David Briggs: Dream about the dance, Toledo fans, but don't diminish what these Rockets are achieving

Feb. 9—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.

Is that an oversimplification? Maybe.

But in a sport that for much of the nation begins in March, the tourney — a water-cooler-emptying cultural phenomenon second only to the Super Bowl — is that important. And at schools like Toledo (last dance: 1980) and Bowling Green (1968), a taste of the madness would mean even more.

At Toledo, most of the serious fans I know and all of the casual fans would sell their hoops souls for the thrill of a drought-busting trip to the NCAA tournament and ask questions about the state of the program later.

"Just one time before I die," one told me Tuesday night at Savage Arena, echoing a common prayer.

I get it, totally.

Toledo making the dance has become a bucket-list item, and, given the wait, the Rockets playing one of those 12-5 upset specials on the first day would galvanize our community like no game has before.

When it happens, it will be awesome.

But ...

Until then, Rockets fans — WARNING: corny T-shirt slogan coming — don't let your focus on the destination keep you from enjoying the ride.

Because the story that's unfolding at Savage Arena this winter is some kind of impressive.

Despite the Rockets losing their two biggest stars — including conference player of the year Marreon Jackson — and not boasting a single senior on their roster, the reigning MAC champions are at it again, alone in first place and resembling the class of the league.

Their 77-62 win over Ohio on Tuesday was another statement in a season full of them.

Like in their first meeting against the Bobcats, a team that hasn't lost to anyone but Toledo in the last 70 days, the Rockets (19-5, 11-2) were sizzling on one end (shooting 56.4 percent), cold-blooded on the other end (Ohio shot 32.8 percent), and swaggering on both ends.

Did you see Setric Milner Jr.'s latest special? His tomahawk jam in transition — a poster in wait that made SportsCenter's top plays — just about brought down the house of 5,881 fans.

For the moment, all was right in Toledo's midnight blue world.

Now, sure, a cynic might say the night meant nothing, because 42 years of history — and a bracketology-crazy media landscape in which every result is viewed through the prism of how it will affect the bubble — tell us the only thing that matters in this UT season is what happens at the conference tournament. But the cynic would be wrong.

"It's not just about three games in Cleveland," Kowalczyk said. "It's just not. Then why are we playing these games? Do our fans want us to finish eighth and just get hot three nights? I don't think that's the case. Our fans want both, a regular-season championship [and the tournament]. A regular-season championship is huge. There's a reason why the Big Ten celebrates the regular-season championship 10 times more than the tournament championship.

"We don't in the MAC, obviously. But the regular season means something. Ohio's got a target on its back. Toledo's got a target on its back. Players relish that. We've earned the right, and so has Ohio, to play in these big games and big moments."

And, indeed, there is something to be said for taking a deep breath and savoring those moments.

Celebrating them, too.

We've explored the great paradox of Kowalczyk's career before, but the aching truth is that what he's doing now — winning big in the regular season, just as he has for many of his 20 seasons as a Division I head coach — is a more impressive and difficult feat than a one-off run in March.

We know this because every MAC school but Toledo and Bowling Green has experienced these charmed runs. Every other program has gone to the NCAA tourney multiple times since 1980 and at least once since 1996.

Other programs haven't done what Toledo is now. Since the 2012-13 season, the Rockets are 112-62 in the MAC. No team has more league wins.

Kowalczyk, 55, is not just the best veteran coach never to make the tournament. He's a first-rate coach period, with this season perhaps his finest work yet.

Led by a true mid-major superstar in sophomore guard Ryan Rollins — who had 15 points, 16 rebounds, and eight assists on Tuesday — a team that plays with joy and purpose has fit together beautifully.

And, better yet, shown a knack for meeting the moment.

Since a three-point loss at Kent State on New Year's Day, the Rockets are 5-0 against the top six teams in the league — No. 2 Ohio, No. 3 Akron, No. 5 Buffalo, and No. 6 Central Michigan — winning those games by an average of 16 points.

Does that mean this is the year?

Very possibly, and for the sake of Toledo and our community, I hope so.

Let me again gently disagree with Kowalczyk. Most supporters absolutely would trade an eighth-place finish in the MAC for three blazing nights in Cleveland and a trip to the tourney.

But, fortunately, in real life, souls are not on sale. Fans don't have to make a choice.

They can enjoy this special Toledo team and season, and dream of a confetti-soaked ending in Cleveland.