A Baylor Fan's Thoughts on the "UConn Myth"

[Geno-ista]

Those 16,000 Baylor fans gave Geno a stdg Ovation his first time out of the tunnel at Baylor Univ- that doesn't happen everywhere! He and Kim rec'd a 2nd one when they met court side. One of the classiest things I've ever heard.

 

[Waquoit]

But, she jumped all over the chance to play them NEXT year, after the nation's 2 top players have graduated from the Huskies!

One of Geno's 5 phones is probably just for Mulkey. She not shrewd, just chicken.

 

[FairView]

It does suck that Kim didn't play us, but that is not a reflection of Baylor fans. I check out they Baylor board and I like it. As others have said there are some really good posters on there. There are a few blowhards (can I say that, Mods?) but every board has those. Another refreshing thing about the board is that they genuinely love their players. That's nice.

 

[Zorro]

Well it really doesn't matter who plays who and where they play them. UConn will beat every team by double digits and the only question is can any team come with in double digits of UConn. There is a reason Kim didn't schedule UConn this season and she did for next season.

Well, Tone, I expect that there will be some teams that will come within double digits of the Huskies. (Prolly none within single digits though!) Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[easttexastrash]

I can say that without doubt more negative comments have been made about Baylor and Kim in this one thread than I have seen about UCONN and Geno on the Baylor board for the past 5 years. Almost every Baylor fan has immense respect for what Geno and UCONN have done over the years, but let one a-wipe start an ignorant thread and the claws come out as if that OP represents Baylor fans as a whole.

 

[geneticrex]

I can say that without doubt more negative comments have been made about Baylor and Kim in this one thread than I have seen about UCONN and Geno on the Baylor board for the past 5 years. Almost every Baylor fan has immense respect for what Geno and UCONN have done over the years, but let one start an ignorant thread and the claws come out as if that OP represents Baylor fans as a whole.

Nature of the internet and perhaps a by-product of Baylor being nowhere to be found this year and their somewhat soft out of conference schedule. Then again, perhaps not.

It appears next year, they're 'all in' for a game. Coincedence???

 

[easttexastrash]

Those 16,000 Baylor fans gave Geno a stdg Ovation his first time out of the tunnel at Baylor Univ- that doesn't happen everywhere! He and Kim rec'd a 2nd one when they met court side. One of the classiest things I've ever heard.

I was there and the whole crowd stood and clapped from the moment Geno came into sight until he walked across the floor to the bench. It was a special moment and one I was proud to be a part of.

 

[DaddyChoc]

I can say that without doubt more negative comments have been made about Baylor and Kim in this one thread than I have seen about UCONN and Geno on the Baylor board for the past 5 years. Almost every Baylor fan has immense respect for what Geno and UCONN have done over the years, but let one a-wipe start an ignorant thread and the claws come out as if that OP represents Baylor fans as a whole.

Fear the Bears... I can smell it

 

[easttexastrash]

Nature of the internet and perhaps a by-product of Baylor being nowhere to be found this year and their somewhat soft out of conference schedule. Then again, perhaps not.

It appears next year, they're 'all in' for a game. Coincedence???

Thanks for the olive branch.

 

[geneticrex]

My memory seems to have failed me, so if someone would be so kind, please refresh it.

When UCONN was entrenched in the most dominant conference in the history of women's b-ball and they were pounding the crap out of the 'legends', loading up on national and conference championhips and stringing together record win streaks, what was the excuse du jour???

 

[easttexastrash]

Pretty ironic comments from a Baylor fan considering the fact that Baylor not only played a mediocre OOC schedule, but every single OOC game was played at HOME!

That is INCORRECT!

 

[Blue Huskie]

I can say that without doubt more negative comments have been made about Baylor and Kim in this one thread than I have seen about UCONN and Geno on the Baylor board for the past 5 years. Almost every Baylor fan has immense respect for what Geno and UCONN have done over the years, but let one a-wipe start an ignorant thread and the claws come out as if that OP represents Baylor fans as a whole.

Yeah it's unfortunate that the "bored" OP decided to share that quote here (Along with the other Louisville topic they posted). Of course if you look around you're going to find all kinds of internet hatred for the top teams. I don't see the need to take it out on you ETT. Sad to see. Keep your chin up.

 

[easttexastrash]

Fear the Bears... I can smell it

This is just a PSA for those planning a camping trip in the mountains.

 

[DaddyChoc]

This is just a PSA for those planning a camping trip in the mountains.

Mountains = UConn Huskies... very few has reached the top

 

[SCGamecock]

It is actually an interesting thread over on the Baylor site - an interesting site to visit that is well run and full of intelligent posters. And as someone says, most of the Baylor posters as well as the visitors are pretty solid in support of the excellence of uconn.
The one interesting slant that does get trotted out, like it used to be with TN fans, is how much more rested the Uconn team is entering the NCAA because they don't have to play a tough conference schedule. This is the new refrain after the one from a few years ago that the media trotted out, that Uconn not being challenged in the AAC would leave them unprepared for NCAA competition.

18-22 year olds who all get ten days off before the NCAAs really shouldn't be tired entering the tournament. Bruised and battered happens regardless of competition and is much an issue in practice as it is in games. Injured ... that is a crap shoot and is just bad luck - very few injuries in WCBB come from 'tough competition' and many happen in a 'vacuum' - meaning without contact from anyone.

What's the .com address for the Baylor board?

 

[calpedaler]

What's the .com address for the Baylor board?

Link

 

[easttexastrash]

What's the .com address for the Baylor board?

We just use string and tin cans.

 

[JoePgh]

Hmmm ... well, behind all this posturing by Bear fans and Husky fans, there is a somewhat interesting issue to debate.

If a team is an NC contender, is it better served (in terms of preparation for The Dance) by loading up its schedule with the toughest competition (in conference and out of conference) that it can possibly arrange, or is it better to play only a few challenging games and use the remainder of the schedule to "rest up" and work on player development in games where the outcome is a foregone conclusion?

It is my perception that Geno would prefer the former but is stuck with the latter. I do not think his preferences are universally shared among WCBB coaches.

It is also my perception that almost every player on the current UConn roster would greatly prefer the former. I don't think they get much enjoyment or satisfaction out of 40-point in-conference blowouts.

However, fans of other teams (at least some of them) seem to think that UConn derives a competitive advantage from its soft in-conference schedule, because that means that UConn will be "fresh as a daisy" for the tournament. I think it is more likely that a team that is accustomed to being challenged by capable opponents in nearly every game will be better prepared for the tournament.

Having said that, what conference could UConn play in where the majority of the games would be at all competitive? Yes, in the P5 conferences, the blowouts would be by 25 points instead of 40 or 50, but most games would still be blowouts. UConn beat by 12 (and was up by 17 with 1 minute left) the team that is undefeated in the SEC. It beat by 10 the team that is undefeated in the ACC (and was up by 20 after three quarters). It beat by 10 the team that won the Big 10, and beat by 30 the only other team in the Big 10 that beat that team. Last year in the Sweet Sixteen round, it beat this year's 2nd best team in the Big 12 by 50 points -- and that team was Baylor's best competition this year (in conference or out).

So in the real world, I'm not sure where UConn could have played its in-conference schedule that would not have left it "fresh as a daisy" for this year's NCAA tournament, even if that was an involuntary condition.

 

[FairView]

We just use string and tin cans.

And when older strings and cans need to be replaced, the environmentally conscious Bears recycle the old ones into skirts, jackets, blouses and slacks for Kim's wardrobe.

 

[SCGamecock]

We just use string and tin cans.

Oh no worries, I doubt I ever post there and if I did it would only be respectful. We'll probably never play Baylor in real life.

I'll just use it to take the temperature on any future Texas recruits Dawn may be going after....

 

[easttexastrash]

Oh no worries, I doubt I ever post there and if I did it would only be respectful. We'll probably never play Baylor in real life.

I'll just use it to take the temperature on any future Texas recruits Dawn may be going after....

Tell her to stay out of Texas. She seems to be the biggest competition for Texas players at the moment.

 

[Charliebball]

Yeah it's unfortunate that the "bored" OP decided to share that quote here (Along with the other Louisville topic they posted). Of course if you look around you're going to find all kinds of internet hatred for the top teams. I don't see the need to take it out on you ETT. Sad to see. Keep your chin up.

Gee....just trying to highlight how fans on the other boards view the UConn basketball program....I even posted responses from fellow posters that disagreed with the original premise......not sure what's so unfortunate about that....

 

[housekeys]

UConn's winning percentage in matches they are #1 or #2 against opponents that are#1 or #1 is 86%. That is better than Baylor's all time winning percentage of 64% and Mulkey's 83%. Enough said.

 

[Husky1964]

Snakepants!!!

 

[SCGamecock]

Tell her to stay out of Texas. She seems to be the biggest competition for Texas players at the moment.

As long as you tell Mulkey to stay west of the Mississippi and out of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida then we have a deal.

Seriously though, why do you think Dawn is your biggest competition for Texas players? I don't see it.. we currently have one player on our roster from Texas. The last big time player we had from Texas transferred after her first year. Connecticut (Lexi Gordon) and Louisville (Cierra Johnson) are currently doing a much better job in Texas than SC and both schools are upping the ante in Texas.

We are currently recruiting several Texas players for 2017, 2018 and 2019 but I think our chances of landing those players aren't any better than any other school, especially an in-state school like Baylor or Texas.

 

[easttexastrash]

As long as you tell Mulkey to stay west of the Mississippi and out of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida then we have a deal.

Seriously though, why do you think Dawn is your biggest competition for Texas players? I don't see it.. we currently have one player on our roster from Texas. The last big time player we had from Texas transferred after her first year. Connecticut (Lexi Gordon) and Louisville (Cierra Johnson) are currently doing a much better job in Texas than SC and both schools are upping the ante in Texas.

We are currently recruiting several Texas players for 2017, 2018 and 2019 but I think our chances of landing those players aren't any better than any other school, especially an in-state school like Baylor or Texas.

This is the reason. Many of the 2017 recruits have both Baylor and USC on their lists and with the growing success that Staley is having I think many Texas players are going to give USC a good, hard look.

 

[Icebear]

This is just a PSA for those planning a camping trip in the mountains.

There is no reason to fear puny little black bears.

 

[Icebear]

Gee....just trying to highlight how fans on the other boards view the UConn basketball program....I even posted responses from fellow posters that disagreed with the original premise.not sure what's so unfortunate about that....

Because it was such a statistically weak and easily disproven argument. The winning streaks are only the outcome of dominance. Years in the Big East led to the same outcomes. The conference schedule is not where UCONN cuts its teeth. It is the OOC schedule where scores are sometimes closer but W-L outcomes are largely the same. The most important part of the UCONN myth that is true 10-0 in NC games. Get 'er done.

 

[SCGamecock]

This is the reason. Many of the 2017 recruits have both Baylor and USC on their lists and with the growing success that Staley is having I think many Texas players are going to give USC a good, hard look.

I may be downplaying Staley's recruiting ability but I'm just not convinced SC is about to come in to Texas and have great success recruiting Texas players.. Maybe she will, but there's no precedent for me to believe she will. We'll see.

FWIW, Staley recruits the West Coast just as hard as she recruits Texas. We have a lot of offers out there currently. Dawn is confident in her ability to bring these players back to SC. I on the other hand, will have to see it to believe it.

 

[UcMiami]

Gee....just trying to highlight how fans on the other boards view the UConn basketball program....I even posted responses from fellow posters that disagreed with the original premise.not sure what's so unfortunate about that....

As Nan said - your choice wasn't bad and the Mods let it stand and it is now up to three pages - but if you read all the posts here you can see a little nasty edginess to some of them, taking the OP as being the general feeling of Baylor fans. That is why copying posts from other boards that are in anyway critical of Uconn is frowned upon. Summarizing an argument from another board tends not to cause the same heat that an actual post does.

I visit the Baylor board quite often and post there occasionally, including a couple in that thread. About half way through this current season there was a long thread about the Baylor OOC schedule being weak and depressing fan turnout and enjoyment - not unlike some of the threads or comments here about the AAC competition being boring. And this years Baylor OOC is better than the last couple of years. DePaul, USF, MSU, MIA and even James Madison are improvements over just KY of previous years.

The biggest difference for Baylor is I don't think their conference is as strong as it used to be - A&M is gone, OK and OK St are down, and only TX has improved. The idea that their conference schedule is a murders row no longer fits the reality. I think Kim expected this interregnum post Griner and Sims to be much more difficult. Tara at Stanford pulled back a bit after the loss of the O sisters, Cole at OK did as well, CViv at Rutgers too. If you don't have the team to compete at the very top, easing the schedule a bit is not a bad idea. And importantly, with the loss of one power conference, the nature of the committee calculations for NCAA spots has changed - the P5 teams are competing against fewer other power conference teams for the majority of the at large bids, so they don't need to be as concerned about the strength of their OOC - you look at the teams CC thinks lead the bubble or are in and they are teams with records that never would have gotten a shot in the six conference alignment. Old Big East teams now mired in the new BE or the AAC have much lower RPIs than they would have had because the bottom dross in the league while no better than Seton Hall, Pitt, and Providence, don't get the benefit of the strong conference RPI around them, nor the mediocrity of the old middle of that league.