the NCAA or win the NIT?

Most have answered "NCAA, definitely!" to this Q over the past few years as it is always brought up near the end of each regular season. The last 2 years we have indeed made the NCAA. However, both years we got placed in arguably the worst game, the 8/9 game where chances to advance more than 1 game is very small. Then we proceeded to lose both times.

In hindsight, are we better off as a program for having lost in the NCAA rather than win 5 and take the NIT? Has this made us better prepared for future NCAA's?

I don't know the answer. Just wondering if the consensus is still "NCAA, definitely!"
TIA