AAC Tournament is a joke!

[Oldbones]

Why don't they just hand UConn the championship Trophy on Day 1 and let the other teams play for second place. This is not a question. There is not one team in this league that can compete with UConn and make it a game. UConn would be better off competing against it's male practice players during this time period than playing any of these teams and have a more competitive game that forces them to excel for 40 minutes. Either these teams come up to the level of play of UConn or UConn women should have 26 out of conference games. Look what it did to the UConn men's program. They play no better than they did before Calhoun arrived at the University. And look what they are playing against.

What I think Geno is really worried about is that this program will sink down to the level of play of the rest of the AAC and not maintain the level of consistency it has over the years. Then it is retirement time.

When Bobby Bowden's FSU Football team first competed in the ACC between 1992 and 2000, they were 70-2 in the conference, winning of tying for the title all nine years. They eventually found a way to play down to the competition...................

 

[cohenzone]

The tournament may not mean
much for UConn these days, but it does mean something for other league teams. A few wins might solidify an NCAA bid. A loss might mean not getting a bid. And UConn has had a couple of close games in league. If one of those becomes a loss in the tournament, another team would get an automatic NCAA bid. So it isn’t all that irrelevant.

 

[CL82]

It is what it is-go blame the Athletic Department for wanting to field a football team that can't recruit in it's backyard because it doesn't have a backyard! So until you tell the AD to Forego football and go back to the BigEast, the other sports programs will be stuck in purgatory.

That said, it took FSU and Miami 6 years to make the ACC more competitive in football as they were easily winning all those conference titles. It elevated Clemson finally but also at the detriment of their own prestige and top echelon status.

Where to begin...

1) UConn is still in the same the conference it joined back in 1979. The Big East sold it's name to the departing Catholic schools but UConn has not changed conferences.

2) The new Big East isn't the Big East we remember. Syracuse is in the ACC with Pitt and BC. Rutgers in the Big 10 and West Virginia is in the Big 12. Cinci, USF and UCF, of course are still in the conference formerly known as the Big East but now called the American.

3) Football is where the mega conferences make their money. The American and the new Big East have tiny media contracts that mean that eventually they will lose the ever escalating athletic department arms race. There may not be more expansion for the P-5 conferences but UConn is smart to make itself a candidate for as long as it can.

4) UConn football is in a down period but had great success including two conference championships (2007 and 2010) and a BCS bowl (The Fiesta Bowl 2010.)

Dropping football isn't a panacea, it's a surrender.

 

[DefenseBB]

Where to begin...

1) UConn is still in the same the conference it joined back in 1979. The Big East sold it's name to the departing Catholic schools but UConn has not changed conferences.

2) The new Big East isn't the Big East we remember. Syracuse is in the ACC with Pitt and BC. Rutgers in the Big 10 and West Virginia is in the Big 12. Cinci, USF and UCF, of course are still in the conference formerly known as the Big East but now called the American.

3) Football is where the mega conferences make their money. The American and the new Big East have tiny media contracts that mean that eventually they will lose the ever escalating athletic department arms race. There may not be more expansion for the P-5 conferences but UConn is smart to make itself a candidate for as long as it can.

4) UConn football is in a down period but had great success including two conference championships (2007 and 2010) and a BCS bowl (The Fiesta Bowl 2010.)

Dropping football isn't a panacea, it's a surrender.

How many years did the program make money?

 

[CL82]

How many years did the program make money?

I'd guess back when the Rent was full, it was doing pretty well. Don't know and don't have time to search it right now. I remember in 2011 it had a modest profit of about $1.5 M. It was about half of the either of the basketball programs profit.

Not really the point though, right? The point is about positioning the University to have a shot at P5 money. Without that every program will suffer.

 

[UConnNick]

UConnNick-nice job with the counterpoints of the issue with one/two minor rebuttals if I may-
The conference alignments are about the 2, and only 2 revenue sports: Football/MCBB. In order to compete in CFB 35-50% of your recruits need to be regional i.e.New England, otherwise you can't field depth. Add in 11 paid assistants and large fan base to donate and come to the games and you see the issue. No New England University or for that matter Eastern Seaboard team north of Virginia can compete in CFB. So why waste the money, tax dollars and cost of other programs to try?
Forego football, focus on Basketball, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and other sports where the Northeast pool of talent is abundant. The Big East does offer significant competition in all of those sports. The BigEast WCBB is still better than the AAC-besides DePaul, there's Marquette, Villanova and Creighton all in the top 50 on Massey and Georgetown/St.John's all in the top 72. AAC has 2 in top 50 and 3 in top 72 with UCF. As you say, you should look at the other sports as well and think of the more regional travel to take the burden of the other sports to compete-Butler, Creighton and Xavier being the furthest with only Creighton not in the Eastern time zone.

I do know the issue is not dead and I think with UConn Hockey showing life, the budget situation will start to determine where funding needs to go as the Connecticut Tax payers do not want to subsidized D1 football... JMHO..

You're right about the state budget crisis. UCONN won't be in a position to maintain AD funding at current levels forever. I don't agree, however, that a nationally competitive CFB program cannot be built in the NE US. We did it in the mid to late 2000's, Rutgers did it back then and has started to get competitive in the B10, and from time to time Syracuse and BC have had their moments.

At some point though, the money is going to run out. There are a lot of sunk costs involved with the infrastructure for football. Walking away from that will require an admission of defeat as to improving our conference situation, not to mention the state gets stuck with a 90 million dollar white elephant in E. Hartford.

I don't think switching from one mid major conference to another moves the needle in any appreciably positive way. It's a reshuffling of the same deck. The NBE provides some travel benefits, but we still won't have the top level competition we need to attract the best recruits across all sports. It might help with men's BB a little, but long term we end up in either a newly created second tier of the NCAA, or the P5's form their own governing body and leave everybody else behind. We'll be competing for secondary level NCAA titles.

 

[nwhoopfan]

excuse my ignorance as always but why can't UConn women's basketball be like Notre Dame in college football with their own independent schedule with lots of great match ups throughout the season..

There used to be a handful of significant independent teams in basketball (Notre Dame, Marquette and DePaul were among them), but that was a long time ago and a different era. I think currently scheduling would be VERY difficult. UConn had 3 high profile OOC games after January 1st, but trying to schedule 2 or more games per week all during January and February while everyone else is busy playing their conference schedule, I just don't think there's any way you could make that happen anymore.

 

[nwhoopfan]

ESPN has an article on the only 8 schools that can possibly win the Men's NCAA Tournament (Spoiler: UCONN not included) so they could skip to the elite 8.

Most years that might be true, but not this year. There isn't a single dominant team in the country in men's hoops, let alone several dominant teams. The Tourney should be wide open, there are a whole lot more than 8 teams that can cut down the nets.

 

[Aluminny69]

I'm getting tired of posting the same Truism. For the final time, Women's basketball is the ONLY sport where any team dominates the AAC. Not Men's basketball, Football, Baseball. Any of the other sports are highly competitive. ( The sports that really count for every other college.)

What you really want is something like Notre Dame Football, where they are independent and schedule whoever they can. UConn could try that, but good luck scheduling any team that is in the middle of their league schedule.
IOW, it just ain't gonna happen. It is what it is. Live with it!

 

[Blueballer]

Why don't they just hand UConn the championship Trophy on Day 1 and let the other teams play for second place. This is not a question. There is not one team in this league that can compete with UConn and make it a game. UConn would be better off competing against it's male practice players during this time period than playing any of these teams and have a more competitive game that forces them to excel for 40 minutes. Either these teams come up to the level of play of UConn or UConn women should have 26 out of conference games. Look what it did to the UConn men's program. They play no better than they did before Calhoun arrived at the University. And look what they are playing against.

What I think Geno is really worried about is that this program will sink down to the level of play of the rest of the AAC and not maintain the level of consistency it has over the years. Then it is retirement time.

Yes many of us think UCONN would be better served in a power conference of course. For the sake of all sports. But it is what it is for now.
Enjoy the games and don't dwell on what is outside of our control.

 

[Jaybird65]

excuse my ignorance as always but why can't UConn women's basketball be like Notre Dame in college football with their own independent schedule with lots of great match ups throughout the season..I can't believe the AAC broadcasting rights can be all that lucrative

ND is only able to do it in football because of the national appeal of their program; in football you only have 12 games to schedule - while ND is independent, they do have an agreement to play a number (not sure how many) games v ACC conference schools. Football is the driver of the NCAA.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

It is what it is-go blame the Athletic Department for wanting to field a football team that can't recruit in it's backyard because it doesn't have a backyard! So until you tell the AD to Forego football and go back to the BigEast, the other sports programs will be stuck in purgatory.

That said, it took FSU and Miami 6 years to make the ACC more competitive in football as they were easily winning all those conference titles. It elevated Clemson finally but also at the detriment of their own prestige and top echelon status.

What team in the Big East would give the women a tough game? Maybe Vill?

 

[UConnNick]

What team in the Big East would give the women a tough game? Maybe Vill?

The answer is almost nobody. 40 point blowouts just like the AAC would be the norm.

 

[Monte]

ALL League Tournaments are: ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!

If they omitted them, they could begin the NCAA Tourney earlier.

 

[UConnNick]

excuse my ignorance as always but why can't UConn women's basketball be like Notre Dame in college football with their own independent schedule with lots of great match ups throughout the season..I can't believe the AAC broadcasting rights can be all that lucrative

Independents don't get bowl bids in football and they don't get NCAA bids in BB. You have to be in a conference. ND football gets away with it only because they were aligned with the Big East and the ACC for other sports. It was and is a parasitic relationship which only benefits them. In the BE they even had the right to take a bowl bid away from a BE team under certain circumstances.

They would figure a way to get UConn women's BB in the NCAA's as an independent only due to the program's high profile, but scheduling would be impossible. It wouldn't work.

 

[Wbbfan1]

ND's agreement is they have to play 5 Games against ACC teams yearly. It hasn't cost their Football program as they usually didn't schedule Cup Cakes like so many other schools.

ND is only able to do it in football because of the national appeal of their program; in football you only have 12 games to schedule - while ND is independent, they do have an agreement to play a number (not sure how many) games v ACC conference schools. Football is the driver of the NCAA.

 

[JellyBean]

With this mindset, we never would have had the Miracle On Ice back min 1980. Or the time Chaminade(spelling) beat #1 ranked Virginia Cavs with giant Ralph Sampson.

On any given day, anyone can be beat. Just a matter of shots falling and executing your plays.

 

[nwhoopfan]

BYU football is also independent (in the WCC in all other sports), but they are absolutely dying. It was a poor decision they made to go indie.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Back to the OP, you were saying? 43-5 at the half is ludicrous. There's no reason for Cincy to come back out on the floor for the 2nd half.

 

[triaddukefan]

Yep

 

[Woof 101]

Some of us prefer to look at the AAC not as a conference that will drag UCONN down but rather a conference that UCONN will pull up....patience

BINGO !!!

So until you tell the AD to Forego football and go back to the BigEast, the other sports programs will be stuck in purgatory.
NO ATTACK, just asking will people ever stop trying to ride the long dead BE horse ???

E="Charliebball, post: 2608110, member: 6831"]excuse my ignorance as always but why can't UConn women's basketball be like Notre Dame in college football with their own independent schedule with lots of great match ups throughout the season..I can't believe the AAC broadcasting rights can be all that lucrative

NO ATTACK, just say'n, I would run the number of eyes (ratings = $$$) that catch women's basketball to that of division 1 football. Notre Dame football has not only first hand fans but many that root for other teams, yet still consider themselves ND fans.

 

[veryolddog]

"Back to the OP, you were saying? 43-5 at the half is ludicrous. There's no reason for Cincy to come back out on the floor for the 2nd half." -nwhoopfan

You just made my point. Thank you. Game over. Not even competitive. The ESPN announcers are not even discussing this game.

 

[UConnCat]

"Back to the OP, you were saying? 43-5 at the half is ludicrous. There's no reason for Cincy to come back out on the floor for the 2nd half." -nwhoopfan

You just made my point. Thank you. Game over. Not even competitive. The ESPN announcers are not even discussing this game.

We get it. What do you suggest UConn do about it?

 

[UConnCat]

Back to the OP, you were saying? 43-5 at the half is ludicrous. There's no reason for Cincy to come back out on the floor for the 2nd half.

What a great suggestion. I'm sure Jamelle is thinking just that!

 

[UConnCat]

I'm getting tired of posting the same Truism. For the final time, Women's basketball is the ONLY sport where any team dominates the AAC. Not Men's basketball, Football, Baseball. Any of the other sports are highly competitive. ( The sports that really count for every other college.)

What you really want is something like Notre Dame Football, where they are independent and schedule whoever they can. UConn could try that, but good luck scheduling any team that is in the middle of their league schedule.
IOW, it just ain't gonna happen. It is what it is. Live with it!

Thank you.