Thud! The season ends for U.C. Good thing or bad thing?

There's plenty of talk out there about the merits of U.C. trudging off to Auburn, or Kansas State, or Penn State to play an N.I.T. game. There are some close to the U.C. program who feel it's best to let this season go and let the head coach get some recruiting in. If it's my team, I want to keep playing. How bad must things be if you'd rather knock off for the year instead of getting more games in? If your program is suffering to the point you would turn down the N.I.T., then you may as well blow the program up and start over. Again, U.C. wasn't promoting the idea of refusing an N.I.T. bid, but I've heard plenty of talk that U.C. is better off without the bid. Honestly, I don't get it. If players, coaches, or whoever need a break from each other that badly, then in my book it's a lost cause. I'm told it hasn't reached that point at U.C., so I guess that's a start.