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SI Cover Curse: Villanova Or Syracuse Set To Win It All

By Nathan Giese

Mar 26, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright celebrates after beating the Kansas Jayhawks in the south regional final of the NCAA Tournament at KFC YUM!. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 26, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright celebrates after beating the Kansas Jayhawks in the south regional final of the NCAA Tournament at KFC YUM!. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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The SI cover curse is a very real thing. This year, it all but guarantees Villanova or Syracuse will win the national title.

If history is any indication, prepare for Villanova or Syracuse to win the national championship in Houston on Monday.

Jokes are often made at Sports Illustrated’s expense, but history has shown that the SI cover curse is a very real thing. Sometimes this curse holds up, other times it doesn’t, but the bad often outweighs the good.

Last year, college basketball was featured on SI’s cover minimally, but there were a few times that the amateurs received the honor.

For their 2015 NCAA tournament preview, only one player was featured on the cover in Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky, featuring the big man standing in front of a tank, highlighting his nickname Frank The Tank.

Mar 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Brice Johnson (11) reacts during the second half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the championship game in the East regional of the NCAA Tournament at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 27, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Brice Johnson (11) reacts during the second half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the championship game in the East regional of the NCAA Tournament at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

One week before this, the Kentucky trio of Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein and Dakari Johnson were featured on the cover, asking which team, if anybody, could beat the Wildcats.

Final Four week, SI again had Kentucky on the cover, a photo of Towns front and center, the headline speaking of the Wildcats’ pursuit of a 40-0 season.

Neither of these teams won the title.

Duke was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated once last season prior to their national championship win, a regional cover featuring Jahlil Okafor for the college basketball preview issue. Texas’ Isaiah Taylor, Arizona’s Brandon Ashley, Kentucky’s Alex Poythress and Kaminsky were the other cover athletes for that issue.

Mar 27, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Syracuse Orange forward Tyler Roberson (21) dunks against the Virginia Cavaliers during the first half in the championship game of the midwest regional of the NCAA Tournament at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 27, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Syracuse Orange forward Tyler Roberson (21) dunks against the Virginia Cavaliers during the first half in the championship game of the midwest regional of the NCAA Tournament at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports /

This season, there was no college hoops preview issue cover (thanks a lot, Kansas City Royals). Had college hoops gotten the cover, though, SI was going to go with more regional covers, this year featuring Poythress (again), Kansas’ Perry Ellis and North Carolina’s Marcus Paige.

For its NCAA tournament preview issue, regional covers were once again used, featuring Carolina’s Brice Johnson, Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, Iowa’s Jarrod Uthoff and Connecticut’s Breanna Stewart (yes, women’s hoops is a thing too and it can be fun. Give it a try).

This week, SI has once again opted to use Hield for its cover, making it the second year in a row that the expected national player of the year has graced the cover.

This has to be great news for Syracuse, who has already made a rather remarkable run to the Final Four, and Villanova and their respective pursuits for the national championship.

In order to combat this cover curse, SI has opted to use regional covers more frequently, as it has done this time around. Except instead of another team playing in Houston in the Final Four, SI has opted to use Tiger Woods for its other cover athlete.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Sports Illustrated has used regional covers, but this could also be the third straight year that SI has covers featuring at least two Final Four teams on the cover and neither of them winning it all.

Mar 27, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim reacts against the Virginia Cavaliers during the first half in the championship game of the midwest regional of the NCAA Tournament at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 27, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim reacts against the Virginia Cavaliers during the first half in the championship game of the midwest regional of the NCAA Tournament at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports /

The last time the national champion was on the cover for the start of the NCAA tournament until the end of the season was in 2013 when Louisville’s Kevin Ware was being comforted by teammates after his gruesome broken leg in the regional final against Duke.

Here are the covers for the 2014 NCAA tournament preview issue and these are the covers for the 2014 Final Four preview. Kevin Ollie‘s Huskies are nowhere to be found, though Stewart was featured on one of them. We already went through the 2015 stretch.

Next: NCAA: No 1-And-Dones Means A Lot More Fun

So consider the Final Four participants to be featured on the cover of SI: Hield (twice in the last three weeks), Johnson (tournament preview) and Paige (hoops preview cover that wasn’t). Now consider who hasn’t made the cover: Villanova and Syracuse.

All signs point to one of the first members of the old Big East winning the national championship.

More hoops habit: 50 Greatest NBA Players Not in the Hall of Fame

You’ve been warned.