Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="ctchamps, post: 4704619, member: 37"] There are definitely advantages to having UConn in a tournament played at MSG over Kansas. Perhaps recruiting might benefit from it as well. But the most important factor is success or failure. Leaving the Yankee conference and joining the BE we struggled initially and the teams we considered rivals were those teams who struggled likewise. As JC brought the program to prominence our rivals became those teams who were likewise successful. That changed over time as we maintained a high degree of success while other programs did not. And talk about elitist Pac schools. Syracuse and Georgetown fans never could admit we were at their level even when Pitt and Louisville challenged us more than they did. Our early success in the AAC did not develop rivalries because the first season we had the ban and the second season there were no good AAC teams. When we started hitting the bed Cinci, Houston and Memphis began playing better and instead of becoming our potential rivals we began blaming the AAC for our situation along with the coaching problems. When we returned to the BE our rivals once again became those programs who were successful as Hurley got us to a degree of success. We expected Nova to be one of them. Creighton had our number and it became one of the BE programs UConn fans most wanted to beat. But what happened this year. Ending fourth in the BE regular season and losing in the semis to Xavier in the conference tournament were overcome by how we did outside the conference. And the two teams that did the best in the tournament were not geographically as close to MSG as several of the other BE teams. So proximity to the tournament site was irrelevant for the BE conference tournament success refuting some of the supposition made by others as a necessity to UConn's success. If we get to the Big12 and Hurley can maintain UConn at its current level we will develop new rivals just like we did in the past. Now if you are talking about fan experience then it is an absolute negative regarding attending tournament and away games. But if the B12 can maintain its superiority in basketball a lot of the itching among fans regarding home games will significantly diminish. More so if the autonomous rumbling we are hearing from the P5 plays out and/or the NIL can use media money. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach