Michigan fans are already taking about it.
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/if-when-b1g-expands-again-would-you-be-fine-wuconn
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/if-when-b1g-expands-again-would-you-be-fine-wuconn
Michigan fans are already taking about it.
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/if-when-b1g-expands-again-would-you-be-fine-wuconn[/quote]
Amazes me that half the votes are to retract back to 10 or less by kicking out Nebraska and Penn State, which has been in the B1G for 20 years now, and they don't even acknowledge Rutgers and Maryland. Sounds a lot like ND.
Read the resposnes. What I came away with is how easy it is to be provincial, ill-informed and ignorant when your already sitting amongst the "Haves". Wouldn't bring TV's?! Prefer Miami of Ohio? Cheezus Christmas!
The comments on this site are not a surprise and I expect similar comments would be made on sites for other B1G schools. However, these comments reflect the rank and file B1G fan perspective rooted in a historical view of the Big Ten conference. This is not the view of Jim Delany nor the view he endorses when he gives advice to the B1G presidents. Delany has spoken on multiple occasions about conferences moving from outside their traditional region into other regions and even having national reach. The B1G presidents, unlike some of the rank and file B1G fans, are certainly more forward thinking with respect to expansion of the conference into different regions. Although there is no public discussion on the part of the B1G conference that Delany and the B1G presidents are considering UConn for B1G membership, as all of you can attest there was public discussion from leadership of ACC member Boston College about keeping UConn out of the ACC. I think there is a significant difference between having the leadership of a school in a conference you want to join dismiss the idea of you joining and anonymous rank and file fans of a conference dismissing the idea. The B1G conference is moving forward. The Midwest will always remain the foundation for the conference but the conference is clearly seeking a presence in the East and beyond. This is the goal of the B1G leadership and I do not think the rank and file fans are going to get their wish to move back to a 10 team Midwest confined conference. Although not imminent and not guaranteed, I still think there may be a place for UConn in the B1G's plan for expansion to the East.
I think for UConn to compete in football at a high level they have to recruit the Southeast. I can't see how they do that well in the Big 10.
I also see the ACC as a place where UConn could get to the top half of the league in a reasonable amount of time.
As for Rutgers vs. BC. Seems to me everyone already forgot Rutgers, yet many still obsess over BC. I think they are much more viable 'rival'.
The new ACC basketball league is pretty impressive. That would be a lot of fun to partake in.
While not as stark - UConn in the Big 10 smells like WVU in the Big 12. Just out on an island so far away from Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota etc.
Hard to take this post seriously - you're an outlier now. The AAC is definitely more spread out than the BIG - Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, USF, Houston and SMU - now that's just far more real estate than even the western reaches of the BIG.
What's truly bad for WVa - they have to go through two states just to get to Kansas or Iowa. In comparison, UConn in the BIG would mean Rutgers, PSU, and Md nearby, and for all sports. Taken a step further, in the AAC, post Lville and Rutgers, you do have Temple and Navy close by, but only football for the latter.
You know, upon further review of the AAC, despiste broken up geography, at least UConn has access to 3 of the 5 best states for hs football recruits: La, Tx, and Florida. You also have schools like Houston and Memphis who have multiple final fours in basketball, men's side. But damn that geography, it's just to broken up and the cultural bonds will be too difficult to establish. It doesn't help that the Fl, Tx and La connections include the weaker football programs of each state.
Agree.
I'm tired of the cranky folks of the Rust Belt BIG (and that definitely includes Pa & many PSU fans who claim they are somehow Eastern), most of us aren't like that in Minnesota, and basically the plains region of the BIG: much of Wisconsin , then Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.
Hard to take this post seriously - you're an outlier now. The AAC is definitely more spread out than the BIG - Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, USF, Houston and SMU - now that's just far more real estate than even the western reaches of the BIG.
What's truly bad for WVa - they have to go through two states just to get to Kansas or Iowa. In comparison, UConn in the BIG would mean Rutgers, PSU, and Md nearby, and for all sports. Taken a step further, in the AAC, post Lville and Rutgers, you do have Temple and Navy close by, but only football for the latter.
You know, upon further review of the AAC, despiste broken up geography, at least UConn has access to 3 of the 5 best states for hs football recruits: La, Tx, and Florida. You also have schools like Houston and Memphis who have multiple final fours in basketball, men's side. But damn that geography, it's just to broken up and the cultural bonds will be too difficult to establish. It doesn't help that the Fl, Tx and La connections include the weaker football programs of each state.
PA is an odd state. Philadelphia and the areas that are East of the Susquehanna are clearly Eastern/Mid-Atlantic while West of the River, especially, Pittsburg, are more Midwest/Ohio Valley. Pittsburgh is a 2 hour drive to Cleveland and Cincinnati, while it is a 4 hour drive to Philly, which is a 2 hour drive to NYC and DC.
Hard to take this post seriously - you're an outlier now. The AAC is definitely more spread out than the BIG - Tulane, Tulsa, UCF, USF, Houston and SMU - now that's just far more real estate than even the western reaches of the BIG.
What's truly bad for WVa - they have to go through two states just to get to Kansas or Iowa. In comparison, UConn in the BIG would mean Rutgers, PSU, and Md nearby, and for all sports. Taken a step further, in the AAC, post Lville and Rutgers, you do have Temple and Navy close by, but only football for the latter.
You know, upon further review of the AAC, despiste broken up geography, at least UConn has access to 3 of the 5 best states for hs football recruits: La, Tx, and Florida. You also have schools like Houston and Memphis who have multiple final fours in basketball, men's side. But damn that geography, it's just to broken up and the cultural bonds will be too difficult to establish. It doesn't help that the Fl, Tx and La connections include the weaker football programs of each state.
I had to travel much of Pa and the Rust Belt (basically central Pa, eastern NY (esp Buffalo) thru Chicago for a couple of years, previous job. I definitely agree, there are cultural distinctions between Philly and the rest of Pa, Pitt especially. But Philly and even Baltimore remind me more of Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago than say NYC or DC - the latter being more international and certainly transplant driven. Philly and Bmore are simply located between two very global cities (NYC and DC). I guess Chicago shakes the Rust Belt image once you get closer to the city core and up onto the Northside - more like DC and NYC than say Philly or Bmore - thank the rail yards and Chicago Stock Exchange, partly, for this global culture .
Strictly my opinion, I think the denser Rust Belt core has more in common with the Northeast than say the southern half of the Atlantic, which from a historical sense makes sense - need I say weather as well. The Rust Belt and Northeast are, in more primitive terms, Yankee havens : ).
Dude if I were proposing to stay in the AAC your post might make sense.
East of the Hudson, Italian and Yankee.
West of the Hudson, Dutch
NYC, Italian
Pennsylvania, Central & Western NY, the entire Midwest other than Minnesota (Scandanavian) is German.
Down South: Real Americans
Down South: Real Americans
I am Irish and French and live just West of the Hudson. As for down south, are there a lot of Native Americans there as they are really the only 'real' Americas. The rest of us are just immigrants.
Does the town you live in end with the letters --kill or --dam or --voort or --vliet or --hook or --laer or for that matter does it begin with Van?
Nobody is saying they want to be in the AAC. I think UConn would be better positioned in the ACC than Big 10. I'm not saying I wouldn't kill for a Big 10 invite.
"Value" is a local denomination and geography and proximity to rivals is still important.
To me, UConn has more "value" if tied to teams like Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers..and maybe, Boston College...than it would tied to teams in the southeast.
Boston College, as an example, has been an outlier in the ACC, an uncomfortable fit. No real rivalry built. No real connection to FSU, Clemson, Virginia, NC State, etc in the division.
After the last year and a half, West Virginia is starting to look like the XII’s version of BC. I wonder if that is a concern in Morgantown?