First off, let me start by saying nothing pleases me more than watching the UConn men prove doubters wrong and make deep runs that make every other fan base jealous and bitter. Yet this program of our, despite having won 4 national championships in the last 15 years, a feat that can be rivaled only by the likes of Wooden+UCLA and Duke in the early 90's, is seriously lacking in an important department. Despite all this massive success, the program has a massive gap between actual performance on the court, and the perception of the program in the eyes of the impartial national viewer of the game. Despite showing absolutely zero signs of slowing down on a national level, UConn is still continually slept on, and at some point this disparity must be shown to originate internally from the program's directors itself.
What really set me off on this issue recently was this article ranking the top OOC matchups for this upcoming season (
The 50 best non-con games of 2014-15). It ranked the Duke vs UConn matchup in December as the 6th best overall OOC matchup of this upcoming season, a fair assessment in its own right, yet the description contains this very lack of perception of power I described earlier:
Why? Why must the
reigning national champions have to prove themselves
against Duke of all teams. Why are we, a team that just won a championship in stunning and spectacularly convincing fashion while returning talented leaders as well as top incoming talent, have to prove our entire worth for this upcoming seasons hopes, against a Duke team that dropped several games in the regular season,
lost to Mercer in the first round, and sent its 2 best players including a generational talent in Parker who essentially carried their team all year. I understand Duke is bringing in another loaded recruiting class including Okafor, but come on. Duke's heralded recruits have not played a single game at the college level yet, we have no idea how they cope with college size and speed, or even how their chemistry will work out. Yet despite all this,
we need to prove we are legit this upcoming season against them.
This is all an indirect result of a program's perception of eliteness or whatever you choose to call it. At the college level, there is so much turnover season to season with incoming recruits, transfers, and players leaving for the NBA that only the most hardcore follower of the game can have any hope to have a good idea of the national landscape of teams, especially preseason. Yet programs like UK, KU, UNC, Duke continue to get these "benefits of the doubt" from journalists and sports analysts everywhere. Why? Because they have built a perception of excellence in the minds of the viewers through excellent marketing and positioning of their "brand" on the national level.
Lets take a step back now. UConn, while winning at the rate of a clear-cut Top 5 program over the past 25 years, has a serious lack of this marketing of its "brand", and I have begun to put the blame of this on the hands of the program's various administrators (not Coaches, very important). For example, go to any Champs, Foot Locker, or Dicks sporting goods store in CT and see what you find. I personally was at Champs in Westfarms Mall in Farmington a few weeks ago and browsed their college basketball clothing section. What do you see? Duke, UNC, ND, Ohio State, and Texas gear as far as the eye can see. Meanwhile there was only a single UConn branded t-shirt on a separate rack, and
this is IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT! If you dont market your brand in your own state, how do you expect it to be perceived outside of CT. Many of you may roll your eyes at this but its more psychologically relevant than you may think. People across the country walk into a store and see the clothing of the blue bloods despite them being hundreds of miles away and that subconsciously means something to them. It shows national reach, a perception of strength and "eliteness". Everyone who knows anything about the current business world and marketing in general knows that you "dont sell the steak, you sell the sizzle". Look at Apple or Beats Headphones products for example, they are far from being the best on the market, with competitors having better and cheaper alternatives, yet despite this people are still lining up to buy these overpriced items due to the clear "perception of quality" that they exhibit far better than the rest.
There have been several threads just on the Boneyard over the past year claiming that there is a serious lack of UConn branded apparel and products anywhere, even the damn internet, and even more so with the new logo. Apparel sites host several different program's items in the latest styles depending on whats popular at the moment, yet UConn is never anywhere to be found despite being one of the most well recognized names in the game. Guys at UConn's marketing department like Kyle Muncey make excuses and claims about UConn's apparel being worked on but tis all BS. This University has been too successful, and simply put,
dominant to not take advantage of this opportunity we have been given thanks to the great coaches and athletes that have come through this program. If this issue of marketing and perception is not changed or corrected in any way, what happens when we have a string of bad season, like a 5 year down period. Especially in a shithole conference like the AAC, this would create a dangerous situation for the program as it slips out of the limelight, like we all saw happening after the postseason ban and conference realignment (thank you Shabazz). Making these moves on the national stage needs to happen to ensure the programs continues success throughout the foreseeable future.
Thankfully, I do see some signs of positive change. For example, First Night this year was great, exactly what it needed to be from day one. In the past it was pep rally of sorts with basic introductions and thats it, but this year there was electricity in the air, new lighting, projections, music, and an air of hype about the incoming season. Recruits see these things whether you like it or not, and it has brought success to programs like UK, look at what Cal has done simply by creating this environment of energy and hype that is at this point perpetuating itself regardless of the outcome of the season on the court.
Anyway thanks for listening, this has been brewing in my head for some time now but I finally decided to make the post while procrastinating with my studies. Please discuss and tell me why you think I hate UConn (which I genuinely dont, in fact its one of my greatest joys and source of pride).
