Big 12 Pausing Expansion | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Big 12 Pausing Expansion

You know my feeling on it. Im happy about it.

I must be getting older and softer because I dont have it in me to even give anyone guff about it. Mostly I feel bad for the fellow UConn fans who desire a move because they like College Football. Believe it or not I do have some empathetic moments.

These days I am pissed at the people who hurt my brethren. While we may disagree on what's best for UConn Basketball (which is my only personal concern, but I respect people who have concerns other than that, I just don't agree) I am sick and tired of a National Championship University being made into a national laughingstock in the Conference affiliation repeated soap operas . Im tired of conferences using us as a pawn in the chess game of thrones. I am tired of all of it. Surely some of you must be over it too?

I would love the next time that we come up in a discussion like this for our entire fanbase and athletic department to unite, and grab our collective crotches, yell "Su*K our Dix" and spit in their eyes. This groveling for table scraps has to stop. We look so weak and desperate. I am convinced that it is part of the reason we get played so much. No one respects us. Well screw them.

Funny thing is, if we ever did take that attitude we probably end up with 3 conferences fighting over us the following week.
 
August_West said:
You know my feeling on it. Im happy about it.

I must be getting older and softer because I dont have it in me to even give anyone guff about it. Mostly I feel bad for the fellow UConn fans who desire a move because they like College Football. Believe it or not I do have some empathetic moments.

These days I am pissed at the people who hurt my brethren. While we may disagree on what's best for UConn Basketball (which is my only personal concern, but I respect people who have concerns other than that, I just don't agree) I am sick and tired of a National Championship University being made into a national laughingstock in the Conference affiliation repeated soap operas . Im tired of conferences using us as a pawn in the chess game of thrones. I am tired of all of it. Surely some of you must be over it too?

I would love the next time that we come up in a discussion like this for our entire fanbase and athletic department to unite, and grab our collective crotches, yell "Su*K our Dix" and spit in their eyes. This groveling for table scraps has to stop. We look so weak and desperate. I am convinced that it is part of the reason we get played so much. No one respects us. Well screw them.

Funny thing is, if we ever did take that attitude we probably end up with 3 conferences fighting over us the following week.
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My friend, I don't think you really grasp how bad off UConn basketball will be if the school doesn't end up in a power conference. I really don't think you understand.
 
August_West said:
You know my feeling on it. Im happy about it.

I must be getting older and softer because I dont have it in me to even give anyone guff about it. Mostly I feel bad for the fellow UConn fans who desire a move because they like College Football. Believe it or not I do have some empathetic moments.

These days I am pissed at the people who hurt my brethren. While we may disagree on what's best for UConn Basketball (which is my only personal concern, but I respect people who have concerns other than that, I just don't agree) I am sick and tired of a National Championship University being made into a national laughingstock in the Conference affiliation repeated soap operas . Im tired of conferences using us as a pawn in the chess game of thrones. I am tired of all of it. Surely some of you must be over it too?

I would love the next time that we come up in a discussion like this for our entire fanbase and athletic department to unite, and grab our collective crotches, yell "Su*K our Dix" and spit in their eyes. This groveling for table scraps has to stop. We look so weak and desperate. I am convinced that it is part of the reason we get played so much. No one respects us. Well screw them.

Funny thing is, if we ever did take that attitude we probably end up with 3 conferences fighting over us the following week.
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Butchie?
 
aburks41 said:
I would counter that point by saying it opens us up to a tremendous risk of getting left out of a P4-only basketball tournament if we drop football...but we're already on the outside looking in so who cares at this point
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Why would anyone want to be in a p4 only basketball tournament? If it ever came to that, it is all over anyway. A P4 basketball tournament as a replacement for the current NCAA tournament would make "New Coke" look like a success story. It would be the biggest flop ever.
 
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NCHuskie919 said:
My friend, I don't think you really grasp how bad off UConn basketball will be if the school doesn't end up in a power conference. I really don't think you understand.
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I bet I do grasp what you think is going to happen. I don't believe you. Because you (and everyone else) actually have zero idea of what it will be.
 
August_West said:
Why would anyone want to be in a p4 only basketball tournament? If it ever came to that, it is all over anyway. A P4 basketball tournament as a replacement for the courant NCAA tournament would make "New Coke" look like a success story. It would be the biggest flop ever.
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Because that P4 (or Px) will be the haves and will dictate sports and media contracts. They will force the acceptance of New Coke, and those not part of the haves will be relegated to the likes of being RC cola...yes it has fans, but it's not the de facto leader and is more of an afterthought. We don't want UConn to be an afterthought. I like the Big East, I do, but nostalgia cannot override financial security or national relevance.
 
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superjohn said:
The Big 12 presidents are basing it on football, it would be nice if we could show a pulse in that sport instead of getting slaughtered.
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This exactly. UConn isn't out of the Big 12 because of losing 50-7 to Maryland. UConn is out of the Big 12 because the majority of the Big 12 doesn't want us and the ones on the fence said "lol" after we hyped up our football NIL only to lose by 6 TDs to the Big Ten's preseason #11.
 
KryHavok said:
Because that P4 (or Px) will be the haves and will dictate sports and media contracts. They will force the acceptance of New Coke, and those not part of the haves will be relegated to the likes of being RC cola...yes it has fans, but it's not the de facto leader and is more of an afterthought. We don't want UConn to be an afterthought. I like the Big East, I do, but nostalgia cannot override financial security or national relevance.
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The p4 are already the haves and dictate sports and media contracts have been for over 2 decades.
 
superjohn said:
Cutting football completely and the corresponding women's Title IX scholarships has to be something that's seriously talked about. Waiting around for years hoping the Big 12 takes us or until the ACC breaks up and hoping we get a life raft with the other undesirables isn't a plan.

It would free up a tremendous amount of money for basketball.
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And basketball will still be frozen out of the future national championships. It has nothing to do with money. The P4 are going to create their own tourney and UConn won't be invited.
And the rest of the country won't care.
The northeast is a dy8ng section of the country compared to the rest of the regions, the NYC media no longer drives national narratives and the decision makers are all in different parts of the country.
It's P4 or die for UConn.
 
amory said:
The subtext is screaming “best get comfy, we’re not going anywhere”
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You said it way more subtle than Bobby Knight.
 
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If my numbers are accurate, the P4 had 31 teams in the NCAA Tournament. And that didn't even include some very strong basketball programs including Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville, Cincinnati, WVU, Utah, Arkansas, LSU, Oklahoma, Vandy, Notre Dame, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State, UCLA, USC, Washington. We all appreciate the current Big Dance but they could have their own tournament and it could actually be a stronger field.

They could split off and not worry about at all of the single bid conferences. They probably wouldn't worry too much about the MWC or Big East either. I think the Big East needs to be very worried. Just look at the size of the fan bases of those programs who didn't even make it in 2024.
 
I would have liked for UConn to join the Big 12 from a financial perspective in the intermediate term. That said, 5-10 years out it isn’t going to matter. You’ll have two super conferences with 20-25 teams each and the rest of the schools eating scraps. Sad reality of where college sports are heading. With basketball, we should still be able to be relatively competitive. Football - not so much.
 
While Benedict has always preferred us in the ACC, this pause in the Big 12 expansion, which was a hoped for strategy, now puts us back in the same position we would have been if the Big12 deal had been agreed to. .

We must still pour everything we have into building our football program—just as if we were pointing toward playing in the Big12 in 2031, including plans for an on campus stadium.
This is existential. There’s no way our future athletic programs can survive without entry into a P-4 conference.
 
Chin Diesel said:
And basketball will still be frozen out of the future national championships. It has nothing to do with money. The P4 are going to create their own tourney and UConn won't be invited.
And the rest of the country won't care.
The northeast is a dy8ng section of the country compared to the rest of the regions, the NYC media no longer drives national narratives and the decision makers are all in different parts of the country.
It's P4 or die for UConn.
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Disagree, I think the chances of that happening are slim to none.
 
Nostical said:
While Benedict has always preferred us in the ACC, this pause in the Big 12 expansion, which was a hoped for strategy, now puts us back in the same position we would have been if the Big12 deal had been agreed to. .

We must still pour everything we have into building our football program—just as if we were pointing toward playing in the Big12 in 2031, including plans for an on campus stadium.
This is existential. There’s no way our future athletic programs can survive without entry into a P-4 conference.
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I get what you're saying but the situation is very different. With the Big 12 agreement there would have been a sense of urgency. We would have been hopeful. It may have helped recruiting. Investments would be required. Now we just feel deflated and the team may feel the same way. What worries me most right now is this Merrimack game. Not kidding.
 
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Chin Diesel said:
And basketball will still be frozen out of the future national championships. It has nothing to do with money. The P4 are going to create their own tourney and UConn won't be invited.
And the rest of the country won't care.
The northeast is a dy8ng section of the country compared to the rest of the regions, the NYC media no longer drives national narratives and the decision makers are all in different parts of the country.
It's P4 or die for UConn.
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Don’t want any part of a P3 bball tourney whether we’re part of it or not. Sham tournament crowning a sham champion.

But I’m also not worried about it. The tourney is going to grow not contract.
 
superjohn said:
Disagree, I think the chances of that happening are slim to none.
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I don't think they'll split off from the NCAA tournament. I do think (they have already started) they will ensure that non FBS football schools take up fewer of the bids. They basically run the committee as it is.

I do see the truly big football schools doing what the big soccer teams considered doing and splitting from the mediocre and also-ran FBS teams, even in their conferences. They have to gauge fan blow-back from that, but they are moving towards it. Once they are paying players, few teams will be able to afford to play at that level.
 
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navery12 said:
I can't believe this really needs to be said out loud, but Brett Yormark and the Big 12 presidents are not basing the decision to add UConn off a single week 0 football game. That is next level dumb
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Post of the day.
 
Bazz4A said:
95% of UConn fans do not care about football. The fact we average 25,000 a game is proof of that, not proof a lot of the fanbase cares. For half the people that show up to the games, it’s a fun way to kill a Saturday afternoon in the fall with family and friends. It’s not to watch the product.
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A lot of fans in the seats during the end-term Ollie years? Nope, they were giving tickets away. 95% of UConn fans didn't care about basketball.
 
John said:
A lot of fans in the seats during the end-term Ollie years? Nope, they were giving tickets away. 95% of UConn fans didn't care about basketball.
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Ok but we Had a big East basketball light at the end of that tunnel. The light we hoped was at the end of the football tunnel was really a train and it just ran us over.
 
Just a question here. But what would the University of Connecticut need to do to be AAU college certified? Is there any to accomplish that and hope for a Big 10 invite someday? I know that when the ACC ends its quarrel with Clemson and Florida State that they have the potential of loosing Virginia and North Carolina. The Big 10 would take both schools in a heartbeat. Even Georgia Tech would give them another huge market. I’ve lost count on how many schools are in conferences now. But it would be great if UConn could gain AAU status.
 
ConnMotors said:
Just a question here. But what would the University of Connecticut need to do to be AAU college certified? Is there any to accomplish that and hope for a Big 10 invite someday? I know that when the ACC ends its quarrel with Clemson and Florida State that they have the potential of loosing Virginia and North Carolina. The Big 10 would take both schools in a heartbeat. Even Georgia Tech would give them another huge market. I’ve lost count on how many schools are in conferences now. But it would be great if UConn could gain AAU status.
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Even if UConn got AAU by maybe doubling research output, the B10 may still not want UConn. Perhaps, some day they will want UConn,
 
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