Rich: Geno non-committal on continuing series with ND

[pap49cba]

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[Wbbfan1]

IMHO because of Geno's perspective of what ND did to the Big East, he won't play them on a regular basis. He'll agree to play them in the Maggie Dixon Classic or other neutral settings which benefit UConn.

 

[Kibitzer]

Geno has often indicated his displeasure with Notre Dame joining the Big East on their terms (no football) and now they have done it again by leaving the Big East and joining the ACC on their terms.

ND holds the cards (and the NBC TV contract) in football. UConn has the leverage in wcbb. I don't expect Geno to do them any favors, especially after whipping them thoroughly at least twice this season.

ND chose to hob-nob with the ACC. Let them build a big rivalry with the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest.

 

[Wonkster]

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Noncommittal. How appropriate!

 

[CTGirl15]

I understand where Geno is coming from here. Playing too many teams from one conference is not ideal and Geno has always been vocal about his dislike of the arrangement ND had with the Big East. Now that they have jumped ship there's no need for him to sugarcoat it or play nice anymore.

However, I think it would be a shame to lose this rivalry. As much as I dislike ND, the games we've played over the past couple of years have been some of the best and it's obvious it means something to the players as well.

It's also tough to blame and punish Muffett, the Irish players, or the ND WBB fans for this move. I doubt WCBB played any part in this move, it was based entirely on football. I'm sure they would have preferred to stay in the Big East if they had a vote. They were forced into this move and now they are losing their best rivalry/series.

I don't think we owe them anything and I understand being non-committal about this because it's a tough situation, but I would like to see this rivalry continue if possible, even if just for a couple of years. If ND falls off the map in wcbb, then we can cancel the series based on wanting competitive ooc games. Just my two cents on this situation.

 

[Icebear]

I would suggest that ND should spend some time in purgatory.

 

[Stray Cat]

ND chose to hob-nob with the ACC. Let them build a big rivalry with the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest.

Stop being hypocritical...it's not like UConn hasn't explored it's options beyond the BE. You gotta look out for number one...period. ND did what it had to do. Besides, ND's decision was largely based on it's implications to their football program.

Comments like this are just sour grapes. I want to play ND annually...although they have had the Huskies number recently, it's good to have some competition after virtually sleep-walking thru the rest of the season.

 

[Wbbfan1]

ND could have made the same arrangements with the Big East when the Big East had BC, Miami, Virginia Tech and the Big East would still be a relevant Football Conference. Those schools would not have left the Big East. The ACC would be where the Big East is today if that had happened. Because ND didn't make a commitment to Big East Football is why teams decided to look elsewhere. I also resent ND as well as other schools that were on Big East committees that were created to improve Big East football. While serving on the committees, they were also looking to leave the Big East.

Don't take me wrong, I understand what ND did and how it helps their Football program. That doesn't mean Geno owes ND anything and there are enough other programs that will provide competition for UConn. IMHO like Tenn, ND needs UConn more then UConn does when it comes to Women's Basketball. The years that ND Football schedules UConn football, is when Geno should schedule a ND Women's Basketball Game.

Stop being hypocritical...it's not like UConn hasn't explored it's options beyond the BE. You gotta look out for number one...period. ND did what it had to do. Besides, ND's decision was largely based on it's implications to their football program.

Comments like this are just sour grapes. I want to play ND annually...although they have had the Huskies number recently, it's good to have some competition after virtually sleep-walking thru the rest of the season.

 

[Forty_four]

ND could have made the same arrangements with the Big East when the Big East had BC, Miami, Virginia Tech and the Big East would still be a relevant Football Conference. Those schools would not have left the Big East. The ACC would be where the Big East is today if that had happened. Because ND didn't make a commitment to Big East Football is why teams decided to look elsewhere. I also resent ND as well as other schools that were on Big East committees that were created to improve Big East football. While serving on the committees, they were also looking to leave the Big East.

Don't take me wrong, I understand what ND did and how it helps their Football program. That doesn't mean Geno owes ND anything and there are enough other programs that will provide competition for UConn. IMHO like Tenn, ND needs UConn more then UConn does when it comes to Women's Basketball. The years that ND Football schedules UConn football, is when Geno should schedule a ND Women's Basketball Game.

I like that approach alot!

 

[Stray Cat]

ND could have made the same arrangements with the Big East when the Big East had BC, Miami, Virginia Tech and the Big East would still be a relevant Football Conference.

That was years ago...before the landscape starting changing towards "Super Conferences". Football independence is and always will be a top priority for ND, and whiles this is still true, it may be something that ND is forced to give up someday. The move to the ACC was a best-option hedge against based on the current situation.

IMHO like Tenn, ND needs UConn more then UConn does when it comes to Women's Basketball. The years that ND Football schedules UConn football, is when Geno should schedule a ND Women's Basketball Game.

Really?! You're starting to sound like those uber egotistical LV's fans that I have grown to hate and am so happy to see crashing down earth. ND will be just fine with or with out UConn. Besides, like UConn, they are probably sick and tired of playing the Huskies 4x per year and are looking forward to playing some top-ranked teams from ever-improving ACC. I agree that UConn doesn't need ND but the BE will certainly feel the affects of ND's departure...as it stands know, the BE WBB conference is very mediocre bordering on craptastic if it should lose UConn or Louisville which to me seems very possible.

 

[MikeBraddock]

I would suggest that ND should spend some time in purgatory.

I would suggest that ND should spend some time in purgatory.

Yes, with my six years at St. Thomas School, I think Sister Jacinta would proscribe 10,000 years.

 

[Alydar]

The decision may not be Geno's. An edict may come from above that NO UConn teams schedule ND. I certainly hope not. The idea is to play the best competition available. Allowing athletic politics to dictate competition is a slippery slope. It's hard to believe but in my lifetime there existed a time when teams with non-white athletes couldn't get a game in the SEC. When politics gets involved in sport it leads to uglyness. ND's move to the ACC is nothing that UConn wouldn't do in a heartbeat, given the chance. Let's not be hypocrits.

 

[cohenzone]

The only reason I would schedule ND is that they can't lose often enough for me, and it is gratifying if UConn is the team to beat them. ND is talking a football game with UConn at Fenway. My guess is that they want it to get rid of their 0-1 record against UConn in football which must low their minds every time they think about it.

I understand that the lay of the land in major conference sports is dictated by football and that right now it would definitely be in UConn's interest to get into the ACC or the Big 1o squared. But I totally believe the unprovable, that little - maybe none - of these major shifts would have occurred anywhere, not the BE for sure, if ND had always been all in. Like it or not, deservedly or not, ND football has the clout that gives a conference credibility and keeps programs like BC, VTech, Miami, WV and absolutely SU and Pitt. ND without its football is like Lady Godiva with clothes on - Nice looking but nothing new in the neighborhood. (For the young set, I am not referring to a chocolate bar) . That is not a put down of their other successful programs, it's a fact that only a very discreet fan subset cares about women's hoops and women's soccer. They had all of the advantages and none of the disadvantages in the BE = no real value added.

When the chips started to stack up against the BE after the first defections, ND still had the opportunity to join, probably negotiated a special TV revenue deal to protect that sacred cow of their over-endowed university. The only reason I can imagine that any other major conference would take them in without football again is that there has to be some underlying deal for them to join fully after their current TV deal is up. Otherwise, just like for the BE, there is no value added. Our women's team should not go out its way to add value to ND in that little corner of the world where UConn's name dwarfs theirs.

 

[arty155]

I would suggest that ND should spend some time in purgatory.

Is there any hope such suffering could end without an act of contrition, or good works (successfully advocating UConn ACC Membership)?

 

[Tidepool]

I don't agree that dislike of the ND athletic dept. in general and of the ND football program in particular justifies not playing ND in WCBB. It's like saying, I don't like the parents and the big sister so I won't associate with the younger sister even though she's a real good kid. Unless there's more to it than has been mentioned here -- and McGraw has always been complimentary toward Geno and UConn, so I doubt it -- this is guilt by association, and childish.

(And if this were due to some supposed, unfortunate remark by Becka B (?) a year or two ago -- and, again, I really doubt it is --- it would be even more so.)

 

[arty155]

The decision may not be Geno's. An edict may come from above...

You mean? Whoa! I never even made the connection! That’s right... Coach A does regularly bring the team directly to the Vatican! Winning record against all the Catholic schools… guess he’s not there just to debate how many angels can dribble on the head of an inflation needle! I wouldn’t want to be at Notre Dame right now.
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[cohenzone]

I don't agree that dislike of the ND athletic dept. in general and of the ND football program in particular justifies not playing ND in WCBB. It's like saying, I don't like the parents and the big sister so I won't associate with the younger sister even though she's a real good kid. Unless there's more to it than has been mentioned here -- and McGraw has always been complimentary toward Geno and UConn, so I doubt it -- this is guilt by association, and childish.

(And if this were due to some supposed, unfortunate remark by Becka B (?) a year or two ago -- and, again, I really doubt it is --- it would be even more so.)

Sorry, it is ND the university making these decisions, not the AD. And if they are making business decisions that are bound to create problems for their "friends" than there is no good reason for UConn to do them any favors. That has nothing to do with McGraw, who I admire.

 

[alexrgct]

I stand by my previous statements that given a) conference realignment is not remotely driven by WBB, b) there are precious few meaningful rivalries in WBB and those there are should be preserved, and c) UConn would leave treadmarks out of the Big East if given the opportunity, I firmly believe the rivalry should be maintained.

The Big East has been doomed for years. BC, VT, and Miami staying wouldn't have helped. Wrong tv markets for CFB. Period.

 

[alexrgct]

Sorry, it is ND the university making these decisions, not the AD. And if they are making business decisions that are bound to create problems for their "friends" than there is no good reason for UConn to do them any favors. That has nothing to do with McGraw, who I admire.

What about women's basketball?

 

[cohenzone]

What about women's basketball?

What it has to do is with is that we are the draw for them in women's hoops, not vice versa. We hold those cards. Business is business, competition and rivalries have become sadly irrelevant. One date that fills their place will be gone for them. If ND wants its sacred football and eat it too, they can have their women's hoops and eat it too. They will survive, so will our women's program at least as long as GA is around, and maybe without us on their schedule, ND'll have a little down stretch similar to the LVs. NDs arrogance needs a little return gift and there is no other Big East program that can send the message besides our women's hoop program.

If we can keep some combo on our OOC schedule of say Duke, Baylor, Stanford, Kentucky, AZ State, UNC and maybe even Tennessee, and a few others, it will be interesting enough. Hopefully the likes of Rutgers. DePaul, GTown and some of the others will be good enough to make the conference interesting with ND's departure. We seem to have survived the end of the UT series better than they for the time being. And while I agree that UConn would now jump at the chance to go to the ACC or the Big 10, there is no current reason to believe that is going to happen anytime soon. If we make a move, it won't be for the sake of protecting women's hoops. My starting point - unprovable - is that had ND been all in from day one, none of these raids on the BE would have likely worked. They got what they wanted out of the league and gave nothing of what was truly valuable from them. It's all about football and, in UConn's case, keeping men's hoops at the highest level, which seems vulnerable in this reconstituted Big Blob league. Don't give them what is valuable from us.

 

[zls44]

FWIW, UConn and Notre Dame will be playing each other in hockey as conference mates in two years.

 

[Dairyair]

ND could have made the same arrangements with the Big East when the Big East had BC, Miami, Virginia Tech and the Big East would still be a relevant Football Conference. Those schools would not have left the Big East. The ACC would be where the Big East is today if that had happened. Because ND didn't make a commitment to Big East Football is why teams decided to look elsewhere. I also resent ND as well as other schools that were on Big East committees that were created to improve Big East football. While serving on the committees, they were also looking to leave the Big East.

Don't take me wrong, I understand what ND did and how it helps their Football program. That doesn't mean Geno owes ND anything and there are enough other programs that will provide competition for UConn. IMHO like Tenn, ND needs UConn more then UConn does when it comes to Women's Basketball. The years that ND Football schedules UConn football, is when Geno should schedule a ND Women's Basketball Game.

What? WHAT???? How does a football program get to be on a BE committee to improve BE football when they steadfastly refused to join the BE in football? I realize football drives every major conference, but if a team doesn't play in that (or any) conference, why do we need (or want) their opinion? If you are correct, WBBFAN1--and I have no doubt you are--this could be the the most idiotic thing the BE ever did...

 

[alexrgct]

What it has to do is with is that we are the draw for them in women's hoops, not vice versa. We hold those cards. Business is business, competition and rivalries have become sadly irrelevant. One date that fills their place will be gone for them. If ND wants its sacred football and eat it too, they can have their women's hoops and eat it too. They will survive, so will our women's program at least as long as GA is around, and maybe without us on their schedule, ND'll have a little down stretch similar to the LVs. NDs arrogance needs a little return gift and there is no other Big East program that can send the message besides our women's hoop program.

If we can keep some combo on our OOC schedule of say Duke, Baylor, Stanford, Kentucky, AZ State, UNC and maybe even Tennessee, and a few others, it will be interesting enough. Hopefully the likes of Rutgers. DePaul, GTown and some of the others will be good enough to make the conference interesting with ND's departure. We seem to have survived the end of the UT series better than they for the time being. And while I agree that UConn would now jump at the chance to go to the ACC or the Big 10, there is no current reason to believe that is going to happen anytime soon. If we make a move, it won't be for the sake of protecting women's hoops. My starting point - unprovable - is that had ND been all in from day one, none of these raids on the BE would have likely worked. They got what they wanted out of the league and gave nothing of what was truly valuable from them. It's all about football and, in UConn's case, keeping men's hoops at the highest level, which seems vulnerable in this reconstituted Big Blob league. Don't give them what is valuable from us.

The Big East accepted a silly arrangement with ND that benefitted ND more than it did the Big East. The BEast was always going to be vulnerable because it doesn't have any media markets that care about college football. Notre Dame had absolutely no incentive, none, to join the Big East in CFB.

Not continuing to play ND in WBB deprives the sport as a whole of one of its best rivalries. And yes, rivalries matter. A lot. Sports are popular where the rivalries are the most intense. MBB is huge in North Carolina. CFB rivalries are huge in most of the South and Texas. MLB is most popular in the Northeast. And where are the most meaningful rivalries for those sports? They match.

WBB is a fringe sport. UConn may not have suffered from the loss of the Tennessee game, but WBB sure as heck did. UConn is the premier program in WCBB and has a fundamental responsibility, call it noblesse oblige, to advance and promote the sport. This isn't about giving Notre Dame anything; it's about giving WCBB one of its signature rivalries.

 

[Scotter]

The thing is the rivalry is only good if Notre Dame stays really good. I feel more positively about how Notre Dame will perform this season than many others in part because of my opinion of Muffet as a coach, but I already see signs that Notre Dame similarly to the last time around a decade ago isn't going to sustain elite status. UConn dropped LSU, UNC, and Oklahoma when they slid back into the pack. I don't see why Notre Dame should be treated any differently once they are out of the conference.

The Big East accepted a silly arrangement with ND that benefitted ND more than it did the Big East. The BEast was always going to be vulnerable because it doesn't have any media markets that care about college football. Notre Dame had absolutely no incentive, none, to join the Big East in CFB.

Not continuing to play ND in WBB deprives the sport as a whole of one of its best rivalries. And yes, rivalries matter. A lot. Sports are popular where the rivalries are the most intense. MBB is huge in North Carolina. CFB rivalries are huge in most of the South and Texas. MLB is most popular in the Northeast. And where are the most meaningful rivalries for those sports? They match.

WBB is a fringe sport. UConn may not have suffered from the loss of the Tennessee game, but WBB sure as heck did. UConn is the premier program in WCBB and has a fundamental responsibility, call it noblesse oblige, to advance and promote the sport. This isn't about giving Notre Dame anything; it's about giving WCBB one of its signature rivalries.

 

[rjp172]

The thing is the rivalry is only good if Notre Dame stays really good. I feel more positively about how Notre Dame will perform this season than many others in part because of my opinion of Muffet as a coach, but I already see signs that Notre Dame similarly to the last time around a decade ago isn't going to sustain elite status. UConn dropped LSU, UNC, and Oklahoma when they slid back into the pack. I don't see why Notre Dame should be treated any differently once they are out of the conference.

Enlighten us.