The Massachusetts men’s basketball team is one victory away from winning the 2008 National Invitational Tournament.

Great. But what does that mean?

Make no mistake; UMass is not playing for a national championship. Though an NIT win would mark an impressive accomplishment for the program, it doesn’t carry the same satisfaction as qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, according to the Minutemen.

The team certainly proved its resolve by turning the frustration of not making the NCAA Tournament into a respectable run in this lesser championship. But all year the Minutemen preached that their primary goal was to qualify for the NCAAs. That sentiment was highly prevalent among the team’s three fifth-year seniors, especially captain Gary Forbes.

There’s no question that the team’s run through the NIT has been outstanding for the program from an exposure perspective.

But that extra exposure may come at a price.

UMass coach Travis Ford – largely considered to be one of the premier young coaches in the game – may upgrade jobs shortly after tonight’s game, win or lose. Even before the team’s NIT success, rumors flew about a possible return to his southern roots in the Southeastern Conference.

Ford’s name has been thrown around for a number of openings, including South Carolina, Providence and Marquette. In fact, there was some speculation last year that Ford would be a candidate for the Kentucky opening. Since the Minutemen started rattling off several impressive non-conference wins early this season, many have speculated about possible destinations for Ford after the season.

In reality, these reports may be nothing more than rumors.

But consider this: yesterday morning, ESPN’s Pat Forde reported that Travis Ford will most likely be named the men’s basketball coach of the Louisiana State Tigers.

“To reiterate, I had two people in the game tell me the deal is ’90 percent’ likely to happen,” Forde wrote on ESPN.com yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Dan Parker of the private company LSU hired to aid its coaching search denied Forde’s report, according to Jim Kleinpeter of The Times-Picayune of New Orleans. Parker said that that no interviews have been held, nor have any offers been extended.

After yesterday’s press conference at Madison Square Garden, Ford plead “no comment” to inquiries about his future employment. Even if LSU has not contacted the coach, you have to wonder how looking ahead to bigger programs will effect his preparation.

Meanwhile, the Tigers have been without a coach since the middle of the season, when the school fired John Brady just two years removed from a Final Four appearance.

The job apparently seems like a pressure-filled situation. Former UMass coach John Calipari was rewarded with a 10-year contract after making the Elite Eight during the 1994-95 season.

After the many years of losing during the Bruiser Flint and Steve Lappas eras, there’s no question that Ford has much less pressure at UMass than in the Bayou. Judging from the attendance figures at home games, he doesn’t have much support either.

But then again, LSU is a primarily a football school and will probably stay that way with its big-time resources and coach (though we’ll see how LSU coach Les Miles fares without all of Nick Saban’s stockpiled talent, but that’s another story).

Another emerging story line is the connection between the possible coaching hire and former Chancellor John Lombardi. Lombardi, of course, was muscled out of the Amherst campus by UMass President Jack Wilson and former chair of the UMass Board of Trustees Steven Tocco. Lombardi hired former vice chancellor Mike Gargano away from UMass and Ford could be the next.

In the end, the LSU job would probably be the final jump for Ford before he takes over the Kentucky program somewhere down the line. It’s clear that Ford is just passing through on his way to a top coaching position in this relationship of reciprocity with UMass.

Yet at this point in his young career (11 seasons as a head coach), Ford is just 14 years removed from his playing days at UK.

Regardless of whether Ford’s coaching ability and if he would be a good fit for the Bayou, he still has an unimpressive resume at UMass. Sure he turned the program around quickly, though some of that was derived from talent held over from the previous regime. It’s no secret that Ford’s goal is to coach at his alma mater. And judging by his coaching ability, it’s likely that he’ll get there sooner rather than later.

But here’s the reality of the Travis Ford file. He’s made one NCAA Tournament appearance (Eastern Kentucky in 2004-05) and has never coached a Top 25 team.

Is an SEC school really going to fire a coach who reached the Final Four two years ago and hire someone who has never experienced the second round of the NCAAs?

This brings us back to the current situation. The Maroon and White can secure its first NIT championship in program history with a win over (the?) Ohio State University tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Therefore the question must be asked: will the team’s run through the NIT Tournament help or hurt the program in the long run?

The answer could swing either way, depending on how Ford handles his options. The Minutemen have a talented core of returning players, but will lose a lot to graduation at the same time. Many wrote off UMass this season after the team lost forwards Rashaun Freeman and Stephane Lasme. So an improvement over this year’s success is certainly not out of the question for 2008-09.

But would Ford still have been a leading candidate for these jobs if the Minutemen had made the NCAA Tournament and lost in the first round? It’s something we’ll never know.

So enjoy this one UMass fans, because it looks like you’ll have a few more years of rebuilding to deal with once the Minutemen hire a new coach. If not, perhaps this episode will be enough to convince hibernating fans to appreciate the product this rising young coach will put on the court next season.

Michael King covers men’s basketball for the Collegian. He can be reached at [email protected].