A few years ago, Toledo men’s basketball coach Tod Kowalczyk asked me a version of the hypothetical question I hear often from fans.
Let’s say your team plays in a league that traditionally receives one bid to the NCAA tournament. What would you rather have: A program that is consistently ordinary at best, but every now and then, catches fire at the league tournament and makes it to the Big Dance? Or a program that is routinely excellent in the regular season but eternally star-crossed in March?
To a coach, easy: You want the excellent program.
To a fan, even easier: You want the NCAA tournament.