senior season if that's the case. The Ducks aren't as good in 2017-18 as they were in 2016-17, but they make the tourney, Bell breaks the conference's shot block record and is a higher draft pick probably to a team that isn't the odds-on-favorite for the NBA title.