A little perspective on the Big East from a Philly Sports Writer

[IMind]

I fully agree. The fact that we were a start up league made it easy to root even for your rivals OOC. I can't see caring that much how my rivals do in another league.

It wasn't just the start-up factor.. it was the fact that the league was openly denigrated... West Virginia would demolish Georgia.. and six months later you'd hear the Big Least jokes. That us against the world mentality just wont work as well if you're in the ACC.

 

[ZooCougar]

It's pretty easy to get nostalgic over formerly successful but obsolete business models. But it's time to let this one go and not look back if given the opportunity.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/pretzel/140464473.html

I think this is a very well written piece and really a good reminder of what the Big East really is at it's core. I grew up as a UConn Basketball fan and Big East fan and really had limited interest in college football until UConn was preparing to upgrade. I know there are many UConn fans with a similar fan experience and feel like it does have to be remembered that the Big East is first and foremost a basketball conference and the core of it are those small catholic schools that we like to kick around so much now that we play big boy football.

That was then. That world exists no more.

UConn Basketball is my favorite team in all of sports and The Big East has been my favorite sports league, by far, over the course of my lifetime and even if we end up in the ACC one day I find it hard to imagine that I will ever be a true fan of the ACC the way that I have been of The Big East.

I want what's best for UConn's athletic programs but I can't help but still be rooting for the Big East. (The Big East is dead man walking. The only question is whether or not UConn can find a new home - ACC) To me it's never been about playing with a bunch of other large state schools, we've never had that. (UConn should have been doing just that about 80 years ago. It's not an Ivy School, It's not a military academy, and it's not a private Catholic school. It's State U.) It hasn't even been about playing big time football, although I'm a huge fan now and couldn't imagine losing it. I have faith that UConn is going to be fine. I'm not sure about the Big East but I hope they can find a way to shock the world again.

The Big East . . . when you are finished with your last gasps of oxygen. . . RIP.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

I'm somewhere between the two camps. I don't label this year's Big East as "nostalgia." It is, over a period of time (not this year), the best basketball conference in the land and a fun, underrated big time football conference. And, it has accomplished that, especially on the hoops side, with a huge percentage of games being drivable compared to other conferences. Personally, I had no need for anything to change.

On the other hand, the moment Pitt and Syracuse announced they were leaving, what we had is dead. The efforts to get replacements left us with a relatively equivalent football product on the field, and a weakened but still powerful basketball conference (for now), but it lost prestige and it lost geographic coherence and it won't ever be the same.

So I don't like that we have to let it go and move on. I can't see loving an ACC North, as our best alternative, as much as I've loved where we are. But things change and you adjust or die.

An ACC North would be like gold for UConn. They would be well advised to run, not walk to sign the papers. I don't love the change, but then again I believe the NCAA, or the courts, or television or someone should have stopped all the conference poaching. Miami should still be in the BE. VT likewise. BCU ditto. Nevermind Syracuse, Pitt & WVU. Unfortunately $$$$$'s rule and nobody gave a crap about what was best for college sports. So where does that leave UConn?

Better to be ACC North with old BE rivals plus Maryland, Virginia & VT than to be the BE Coast-to-Coast Conference with MAC like status. Time to move on. Best thing for UConn is to get into a Big Time Conference with a real future.

 

[CTHUSKY74]

It is time to move on if that opportunity presents itself. UCONN will continue to be one of the top athletic programs in the conference and likely will continue its upward spiral whatever happens in the BE. The train has left the station for the conference. It has missed it's opportunities to grow stronger than rival conferences and will remain a collection of misfit schools. There may be some good years of profits, possibly a decent TV contract and some good football and basketball played in the conference, but I don't see this as anything more than stemming the tide of the losses we have and are going to have. I feel the best thing for UCONN would be the move to an all sports conference. We would immediately be competitive in the ACC and would have comfort and familiary with the teams in an ACC North. We would be an academic fit with that league. We would have less competitive balance with the Big10 but I feel that they would be even a better fit academically and as member institutions. Although we would probably need to improve more to fit in, in the long run this would be a great place for us to end up. If we do move elsewhere it will be hard to root for the other teams in the conferences like we have in the BE but our move will strictly be about protecting and enhancing the UCONN brand (a business decision) and rooting is passion for the games and pride. They don't always mesh. I am all in for UCONN no matter what conference they wind up in.