Any time a college basketball program resides in a one-bid conference like the NEC, a significant part of the NCAA tournament battle is about getting your team in a position to win come early March. Really, it’s all most teams can ask for, especially given the crapshoot one-and-done format of the conference postseason tournaments.

If you’re grading a coach’s resume based on these criteria alone, then six-year Quinnipiac head coach Tom Moore passes with flying colors.

Since Moore was hired at Quinnipiac in 2007, only two other programs have accumulated more NEC victories within that time frame. Robert Morris (97 wins) and LIU Brooklyn (83 wins) have bettered Quinnipiac’s (75 wins) recent success in the NEC, but that has been it. Even more impressive, few teams have been as good in the month of February than Moore, with his Bobcats posting a fantastic 36-12 record.

As for the second part of the battle, well that’s a different story. Despite their regular season success, Quinnipiac hasn’t been able to get over the hump during the NEC Tournament.

It’s been an all too familiar trend for Moore. In the previous four seasons, the Bobcats have fallen to the eventual champ – twice to Robert Morris in the 2010 finals and 2011 semifinals and twice to LIU Brooklyn in the last two seasons. In each setback, the outcome could have changed had one or two possessions in the waning moments – a different bounce of the basketball, a referee’s no-call, anything – gone a different way.

For Moore, those excruciating, fingernail biting defeats serve as a constant reminder at how invested he and his staff has been in attempting to push Quinnipiac to the next level. The losses, to the surprise of no one, still sting to this day for the former Jim Calhoun assistant.

“From a coaching point of view, [those losses] will haunt me for the rest of my life, to be honest,“ said a candid Moore. ”In coaching – I don’t know if I’m wired differently – but the bad losses stay with me longer than the great wins.”

Reflecting back on those games evidentially poses a mental toll. Moore is able to recite and relive those final minutes of every loss like it happened yesterday. Moments like the Velton Jones’ runner in the lane that helped push Robert Morris to their second straight NCAA tournament berth come immediately to mind. A Robert Morris’ offensive rebound off a missed free throw, which helped seal a semifinal road victory a year later, also haunts Moore to this day.

When recalling those brutal, defensive minded half-court showdowns with Robert Morris, Moore dryly states, “Those games were like going to the dentist.”

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more plays, sequences, and what-ifs that race through Moore’s head throughout the offseason.

In each of the past two postseason tournaments, Quinnipiac has squandered late second half leads to an offensively superior LIU Brooklyn club, even though the Bobcats had been dominating their NEC rivals for the first 30 to 35 minutes of the contest.

“The one thing I regret about those [LIU Brooklyn] games is I do think we, at times, played too quick offensively,” said Moore. “Over the course of the game, they can get you into that because they go from defense to offense really quick. You can score on them, so sometimes your kids get caught up a little bit into the crowd, into continuing to score with them. In those two games, we could have done a better job slowing down our own offense, which is very hard to do when you’re scoring yourself.”

In retrospect, the Quinnipiac coach shouldn’t hang his head too low. If anything, the Bobcats have been devoid of luck in these pivotal games. While Moore will be the first to tell you that his team’s execution was lacking during those critical possessions, every team needs some good fortune in those hard-fought, down to the wire battles.

With Quinnipiac heading to the MAAC next fall, there are no other opportunities to grab that elusive NCAA autobid in the NEC tournament. Regardless, Moore is proud of the progress his program has made under his watch. He inherited a mediocre team that experienced losing seasons for four straight years, and transformed them into an upper echelon club that had a legitimate chance every year to represent the NEC in the NCAA Tournament.

“As I look back on our six years in the NEC, I’m happy with the job that my kids and our staff have done,” said Moore. “I’m proud and happy that we put ourselves in position in the biggest games of the NEC tournaments to win, just disappointed we didn’t get over the hump.”

Quinnipiac fans may be rife with disappointment off another agonizing defeat, yet there’s plenty to look forward to. The formidable frontcourt tandem of Ike Azotam and Ousmane Drame, who together averaged 15 rebounds per game and anchored an interior defense that held NEC opponents to 46.6% shooting inside the arc, will be back next season. Over the last 12 games, Drame in particular has emerged as a dominant force down low, averaging nearly 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game.

“He’s got a really, really bright future,” said Moore when asked about the 6’9″ center’s potential. “[Drame] evolved into a consistent practice player over the course of the season and as a result of that, you saw the increase in production. If he can stay out of foul trouble, he can put up really big numbers.”

Pair Drame and Azotam with a talented backcourt that’s getting more experience, and you have a team that should have an interesting first season in the MAAC. If young guards like Kendrick Ray, James Ford, Zaid Hearst and the surprising Evan Conti can continue to develop, the Bobcats will be a factor right away.

Before then, however, Moore must endure another long offseason to reminisce about what could have been. He’ll, of course, strive to push Quinnipiac to their first ever NCAA bid, but those close losses in the NEC Tournament will weigh on his mind for a while. Being a basketball coach can just be so cruel sometimes.

Ryan Peters covers Northeast Conference men’s basketball for Big Apple Buckets. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @pioneer_pride