Why can't we be good at men's basketball??

[omegamaulers]

Yes I know this topic has probably been discussed ad nauseam but, I just finished watching TTech vs Florida and just am struck by a school like Tech in the middle of nowhere, in a state with several bigger and more $$$ impressive siblings can almost get to the final four and we cannot even make the Big 10 Tourney.  My friends and I for years often wondered if that fact that we always seem to have good attendance (13th in the country this year I think I saw) and occasionally make an NCAA or NIT tourney every few years is actually enough for those in the upper eschelon of the Athletic Department?  Men's BB makes money I believe every year so I guess is that what is considered enough??  I think we have a respectable coach, great facilities I think.  I know our BB history is not up there with Kansas or heck even Creighton but why can we not field good teams year in and out.  I know NIL is now a huge thing and are we equipped well enough to compete in that way??  Do we have the recruiting chops to compete with others to get players?  We simply cannot seem to consistently get enough good players to compete at a high level.  Hell given the talent this years team had one might even say Fred did a pretty good job coaching a less than talented team.  Is our lack of talen due to poor player evaluation, lack of $$$,  poor coaches, bad schemes or just an inability to create relationships with players to get them to come here.  Omaha seems to produce some players occasionally but we have not been able to get any of them for the most part.  Heck I'm old enough to remember Danny Nee doing very well in Omaha for a few years, what happend there.  Sigh, sorry for my long post but  I wonder if things will ever be different, I'm old enough to know all the excuses, ie Football school, in the middle of nowhere etc.  Any thoughts on this are welcome.

[HuskerFever]

Texas Tech is living their best lives off of oil money, not the amenities and recruiting brochures of Lubbock. They've also taken some risks on coaching that have worked out for them.

 

Teams like Auburn have resurrected from embarrassing levels by landing an exceptional coach (read as: exceptional in coaching, recruiting, and violations).

 

Other schools like Iowa State have found their ways through arbitrage opportunities in a changing collegiate landscape.

 

Even look at the SEC. A couple decades ago they were weak in basketball (prioritizing football-only in most universities). But they bought into strong coaches and raised their level of play across the board over the years.

 

Many of these schools get their foothold from good coaches or supportive administration to build a program.

 

It's one thing to not be able to prove that you can string a few consecutive successful seasons together. It's another to have a bad mark on your resume that says "Never won an NCAA tournament game."

 

Until we can show that we can string some consistent NCAA appearances together and maybe win one from time to time, it will be tough. Not impossible. Georgia has had a terrible NCAA resume in recent history. But they've also bought their way into landing some nationally top recruits to get them where they are in the last few years.