A season that had an air of wizardry all winter crash landed on Wednesday.
Toledo was outmanned and outclassed by visiting Dayton 74-55 in the first round of the NIT, pulling the curtain on a 26-8 season that included a second consecutive outright Mid-American Conference championship, a school-record 17 MAC wins, and the Nassau Championship title.
But how the year ended will linger, especially the inexplicable free-throw shooting against Akron in the MAC semifinals. Wednesday’s result only added to the torment.
“In order to beat a team like this, you have to make some shots. And tonight we didn’t make shots.