You still have to play the game.
Duke had the easiest bracket...tell that to the players who lost in that bracket. Duke beat West Virginia by 21, the same WV that knocked off #1 Kentucky. They beat Butler, the same Butler that knocked off #1 Syracuse. Kansas got knocked off by N. Iowa, who was beat by Michigan St., who lost to...Butler.
I don't know if Kansas would have beaten Duke if they played, or if Duke would have lost to so and so if they were in whatever bracket, but there's always excuses. Excuses are for losers.
I wasn't real impressed with Kansas' bracket a few years ago, if you want to nit pick. Portland St., UNLV, Villanova, and Davidson. Good teams, but not great. But big deal...you said it yourself, it's ''madness'', it's a ''tourney''...you have to win the games. In theory, Kansas should have ran through the tourney and won , probably facing Duke out of their ''easy'' bracket, and won the championship. It didn't work out that way. Big deal.
Maybe they swap brackets, and maybe Kansas loses to Oklahoma State again. Until you play the games, it's not easy.
Personally, I had Kansas winning it all in a $100. per bracket tourney, so I missed out with them losing. LOL.