What is a "consistent NCAA tournament team"?

I’ll preface this by saying that I have no particular allegiance to the Penn State basketball team. I am not an alum, nor are any close friends or family. I’m a huge Penn State Football fan primarily because of the way I completely and unequivocally respect how JoePa runs his organization with "The Great Experiment" and could never imagine cheering for another team over PSU. It also didn’t hurt that growing up in Philadelphia, the ’87 Fiesta Bowl was the first national championship for any "home team" that I can remember, and that it came over a team that my father vehemently hated. But while I am a college hoops fan, due to a variety of reasons my allegiances lay elsewhere. That being said, I have an outsider’s curiosity as to the current mindset of PSU basketball fans. From what I gather from this site, the majority of you feel that men’s hoops will only gain a respectable following (from students, alums, etc) if they become a regular NCAA tournament team, as indicated by this poll http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2010/3/16/1376075/who-cares-penn-state-basketball. My question to all of you then, is what is a consistent NCAA team? 50% of the time? 75% of the time? 90% of the time? No team makes it 100% of the time. Arizona had its consecutive NCAA tournament appearance record broken this year. Additionally, perennial powerhouse teams that many would consider to be consistent national championship contenders (UNC, UCLA) also didn’t make the cut this year. Kentucky missed out last year, etc. I’ve compiled a list of 15 well known schools below, showing how many NCAA tournament appearances they’ve had over the last 25, 10, and 5 years including this year. Some of these schools are powerhouse teams that contend for national championships and Final Fours multiple times a decade (ie Kansas), some are historically strong schools but are are on a down turn currently (ie Indiana), some are (like Penn State) primarily considered football schools (ie Georgia), and others are just what I would consider good but not great programs (ie Memphis). Please note that I’ve only considered NCAA tournament appearances, not how each team fared in the tourney. So Florida’s back to back national championships don’t count any more than Stanford’s 2 appearances over the last 5 years. Also, vacated appearances (ie Memphis, 2008) don’t count. Back to my question: what makes a "consistent NCAA team"? What team will Penn State have to emulate to attract the masses to games?

Team 25 year 10 year 5 year

Kansas 24 (96%) 10 (100%) 5 (100%)

UNC 22 (88%) 7 (70%) 4 (80%)

Kentucky 21 (84%) 9 (90%) 4 (80%)

Indiana 21 (84%) 6 (60%) 3 (60%)

Illinois 19 (76%) 8 (80%) 3 (60%)

Florida 15 (60%) 8 (80%) 3 (60%)

Ohio State 8 (32%) 4 (40%) 4 (80%)

Georgia 7 (28%) 2 (20%) 1 (20%)

LSU 13 (52%) 4 (40%) 2 (40%)

Memphis 12 (48%) 5 (50%) 3 (60%)

Villanova 14 (56%) 6 (60%) 5 (100%)

Pitt 15 (60%) 9 (90%) 5 (100%)

Stanford 15 (60%) 6 (60%) 2 (40%)

Maryland 16 (64%) 7 (70%) 3 (60%)

Texas 20 (80%) 10 (100%) 5 (100%)