Ripping on BG

So Bowling Green couldn't satisfy Jim Larranaga the way George Mason does.
Oh, boo hoo.
In an article in today's Plain Dealer, Larranaga outlines the reasons why he couldn't take the Falcons to the NCAA Tournament once in more than a decade there.
In a sentence, it comes down to money, he said.
At George Mason, his travel budget doubled. The salaries for his assistants doubled. His recruiting budget tripled.
That makes sense, except for the fact that Dan Dakich had no trouble taking a BG team filled with Larranaga's recruits to best record in the MAC in 2000, and to the MAC Tournament championship game in 2002. Both those teams should have gone to the tournament.
But to listen to Larranaga, BG was handcuffing him by forcing him to make room for football and hockey, two sports that George Mason does not have.
"I ... found out some of the things we have the Bowling Green did not," he said.
So, let me ask this: if George Mason basketball is at such an advantage over BG, why haven't they made this type of run beforehand? If BG's Larranaga recruits could get to the cusp of the tournament, I would think a much more well-endowed Larranaga team should be in the NCAAs on a regular basis.
Yet, here they are, little ol' unheralded George Mason, crashing the championship party like Hickory High in "Hoosiers."
Using the Larranaga logic, most urban midmajor commuter schools with no football should be titans of the the hardwood. Cleveland State should be a beast.
But I think it's just a bunch of spinning. The fact that Larranaga couldn't take BG to the NCAAs in 11 seasons is Larranaga's fault, not BG's.