The days of the ACC being an elite BB conference are over.

[Jbirdp5]

First of all, AD DB said that about leaving the Big East in an effort to be diplomatic. There was no decision to be made. We'd have gone to the B12 without a thought. I know people think that we will do whatever it takes to retain maintain our basketball program and retain Hurley, but I’m not sure that’s true. More importantly, when he does leave, will we be paying the next guy big bucks? We will need to pay a huge premium to get a coach worthy of this program. The only place to get the money is to charge the students or hope a benefactor steps forward. We've been raising student fees for years to cover athletics, but the cost of UConn is becoming very non-competitive. The end is near as far as burdening the students further. There will be political and university related forces pushing back against more student fees to cover athletics.

Countless people have mentioned it but the facts remain that the school and the state are investing in keeping our world class basketball program world class. If it’s Hurley or the next coach UConn will not be going bargain hunting for its men’s basketball coach

 

[zls44]

Countless people have mentioned it but the facts remain that the school and the state are investing in keeping our world class basketball program world class. If it’s Hurley or the next coach UConn will not be going bargain hunting for its men’s basketball coach

Folks love catastrophizing in the face of evidence from what is actually happening in real life. Genuinely bizzare.

 

[Inyatkin]

He says Wake has a consistently good program...they've been to the S16 once since 2000, with Chris Paul in 2004. They made three trips with Duncan in the mid 90s. And that's it since 1984. For almost 40 years, with two all-time great players, they made 4 S16s, 1 E8, and no FFs, and we're supposed to pretend this is a program that matters.

You're changing definitions all over the place. Georgia Tech had a great run in the 90s, some real stars, and of course made the title game in 04. That was 20 years ago, I get it, but to say they and Wake have no history is crazy. You could have made the same argument about Virginia a few years ago. Bring a Tony Bennett to one of those places and see what happens. History didn't start in 2015.

 

[David 76]

Maybe we should let the basketball games decide this?

 

[superjohn]

You're changing definitions all over the place. Georgia Tech had a great run in the 90s, some real stars, and of course made the title game in 04. That was 20 years ago, I get it, but to say they and Wake have no history is crazy. You could have made the same argument about Virginia a few years ago. Bring a Tony Bennett to one of those places and see what happens. History didn't start in 2015.

Georgia Tech and Wake are fine. Similar to Butler but I would probably give Butler the slight edge.

 

[Scrutiner]

ACC schools, top 50 KenPom finishes in the last 5 seasons:
Duke - 5
Virginia - 4
UNC - 4
Fla St - 3
Miami - 2
Clemson - 2
Syracuse - 2
Va Tech - 2
Louisville - 2
NC State - 1
Wake - 1
Ga Tech - 1
Notre Dame - 1
Pitt - 0
BC - 0
--
Stanford - 1
Cal - 0
SMU - 0

Crazy stat I stumbled into. BC hasn't finished in the top 60 of KenPom in 16 years.

You've unwittingly (maybe wittingly?) stumbled upon the likely reason the ACC hasn't invited UConn.
Six of the bottom nine in the league are former Big East teams........why risk adding a seventh when you can bring in three weaker teams from the West Coast/Southwest?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

UConn is not in the ACC because BCU and Syracuse don't want us in the ACC, and want our athletic program to die. All the other "reasons" are completely irrelevant.

 

[August_West]

Georgia Tech and Wake are fine. Similar to Butler but I would probably give Butler the slight edge.

i would MUCH rather sit at a game at Hinkle watching Butler suck than McCamish Pavilion or Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum

 

[superjohn]

i would MUCH rather sit at a game at Hinkle watching Butler suck than McCamish Pavilion or Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Oh yeah, I need to go to Hinkle this season. They've been really bad the last 3 seasons but Butler has been pretty damn good the previous 25 seasons. Better than Wake, Georgia Tech and several other ACC schools.

 

[CL82]

Folks love catastrophizing in the face of evidence from what is actually happening in real life.

Alternatively, the thought that "the way things are is the way they will always be" is the comfortable refuge of small minds.

 

[tzznandrew]

You're changing definitions all over the place. Georgia Tech had a great run in the 90s, some real stars, and of course made the title game in 04. That was 20 years ago, I get it, but to say they and Wake have no history is crazy. You could have made the same argument about Virginia a few years ago. Bring a Tony Bennett to one of those places and see what happens. History didn't start in 2015.

I'm absolutely not changing definitions. A successful program makes the tournament regularly and makes deep runs. Regular trips to the second weekend, and some Final Fours. You aren't successful if you had a short run of success and then don't do anything for 20 or 30 years.

Virginia is a bad example here. They were a solid program in the 1980s (2 FFs and an E8), but basically irrelevant before and mostly after. They weren't a strong program by any means. They just hired a great coach. Until Bennet, they were very much akin to mid-1980s UConn—a stronger history because of those 30 year old runs, but essentially a mediocre program. By this I mean that it was the coach that elevated the program rather than vice versa.

Georgia Tech had a solid run of tournament appearances from 1985-1996. Before then, they were only in 1 NCAA tournament ever. In that run, they made 1 Final Four, and 3 more S16s. If they kept that up, that's a good program! But, ummm... they haven't. That got blown out in the 2004 championship game and haven't made the second weekend since. I don't think 9 years of relevance (without a title!) and a blip is much history, frankly.

Certainly history didn't start in 2015, but it didn't end in 2004, either. Or are we supposed to pretend San Francisco and CCNY are great programs?

 

[MilliniumPrince]

UConn is not in the ACC because BCU and Syracuse don't want us in the ACC, and want our athletic program to die. All the other "reasons" are completely irrelevant.

You can't really believe they have that kind of clout in the ACC

 

[Fan1978]

You can't really believe they have that kind of clout in the ACC

Not at this point for sure

 

[Dean Wormer]

You can't really believe they have that kind of clout in the ACC

They are both afterthought in the ACC, especially BCU. When Booger was there for Cuse he might've wanted us in, but it didn't matter since they had no clout with the good ole boys.

 

[UConniki]

You can't really believe they have that kind of clout in the ACC

Unfortunately they did back then when it mattered the most.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Unfortunately they did back then when it mattered the most.

No, they didn't.

 

[Scottobot]

They were a top basketball conference, but with each addition to chase football money they have diluted their product. I am not sure how the scheduling will work, but assume with so many teams in the Conf, the top teams will no longer play each other 2x a year. Instead there will be 40 pt blowouts of cal and smu.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I'm absolutely not changing definitions. A successful program makes the tournament regularly and makes deep runs. Regular trips to the second weekend, and some Final Fours. You aren't successful if you had a short run of success and then don't do anything for 20 or 30 years.

Virginia is a bad example here. They were a solid program in the 1980s (2 FFs and an E8), but basically irrelevant before and mostly after. They weren't a strong program by any means. They just hired a great coach. Until Bennet, they were very much akin to mid-1980s UConn—a stronger history because of those 30 year old runs, but essentially a mediocre program. By this I mean that it was the coach that elevated the program rather than vice versa.

Georgia Tech had a solid run of tournament appearances from 1985-1996. Before then, they were only in 1 NCAA tournament ever. In that run, they made 1 Final Four, and 3 more S16s. If they kept that up, that's a good program! But, ummm... they haven't. That got blown out in the 2004 championship game and haven't made the second weekend since. I don't think 9 years of relevance (without a title!) and a blip is much history, frankly.

Certainly history didn't start in 2015, but it didn't end in 2004, either. Or are we supposed to pretend San Francisco and CCNY are great programs?

This is a semantics argument. San Francisco's rich history with Bill Russell is certainly interesting and something for the school and students to be proud of. It doesn't effect outcomes of future games or likely performance in coming years, but not much more than anyone's last three years does. UNLV is another one with a relevant history (UNLV jerseys still sell), yet you can rightly say that is having no impact on current CBB. The contention is their histories don't translate to contending teams.

So your argument is many schools despite prior successful histories (especially if 20+ years or beyond), do not & will not reap any future benefit from their prior performances. A school or team with TRULY no history, Florida Atlantic for example is equally likely as a Wake or UNLV to emerge as a real contender.

This was no history lesson.