If an NCAA tournament team returns all five starters, the expectations are going to surge.
The University of Toledo found out last summer and fall when the presumption around town was that the Rockets would breeze through the 2023-24 season and crash the Big Dance for a second consecutive year.
Not all has gone according to plan. And it isn’t because of the starting five.
As it turns out, replacing the sixth and seventh players was key to UT replicating the previous two seasons of overflowing success.
“How many kids play at a mid-major and sign pro contracts?