We will know we have arrived as a program when . . .

As long as we have the mentality that "only the conference season matters," we can know we are still small-time basketball, because in the by-ways of college basketball that is true. In fact, we are so low down that only the conference tournament matters. Teams from non-money conferences that have arrived in the national conversation care very much about the non-conference season, because that is where they make their statement. No one cares much if Gonzaga beats a West Coast Conference team (at least most seasons). No one will care if we beat a Sun Belt team, but if we beat someone who appears at least from time to time in the Top 25 (and there are none in the Belt), then that makes at least a small statement of where we are.