12 Reasons Why UConn Will Regret the New Big East | Page 3 | The Boneyard

12 Reasons Why UConn Will Regret the New Big East

Mr. Conehead said:
I am not disputing that Villanova is a a very good college, in fact, it is highly regarded in certain areas, especially around undergraduate education.

But, Villanova is a private, catholic affiliated university with 6,500 undergraduates and 3,500 postgraduates and an urban bent (I know Villanova is not in an urban area as I've driven by a dozen times). That is a very similar profile to the other members of the new Big East today. UConn is a state, land/sea/space-grant university with 24,000 undergraduates and 8,300 postgraduate students that includes both a medical school and expansive agricultural programs located in a rural location. UConn's profile and goals are more aligned with schools like Rutgers, Penn St, Maryland, SUNY Buffalo, UMass, etc. with hope of being the U Michigan/UVA of the region. Those type of schools do not participate in the new Big East.

Thus, while UConn and Villanova share history and goals on the basketball court, their univesity-wide goals do not align. That is why over the long-term, this potential arrangement will not work as much as it did not in the old Big East.
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Nova is Jay Wright.
 
Mr. Conehead said:
I am not disputing that Villanova is a a very good college, in fact, it is highly regarded in certain areas, especially around undergraduate education.

But, Villanova is a private, catholic affiliated university with 6,500 undergraduates and 3,500 postgraduates and an urban bent (I know Villanova is not in an urban area as I've driven by a dozen times). That is a very similar profile to the other members of the new Big East today. UConn is a state, land/sea/space-grant university with 24,000 undergraduates and 8,300 postgraduate students that includes both a medical school and expansive agricultural programs located in a rural location. UConn's profile and goals are more aligned with schools like Rutgers, Penn St, Maryland, SUNY Buffalo, UMass, etc. with hope of being the U Michigan/UVA of the region. Those type of schools do not participate in the new Big East.

Thus, while UConn and Villanova share history and goals on the basketball court, their univesity-wide goals do not align. That is why over the long-term, this potential arrangement will not work as much as it did not in the old Big East.
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You singled out Georgetown as the only National university in the Big East.

I know how big Nova is, and I know the size of Georgetown, Duke, Stanford, Notre Dame and UConn.

What did you find in the National Rankings?
 
dayooper said:
Yup, my time has come. After 6 years of great interactions with this awesome community, it’s time for me to go. Up until yesterday, I have felt like a part of your community. To all those UConn fans I’ve had great interactions with, I enjoyed discussing CR and other college sports with you. I wish you the best and hope this move works for you. I will always root for you when not playing Michigan.
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Bah, let the dust settle and swing by. I always appreciated your posts. I doubt there is a bigger 'non-UConn fan' booster for the university.
 
It's the FAKE Big East. All the big time schools have left. Except for UC WBB all NCAA championships are won by P5 schools. Ugly will be when Gino retires. WBB will be middle of the road non P5 schools playing in the catholic -7 league.
 
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tiger paw said:
It's the FAKE Big East. All the big time schools have left. Except for UC WBB all NCAA championships are won by P5 schools. Ugly will be when Gino retires. WBB will be middle of the road non P5 schools playing in the catholic -7 league.
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UConn and Villanova alone are "bigger-time" than everyone that left. cut the inferiority complex!
 
dayooper said:
Yup, my time has come. After 6 years of great interactions with this awesome community, it’s time for me to go. Up until yesterday, I have felt like a part of your community. To all those UConn fans I’ve had great interactions with, I enjoyed discussing CR and other college sports with you. I wish you the best and hope this move works for you. I will always root for you when not playing Michigan.
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I hope you will be back although to be true, if I supported one Big 10 (14) team it would be Michigan State. I once had the privilege of seeing them play in person when I lived in Tallahassee. I guess I support the underdog in many but not all cases - probably why I'm here. I don't dislike Michigan, obviously one of the great schools in CFB history, I just like the "Spartans" - Thermopylae and all that.
 
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The Viking said:
I preface this comment by saying that I wouldn't have minded seeing us wait for another 4-5 years before making this move because I do like hoping for miracles and I do pull for the football program....

But for the people who are jumping off cliffs, what % chance do you think we would be getting an invite to the ACC or B1G in the next 4-5 years? Because if its anything more than 5-10%, I suggest you walk to the end of your driveway. I'll meet you there so I can drive you to the nearest insane asylum.

UConn chose not to lose another 175 million over the next 4 years with the current setup. I'm not going to go apeSht because of their decision making as they know numbers more than I do.

AND because I wouldn't be surprised if while backchanneling to the BE AD's or prez's, they were also backchanneling to the ACC and B1G AD's or prez's to get a feel for a potential miracle invite and were quite possibly laughed it in the most sincere way possible.
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I think no one really knows. To get Biblical on you, we "see through a glass darkly" - still a great quote from economist Oskar Morgenstern of Mathematica, Inc. while testifying before a US Senate committee in 1972 about funding the Space Shuttle: "things are hard to predict, especially the future". Had the ACC presidents known that UL's Athetic Director, FB coach, BB coach, and President would be removed along with their last NCAA BB championship, there is no doubt in my mind that they would still be in the AAC. Maybe the next time this happens, they should consult a psychic who has a good track record so to speak.
 
atom58 said:
I hope you will be back although to be true, if I supported one Big 10 (14) team it would be Michigan State. I once had the privilege of seeing them play in person when I lived in Tallahassee. I guess I support the underdog in many but not all cases - probably why I'm here. I don't dislike Michigan, obviously one of the great schools in CFB history, I just like the "Spartans" - Thermopylae and all that.
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I will never root for Michigan because of their AD.
 
If UConn goes 8 and 4 in football for a few years, and ends up the final four in mens basketball for a few years, and the ACC is eager to earn more money from its TV channel, it would not shock me to see UConn invited. But without that football improvement -- forget it.
 
LoyalFanCT said:
If UConn goes 8 and 4 in football for a few years, and ends up the final four in mens basketball for a few years, and the ACC is eager to earn more money from its TV channel, it would not shock me to see UConn invited. But without that football improvement -- forget it.
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I’m working on Friday night. What the hell went wrong for you that you are lamely trolling the BY at 9:07 on a 75 degree Friday evening?
 
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browndog319 said:
Also some stupid and flat out wrong points that some simple googling would resolve... the AACs best year in the tourney equals the worst years for the Big East.
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auggie22 said:
1. There is not one team in the AAC that I would want to play more than nova, gtown, PC, Marquette. After Cincy - there is not another team that I would want to play more than the rest of the Big East. Maybe Memphis somewhere near the bottom. It may not be the old big east, but compared to the AAC ...
2. Streaming sports is early days. Nobody wants to be an early adopter. That UT, Ohio State and Alabama are not clamoring to move their valuable content to streaming is evidence of that fact.
3. Having a conference that spans the globe is not a benefit. We were on an island in the AAC. Look at all past expansions as an indication that regional creep is a problem, only those other conferences were paid for it.
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With many of those 12 points directed at UConn men's and women's basketball, I'm not so sure Richie Springs would have committed and we would be in Andre Jackson's final five if we were still in the AAC. Also, yes the travel costs were an issue in remaining in the AAC, but just as concerning for Hurley and Geno is the wear and tear on the players and coaches with Jetting all over the country to play it's in conference away games, and other schools competing for top recruits could certainly use that against UConn in the recruiting wars.
 
dayooper said:
I wish all of you the best going forward and hope this move will be a success. My biggest fear for you is that the move will push you to be more of a regional school than a national one like I believe you to are striving to be. Maybe (hopefully) I’m wrong and FSN will be a marketing boon for you, but I don’t see how this helps you become a more national school. Maybe I’m underestimating the reach of the Big East (most people here in Michigan didn’t even know what conference Villanova was in) or that UConn wants to be more regional/New England’s flagship. Who knows?

Who gets shafted the most is the football players. They signed on to a UConn thinking they would be playing in a pretty good football conference and are now left out wandering the desert of independence. I hope they have a plan in place for them.
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we waved the white flag at being big time. That's the bottom line.
 
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1. UConn in the AAC was doomed from the start because UConn had no geographic rivals to excite its fan base.

2. The decision by the UConn to move to the Big East was not made quickly. UConn's decision was the result of a comprehensive due diligence inquiry as to the likelihood that a P5 conference invite was realistic. Only after discussions with P5 reps lead the UConn Administrators to conclude that the likelihood of a P5 invite was remote did the UConn decide to move to the Big East.

.
 
If "geographic rivals" are needed for football for a school with a large bball presence nationally then it was an error to go the fball route to begin with. Given the northeast location, it's likely always going to be an issue. You could probably make that argument for most of the schools in the AAC including the ones who are competitive against the P5 like a Ucf, Cincy or Houston. At the end of the day, you have to be able to recruit players and coaches to where you are located, EOS. It's a bigger issue than geographic rivals in fball.
 
I am interested to see the emphasis put on UConn playing geographic rivals....

I have preached the importance of regionalism since God got his first puppy...(when God created Adam, Adam asked about me.."who is this guy?." God answered, "Don't know, he was here when I got here").

I have moaned about the ACC move to Cuse and BC...those teams should have stayed with the BE. UConn, Cuse, Boston College make a nice anchor for an eastern conference.
 
billybud said:
I am interested to see the emphasis put on UConn playing geographic rivals....

I have preached the importance of regionalism since God got his first puppy...(when God created Adam, Adam asked about me.."who is this guy?." God answered, "Don't know, he was here when I got here").

I have moaned about the ACC move to Cuse and BC...those teams should have stayed with the BE. UConn, Cuse, Boston College make a nice anchor for an eastern conference.
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Yet your school aligned with BC in 2012.
 
Husky25 said:
Yet your school aligned with BC in 2012.
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My school didn't align with BC....BC aligned with FSU, Clemson, Miami, VT, and GT to get in Louisville...

A program that VT, GT and FSU had played with as conference mates in the Metro and one that was thought to be more regional to the south.
 
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Surely UConn fans understand wanting an old rival....and a more regional team for the southern programs.

FSU (as a football independent) and Louisville played in football in 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 87, 91, 2000, 2002...

The 1980 game was my first date with my wife.
 
billybud said:
Surely UConn fans understand wanting an old rival....and a more regional team for the southern programs.

FSU (as a football independent) and Louisville played in football in 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 86, 87, 91, 2000, 2002...

The 1980 game was my first date with my wife.
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What years were you there? My mom was at FSU from 1980-84
 
I was far out of school by 1980....Had season tickets and had been a booster since we went 0-11 before Bobby B.

Met my now wife through work and asked her out for the game....

And cool...your mom would have been diagonal from me in the stands across the field....we shared some games, I'll bet.

Some of my favorite night games...
 
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billybud said:
I was far out of school by 1980....Had season tickets and had been a booster since we went 0-11 before Bobby B.

Met my now wife through work and asked her out for the game....
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Amazing what Doak has become, even since I was a little kid. I think I read somewhere that it is one of the largest all brick buildings in the world, which is incredible since I remember it as being little more than a glorified erector set project haha
 
The largest continuous brick structure in the US.

And, yes, I spent years in the old metal erectpr set stands.
 
As stated in my above post I believe (from a UConn perspective) the AAC was doomed from the start because UConn had no geographic or historic rivals to excite its fan base.

For the AAC to have worked for UConn fans the AAC should have not included ECU , Tulsa, SMU, or Tulane because each lacks gravitas in the sport world. IMO the AAC should have included UMass which could have developed into a hatred fueled rivalry with UConn and Temple (recall the Calapari era)..

The smaller 9 team football/ basketball AAC with
UCF
USF
Cincy
Memphis
UConn
Temple
Navy - football
UMass
Houston

would have be more focused, more marketable which would have fostered rivalries better than it did by including ECU, Tulsa, SMU, and Tulane.

The heated rivalries which the Big East brings with Providence, StJohn’s, G’town, Seton Hall and other will more keep the our interests.
 
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