I know it feels like the end of the world now that the men’s basketball team didn’t make the NCAA tournament.

I know you think the Terps are the worst team ever to stumble onto a court, the most disappointing group of untalented schmucks to ever play the game. I know you and your recreational league crew could probably take them.

But believe me, there have been far worse teams. Not every team wins every year. Not every team goes to the NCAA tournament – not even former national champions.

So to blast the Terps for missing, even two straight years, is a little unfair. They certainly deserve a good deal of criticism, but to think this is some kind of terrible anomaly is wrong.

Connecticut missed the tournament two years after winning the title in 1999. Kansas didn’t make it one year after winning it in 1988. Kentucky didn’t dance six years after taking it all. Syracuse needed an improbable Big East tournament run to get in this year.

History-laden UCLA has been out the past three years. Georgetown’s last visit was in 2001 before reemerging this year. Louisville went to last year’s Final Four and now, much like the Terps, find themselves as a No. 1 seed in the Not Interesting Tournament (NIT).

It doesn’t happen often, but big-time programs stumble here and there. With the exception of a handful of programs every team will go through a spell when it doesn’t land in meaningful postseason play.

The Terps aren’t one of those programs. After a national title, people wrongfully labeled the Terps as an elite program, which lead to too high of expectations.

In reality, the Terps had a steady NCAA tournament run capped off by a couple great years where the talent, coaching and even a little luck came together to produce something spectacular. They were consistently a top program, but far from a legacy.

Here’s a news flash. It’s not easy to make the NCAA tournament. I know when you see Oral Roberts and Murray State in there, it skews your perception. But in reality, many deserving teams are left out every season.

That’s not to say this team was good enough to get a bid. This senior class vastly underachieved and nobody can deny that. But how much do you expect from a failed class?

No matter how hard you willed it, this team wasn’t going anywhere once Chris McCray left. But this program isn’t spiraling down the tubes and Williams isn’t washed up.

It’s just another bump on the road that will surely smooth out with time.

Contact columnist Ryan Mink at sports@dbk.umd.edu.