For 15 seasons, Ben McCollum ran the best Division II basketball program in the country at Northwest Missouri State. He had an 81.3 winning percentage, including a seven-year stretch of 224-16 (.933), and four national titles, with COVID stopping a potential fifth for a 31-1 squad in 2020.
The teams were good. So were the players, who had futures as transfers to high-major D-I ball, European pro leagues and even stops in the NBA.
And so there were times McCollum would do what everyone who has ever coached or played in a lower division does, let alone everyday work life: He wondered how he and his guys would fare if they ever got the chance to compete at the highest level.