AAC must gain respect 2018-19

[UconnFanDC]

College hoops royalty leads Way-Too-Early Top 25
College hoops royalty leads Way-Too-Early Top 25 College hoops royalty leads Way-Too-Early Top 25
via @ESPN App http://es.pn/app

As of now no respect or expectation

 

[HuskyBoi]

what? where's south florida. this is bs !

 

[A10 fan]

Kansas, Duke top way-too-early college basketball rankings for 2018-19
2018-19 college basketball rankings: Way-too-early projection has Kansas, Duke at top

 

[UconnFanDC]

Kansas, Duke top way-too-early college basketball rankings for 2018-19
2018-19 college basketball rankings: Way-too-early projection has Kansas, Duke at top

There we go CBS. lol

 

[Jaybo]

Bet thats a shocker for Wichita state fans. Welcome to the AAC

 

[Hi-Low]

AAC does lose a good amount of talent from WSU, Cincy & Houston.......UConn & Memphis have new coaches & who knows about the rest. This was the year Cincy, WSU & Houston should have done some serious damage in a wide open Tourney and they all flamed out so not much reason to complain. 18-19 might be a weak year for the AAC as teams re-load & re-start, look for 19-20 season for AAC teams to be contenders.........that said if Jalen comes back & we snag some good transfers / recruits in coming months I could see UConn in good shape in 18-19.

 

[Dibbie]

Once again, the Big East is on top, showing it is the best basketball conference. And we decided to walk away in order to salvage a mediocre, at best, football program...

 

[WestHartHusk]

Once again, the Big East is on top, showing it is the best basketball conference. And we decided to walk away in order to salvage a mediocre, at best, football program...

You know we won a national title in the American, right?

 

[Dibbie]

You know we won a national title in the American, right?

C'mon, that was purely happenstance based on the timing of the realignment and us already having a championship roster. You cannot give the AAC any credit for that banner.

I'm not giving up on the AAC as I think it's improving, and maybe we had to take 2 steps back to make one forward, but right now, it sucks. Time will tell.

 

[mwc22]

Yeah this won't happen next season nor would one good season by the AAC gain much more respect.

Adding Wichita State was good for the conference, assuming Marshall doesn't leave as coach.

Tulane, East Carolina, USF, and occasionally Tulsa will always bring the conference down.

 

[JeepCSC]

You know we won a national title in the American, right?

You fired the coach that got you that title, why not the conference that didn’t?

 

[tzznandrew]

Once again, the Big East is on top, showing it is the best basketball conference. And we decided to walk away in order to salvage a mediocre, at best, football program...

You realized they left us, right?

 

[StunningSteve]

I’d put UCF up there next year. Tacko Fall is coming back healthy and this will be BJ Taylor’s Senior year, and Aubrey Dawkins finally sees the court for his father.

A lot of talent is also coming into the conference this year. For instance, Houston loses Gray and Davis but also gets Jareau, Gresham, Hinton, etc. They also had some nice young bigs surrounding Davis.

A lot of teams building, like Sampson did. Some people chide our old Big East foe USF but they just signed a really nice big for a strong ‘18 class, and they had the top freshman in the league this year.

It takes time. We have a lot of strong coaches that haven’t been around as long as Sampson was before Houston broke out last year. The coaches are the best resource in the conference. I don’t think Hardaway and Hurley will have as long of a build at Memphis and UConn as some may think. Hardaway’s practically got the 18-19 classes on lock, because he’s already coached a lot of these guys at Memphis East and Team Penny.

 

[CL82]

Once again, the Big East is on top, showing it is the best basketball conference. And we decided to walk away in order to salvage a mediocre, at best, football program...

Except that we didn't, but other than that spot on.

 

[StunningSteve]

You realized they left us, right?

Fox essentially paid for a catholic basketball league.

UConn made the smart play because football drives conference revenue significantly more than basketball. The Huskies made the right play.

We bet on ourselves and that the conference would grow FB and BB to the point that the payoff in 2020 would be more substantial than throwing in the towel. It also leaves the door open in 2025 when there may be more reshuffling.

This year the AAC finished with 3 programs ranked in FB and MBB. The NBE had 2 and one of those just lost their coach.

Ratings have been good in both FB and MBB.

This is chess, not checkers

 

[Tex-Lager93]

I could really give two flips about the AAC. The only respect that I'm worried about garnering is for the brand UConn...or the University of Connecticut as other threads lay bare. As much as I loathe Seth Davis - he mentioned that UConn should be the Gonzaga of the Northeast. I agree. We need to control what we can control - and that's dominating this conference while battling for this region in basketball...while also participating - and hopefully getting in a routine of 7 to 8 win seasons - in the most popular collegiate sport (and where this conference does have some strength).

 

[Jaker]

Can't see Monk staying another yesr

 

[ctchamps]

I could really give two flips about the AAC. The only respect that I'm worried about garnering is for the brand UConn...or the University of Connecticut as other threads lay bare. As much as I loathe Seth Davis - he mentioned that UConn should be the Gonzaga of the Northeast. I agree. We need to control what we can control - and that's dominating this conference while battling for this region in basketball...while also participating - and hopefully getting in a routine of 7 to 8 win seasons - in the most popular collegiate sport (and where this conference does have some strength).

If you care about UConn you care about the conference. We are interconnected. This conference does not offer UConn rivalries at the moment. It may never happen because of geography but the real thing holding back the conference and rivalries from a UConn fans perspective is that UConn has not been a powerhouse. Get UConn back to perennial top twenty five with decent chances to win it all and get one or more other AAC teams in that situation and I guarantee you rivalries will develop and the AAC will be relevant in a manner that will satisfy most of us.

BC and St. Johns were rivalries in the BE when they were relevant. It was still fun to beat them after they struggled but the rivalries switched to Louisville and Pitt as those teams became a force in the BE and on the national level. Syracuse and Georgetown remained throughout UConn's history in the BE. Interestingly we were super rivals with Nova during the Kittle years and that become less so during the end of our time in the BE.

 

[Kemba429]

Lots of teams lost their best players. Cincy and WSU maybe should make it but theyll prove that during the season. I dont really see a problem with this.

 

[Tex-Lager93]

If you care about UConn you care about the conference. We are interconnected. This conference does not offer UConn rivalries at the moment. It may never happen because of geography but the real thing holding back the conference and rivalries from a UConn fans perspective is that UConn has not been a powerhouse. Get UConn back to perennial top twenty five with decent chances to win it all and get one or more other AAC teams in that situation and I guarantee you rivalries will develop and the AAC will be relevant in a manner that will satisfy most of us.

BC and St. Johns were rivalries in the BE when they were relevant. It was still fun to beat them after they struggled but the rivalries switched to Louisville and Pitt as those teams became a force in the BE and on the national level. Syracuse and Georgetown remained throughout UConn's history in the BE. Interestingly we were super rivals with Nova during the Kittle years and that become less so during the end of our time in the BE.

I think we're running along the same lines here. I just don't think we should be worried about chasing a conference...oh, the NBE is so pretty right now, let's go there. Instead, let's get back into the habit of leading the curve - if we get back to regular success, then the conference will be chasing us (competitive and relevant) rather than the other way around.

 

[AntG168]

If UConn is UConn the AAC will get plenty of respect

 

[ctchamps]

I think we're running along the same lines here. I just don't think we should be worried about chasing a conference...oh, the NBE is so pretty right now, let's go there. Instead, let's get back into the habit of leading the curve - if we get back to regular success, then the conference will be chasing us (competitive and relevant) rather than the other way around.

This is the salient point.

The people who are pointing the finger at the AAC for our problems, the people who want to jump to the BE, are not factoring all the parameters that are important for UConn's long term survival.

 

[UconnFanDC]

AAC does lose a good amount of talent from WSU, Cincy & Houston..UConn & Memphis have new coaches & who knows about the rest. This was the year Cincy, WSU & Houston should have done some serious damage in a wide open Tourney and they all flamed out so not much reason to complain. 18-19 might be a weak year for the AAC as teams re-load & re-start, look for 19-20 season for AAC teams to be contenders....that said if Jalen comes back & we snag some good transfers / recruits in coming months I could see UConn in good shape in 18-19.

I agree. I do think Memphis, Cincinnati and Houston should be ok. Hard to say for SMU, WS or Temple.

 

[UconnFanDC]

You know we won a national title in the American, right?

Lol. Doesn't count since it was all BE leftovers. Lol.

 

[ctchamps]

If UConn is UConn the AAC will get plenty of respect

Only temporarily until one of the P5 poaches us.