I completely understand and share your frustration. College sports are a very different animal than professional sports, although there are many similarities.
Professional teams can only do so much to gain your loyalty (and $$). Winning generates interest and revenue (tickets, licensed products, tv, ads) but not donations.
For colleges winning gains loyalty but also generates donations. A college's interest in their alumni are directly related to giving. There is only so much a university can do to gain alumni loyalty (vis a vis giving). One is stewardship, where a donor supports an aspect of the university the donor believes in (scholsrship, capitsl improvements). The benefits to a donor aren't tangible. Volunteer positions of responsibility are another (trustees, various board memberships, etc.) are usually appointed based on giving. Prime tickets to sporting events always related to capacity to give beyond the price of a ticket.
We try not to think about it as fans, but it is ever present. We follow basketball and mostly do it for love of the game and the endorphin rush that comes with winning. Competing and winning is largely a male thing - it's in our survivsl DNA. But at the heart of university investment in winning teams is how it affects enrollment and donations.
Most of us here loyslly followed this program for decades. But it's also true that precious few have care enough about post season tournaments like BET and NCAA that those tickets before last season were easy to come by. So we cry victim, but we are nearly as guilty as those donors who had low interest in our teams until we begin winning.
Cruel way of the world. I try not to think of the realities.
