When I was in school...I won't say in class...MBB and WBB was as big if not bigger than hockey. Boschee, Vonesh, Gulseth, Robertson......they were winners and the Slop was packed night in and night out.
Winning team bring in fans...especially casual fans. I tire of the excuses on this site from cold weather, no money, no fan support, the transition and "no-win" situations for programs that struggle to compete and win like MBB now and the Muss era FB teams.