Even amid a Mid-American Conference championship season, there were murmurs around the Toledo men’s basketball program about next season.
Everyone returns, an acclaimed freshman is on the way, and the transfer portal will be mined.
“All five starters are back,” UT coach Tod Kowalczyk said after the Rockets lost to Dayton in the first round of the NIT. “There are a lot of bright days ahead.”
The 2021-22 season didn’t have a happy ending, but the journey from start to finish was filled with moments that Toledo can carry into the future. The Rockets finished with 26 wins. They won a school record 17 conference games. They won back-to-back outright MAC titles for the first time in program history. They won a title in the Bahamas.
“Championship team,” Kowalczyk said. “Hanging banners. Hell of a team.”
Of course, most of the achievements will be overlooked because the ultimate goal — Toledo’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 1980 — wasn’t crossed off the to-do list. But, in falling short, UT continued knocking on the door. Despite setbacks in the MAC tournament in consecutive seasons after winning the regular-season championship, the Rockets are well positioned for 2022-23.
“A lot of our freshmen are growing up,” junior forward Setric Millner, Jr., said. “We’ve just got to get better. A lot of us have things we can build on. I think this will be a great summer for us.”
Depth is the top priority for Kowalczyk. Transfers are inevitable and the replacement targets are obvious: a shooting guard and a rim-protecting forward. Only three teams used their bench less than Toledo. More concerning than the lack of minutes was the minimal production.
The Rockets proved they could win, doing so often, and by large margins, with five players contributing a majority of the points. A helpful bench can lessen the pressure on starters to score by generating offense from more sources.
“When you start a freshman, two sophomores, and two juniors, it is a building block,” Kowalczyk said. “Are there some things that we have to get addressed in the offseason? Absolutely. And we will. We clearly need to develop our younger guys. Some are on pace. Some just need more time. But the one thing that they all have had is an opportunity. Now they have an opportunity next year to do something with it.”
The connectivity of the 2021-22 UT men’s basketball team was one of the main themes. Players genuinely cared for one another and were friends off the court. The friendships sparked a level of trust that translated to on-court success. There was an innate understanding by each player of the others’ style, helping all of them be in the correct position.
It shouldn’t dissipate next season. If anything, the Rockets should be even more in sync. Freshmen and transfers have mixed nicely with the current group of players, evidence that any new additions will mesh with UT’s holdovers.
“This team was probably the closest I’ve been on,” Millner said. “We didn’t accomplish our goals of being in the NCAA tournament. But when you look at the longevity of our season, 26 wins, that’s something to hang our hat on. We’ve gotta keep building on that and, hopefully, next year we can accomplish our goals.”
State tournaments in Ohio and Wisconsin were recruiting destinations for Toledo’s coaches this weekend.
Kowalczyk is supposed to take a vacation to Florida in the coming weeks, but he isn’t sure that’s still on his itinerary. There’s work to be done for the 2022-23 season.
“I’ll decompress, but it might not be until May,” Kowalczyk said.
The period of downtime will be even shorter for Millner.
“My body needs four or five days off,” he said. “I don’t want to take any days off. I’m hungry.”
First Published March 19, 2022, 3:00 p.m.
