Markelle Fultz did not need March Madness. Neither did Luka Doncic, Ben Simmons and plenty of other basketball stars going back decades.
By the time Fultz and Simmons were drafted into the N.B.A., they had dazzled scouts, enchanted executives and probably appeared in the dreams of marketing wizards — even though they had played in college without logging a minute in the N.C.A.A.’s Division I men’s basketball tournament.
Fultz, the Orlando Magic guard who became the top pick of the 2017 draft after one season at the University of Washington, said in an interview last year: “It could have been counted against me, but it didn’t.