It's obvious I'm trying to cheapen anything good about BU? That's a pretty strong accusation.
Look, telling a recruit you've had three straight 20-win seasons and been to three straight postseasons is a nice tool and all, but they're facts that have a good bit of spin to them. Anyone who followed last year's team knows that it was anything but a "good" 20-win season. There were injuries, suspensions resulting from self-inflicted problems, an arrest, ugly home losses. If not for a nice run in a third-rate, first-year tournament, everyone would be saying last year was an absolute disaster for a team that was picked to finish second in the league and compete for an NCAA berth. Twenty-win seasons are a nice thing to have, but was it a success? No.
As for your final, question, I'd want to be in A position to have shot at a bid come Selection Sunday. FWIW, in the scenario you reference, the latter team had a better shot than the former each of the last two years.