Oklahoma's CWS run was unlike anything March Madness has seen in over 4 decades

It's been two days, and it's still hard to wrap our minds around what the Oklahoma Sooners actually just accomplished to become national champions. Maybe it will be easier to comprehend, though, if compared to something more college sports fans are familiar with: March Madness.

The Sooners' unbelievable NCAA Tournament run ended Monday night with the trophy in hand after beating No. 5 national seed North Carolina in Game 3 of the championship series at the Men's College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. OU reached that point as an unseeded team that had to survive a tougher path than any other champion in college baseball history. And the Sooners put that run together after entering the NCAA Tournament as maybe the coldest team in the country before catching fire.

Read more: These Sooners knew they were national champions long before anyone else did

Obviously the NCAA Tournament is structured a lot different between baseball and men's basketball, especially with regionals and super regionals for baseball compared to just one single-elimination bracket for basketball, which is why we love March Madness so much. However, in the best comparison possible based on how the brackets and seedings unfolded, the Sooners just won the national title as an 8-seed. That hasn't been done in men's college basketball since Villanova in 1985.

How the Sooners' CWS run compares to a March Madness Cinderella

The regional part of the college baseball tournament equates to a four-team portion of March Madness with the 1-4 seeds each getting to host a smaller double-elimination bracket. In OU's situation, its corner of the bracket included a 1, 8, 9 and 16 seed.

The Sooners had to beat The Citadel first, which in reality is much easier than a traditional 8-9 matchup in the first round, then had to take on a 1-seed in Georgia Tech, which was the No. 2 national seed. The Yellow Jackets actually won the first meeting, which in a March Madness setting would have ended the Sooners' Cinderella run right there.

But baseball can't really be decided in one meeting with so many moving pieces and pitching matchups. Ultimately, the Sooners beat Georgia Tech twice, including with a buzzer-beater, to upset the 1-seed to advance to the Sweet 16, where 4-seed Kansas waited after cruising through the first two rounds. The Jayhawks, though, didn't seem to belong on the same field as the Sooners as they dominated to reach the Elite 8 in Omaha, finally at a neutral site.

That's where the line really blurs when comparing two drastically different tournaments, but it does reveal that a Cinderella run like the Sooners put together is even more of a challenge in baseball than basketball.

Once at the MCWS, the Sooners had to beat, in order, 2-seed Alabama, 1-seed Georgia twice and 2-seed North Carolina twice. There was no showing up better one day and shots not falling for the other team. The Sooners had to prove it again and again and again. And midnight never came.

Really, what the Sooners just accomplished under Skip Johnson has no comparison, regardless of sport.

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