Blair's comments about UConn's future

[tomcat]

It seemed to me that this important topic got short shrift in another thread, so I'll start from the top here. First off, I admit I'm a fan of Gary Blair. IMHO, he's not only funny, but smart and a wise observer of the WCBB scene.

Blair said, in effect that the UConn situation may wind up like La Tech with Leon Barmore, a fabled if eccentric coach (Blair was his assistant). It became harder and harder to get top players to play there. And, of course, we all know how LaTech wound up.

League-wise, UConn WBB is on the cusp of being top dog, but only in the sense of being a rottweiler in a pack of terriers.

I sure hope other posters are right, and UConn's solid BBall presence, men's and women's, propels the team into a real league. But remember what Blair said: football drives the bus, and UConn football does not make it. It's sad to think about, but our favorite team, for whatever reason, made some really strong enemies over the years at colleges whose representatives could be doing UConn some good right now. I know nothing about this politics stuff, so I can only talk about what I've seen here and elsewhere. We all knew about BC and the problems with their AD, but what the hell did UConn even do to Clemson or Fla State?

It's tough to not be masters of your own destiny, especially when your bball program is top-notch.

 

[hoophuskee]

Clemson and Fla State are all about football. Anyhow - have to be hopeful that there is some type of combination of Fla State and Clemson to SEC. And ND or another school in B1G. Or maybe the Northwestern issue etc may affect the landscape favorably. .

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

There is hard to see any earthly way that the NW issue is going to affect the landscape favorably.

Exclusive of WBB - which University appears to offer more - UConn or LaTech? I think that there are more selling points for UConn than LaTech had, exclusive of what Blair is saying.

 

[triaddukefan]

Clemson and Fla State are all about football. Anyhow - have to be hopeful that there is some type of combination of Fla State and Clemson to SEC. And ND or another school in B1G. Or maybe the Northwestern issue etc may affect the landscape favorably. .

Why would the SEC want FSU and Clemson ?? They already have the flagship schools in each state, they arent gonna add those 2

 

[Bayareahusky]

U South Carolina and U Florida both are anti Clemson and Fla State joining

 

[winitall]

It seemed to me that this important topic got short shrift in another thread, so I'll start from the top here. First off, I admit I'm a fan of Gary Blair. IMHO, he's not only funny, but smart and a wise observer of the WCBB scene.

Blair said, in effect that the UConn situation may wind up like La Tech with Leon Barmore, a fabled if eccentric coach (Blair was his assistant). It became harder and harder to get top players to play there. And, of course, we all know how LaTech wound up.

League-wise, UConn WBB is on the cusp of being top dog, but only in the sense of being a rottweiler in a pack of terriers.

I sure hope other posters are right, and UConn's solid BBall presence, men's and women's, propels the team into a real league. But remember what Blair said: football drives the bus, and UConn football does not make it. It's sad to think about, but our favorite team, for whatever reason, made some really strong enemies over the years at colleges whose representatives could be doing UConn some good right now. I know nothing about this politics stuff, so I can only talk about what I've seen here and elsewhere. We all knew about BC and the problems with their AD, but what the hell did UConn even do to Clemson or Fla State?

It's tough to not be masters of your own destiny, especially when your bball program is top-notch.

He's right. What it comes down to and I've said this before, support football in every way. We need them to be a winning, well supported program to get into another conference for the life of all of UConn's sports programs. If we don't we very well may turn into LA Tech, football drives the destiny of sports at UConn not BB, unfortunately for us.

 

[hjoerring]

Clemson and Fla State are all about football. Anyhow - have to be hopeful that there is some type of combination of Fla State and Clemson to SEC. And ND or another school in B1G. Or maybe the Northwestern issue etc may affect the landscape favorably. .

I don't know what the "Northwestern issue" is about and it's meaning here. But it is clear that we could- if not careful end up in a L'Tec situation, kept out of the ACC, Big 10 for fb, payback, jelousy and territorial reasons. And at this juncture the B10 would be the place I would pick- I would be more comfortable going mid/west then south (Of course the SEC, Pac and B12 do not make sense). Is the Amerian that arwful? The schools that are in- and those on the way could put the resources in to build up wbb. Tulane has money and others are located in prime recruiting areas and could become relevant overnight. In the meantime Geno and Co can use their influence to schedule Stanford twice year (we have done the likes for them in the past, and there are the BYUs' out there. We could easily write off the ACC and SEC and still be more then relevant. Create a sort of sc
holar-athlete foundation/scholarship where we compete for some of the top students by showing that they can excell here, as well. (We have and have had such students-- we just didn't brag. At one point there were talk about Moore seeking a Rhodes Scholarship! Today, Duke, Stanford and ND are feeding and have sold themselves as being above the rest. Let us think creatively about the aac and not kill it before it gets going. It's not pleasant to be a new member coming aboard and reading about how terrible the conf is and why are they opening the doors to everyone. (Sometimes it sounds like what others are saying about us when we come up for discussion.

 

[hoophuskee]

I don't know what the "Northwestern issue" is about and it's meaning here. But it is clear that we could- if not careful end up in a L'Tec situation, kept out of the ACC, Big 10 for fb, payback, jelousy and territorial reasons. And at this juncture the B10 would be the place I would pick- I would be more comfortable going mid/west then south (Of course the SEC, Pac and B12 do not make sense). Is the Amerian that arwful? The schools that are in- and those on the way could put the resources in to build up wbb. Tulane has money and others are located in prime recruiting areas and could become relevant overnight. In the meantime Geno and Co can use their influence to schedule Stanford twice year (we have done the likes for them in the past, and there are the BYUs' out there. We could easily write off the ACC and SEC and still be more then relevant. Create a sort of sc
holar-athlete foundation/scholarship where we compete for some of the top students by showing that they can excell here, as well. (We have and have had such students-- we just didn't brag. At one point there were talk about Moore seeking a Rhodes Scholarship! Today, Duke, Stanford and ND are feeding and have sold themselves as being above the rest. Let us think creatively about the aac and not kill it before it gets going. It's not pleasant to be a new member coming aboard and reading about how terrible the conf is and why are they opening the doors to everyone. (Sometimes it sounds like what others are saying about us when we come up for discussion.

I just don't think the B1G wants us. The B1g would be best sure. There are some like BC, Fla State and Clemson that don't want us but there are others that do in ACC. I think there is less that wants us in B1G.

 

[UcMiami]

I posted in the other thread and will do so here.
LaTech at that time had almost none of its games telecast and except for maybe the championship game nothing telecast nationally. By contrast Uconn if they play in the championship game will have had 40 of its games on National telecast and a third of them on ESPN or its family. Advantage Uconn.
Uconn in any two year stretch will play games nationwide including California, Texas, Florida, mid-south, NE corridor, and midwest hitting all the hotbeds of HS talent. LaTech played almost exclusively in the Texas to FL corridor. Advantage Uconn.
Uconn has and will continue to have a $5M budget for women's basketball that includes charter flights, good food, and a great new practice facility. Not sure what LaTech's highest budget was and what it would work out to in 2014 dollars but I am pretty sure it was never there, and it certainly isn't there now. Advantage Uconn
Uconn owns a basketball crazy state - LaTech never did. Advantage Uconn
Uconn has the best and most media worthy coach in the game during a media age. LaTech had a great coach but played in a very different era of media attention. Advantage Uconn.
Uconn alum dominate professional leagues around the world and the WNBA and USA national teams keeping the brand relevant and in recruits eyes - LaTech's glory days occurred when their was no professional outlet for their alum. Advantage Uconn.
Uconn is a highly ranked academic school - not in the league with Stanford and Duke, but well above the level of LaTech. Advantage Uconn.

Would it be easier to be associated with a strong conference, absolutely, but for the next five years the above is good enough to drive the bus. And five years is a long time in the current climate of conferences and in the lives of most programs. USF is a serious school re women's basketball and some of the other members of the new league seem to take it seriously as well. In five years we could easily see a much better AAC than what we see right now - all you need is a couple of teams to make a national presence felt as the old BE proved.

 

[asuwish]

He's right. What it comes down to and I've said this before, support football in every way. We need them to be a winning, well supported program to get into another conference for the life of all of UConn's sports programs. If we don't we very well may turn into LA Tech, football drives the destiny of sports at UConn not BB, unfortunately for us.

Uconn needs to get into a big conference when they ALL expand to 16. Football needs to show it cares by expanding The Rent. Football doesn't have to be great i.e Indiana or B.C., but it has to be stable enough. Rutgers was only chosen by the Big 10 because of it's TV market, Uconn offers much of the same. Hartford, Springfield, New Haven, is big, and Uconn carries into New York. It also has the academics those conferences seek. The older ACC teams carry a grudge against CT, so hopefully the new schools, and the realization Uconn would at least make the ACC the undisputed king of hoops the way the SEC dominates football gets them an invite. The Big 10 may also want Uconn to buffer against the ACC, but we have to end up in one of those conferences.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

I could love to have UConn in the ACC. It would solidify the conference as the best basketball conference, men and women. UConn also adds premier Olympic sports (e.g., field hockey, soccer, etc.). The academic profile would fit. And with Boston College, Syracuse, and UConn, the entire Northeast market would belong to the ACC.

 

[warbler1055]

I hope we will go the BIG10 instead of the ACC. There are just too much negativity there over the years!!! But HCBD must have a winning program.

 

[Storrsbred]

Seems to me that UConn is pointing to the Big, simply because of the upgrade in hockey. All the other sports can be germane to either ACC or BIG.

 

[hoophuskee]

Seems to me that UConn is pointing to the Big, simply because of the upgrade in hockey. All the other sports can be germane to either ACC or BIG.

UCONN can point to it all they want. Our football is too poor for B1G to want us. ACC will be more "forgiving" for poor football if enough of the Fla State's will leave. When SEC decides to expand- imo a no-brainer is to go after Fla State. The SEC is about having the best football schools in the country. Just becuase Fla will complain - i won't matter. Most of the other's won't.

One opening may be enough to get into ACC. As far as Clemson- Univ. of South Carolina was nothing before Spurrier. When he goes, Clemson can be an attractive alternative. USC will complain-- but again tmost of the other schools probably wouldn't. But there might be more favorable teams than Clemson. Give us a couple of more cracks to have possibility of going to ACC - we just might get there.

 

[UcMiami]

I know football performance is important but it is really more the media footprint of fans than the actual team that these conferences are considering. It really doesn't matter how good a team ND has year in and year out - the footprint of their fan base is the 'holy grail' of conference realignment. And Uconn's best commodity is the shoreline between New Haven and the NY border - full of affluent CT residents many of whom work in NYC and a large number of corporate HQs.
If Uconn is playing a team from the midwest or from the mid-atlantic coast in any sport a lot of TVs in that corridor will be turned on and a lot of consumers will be watching commercials. Now if the team is competitive the numbers go up but ... And while football has a x game season, basketball at Uconn has an x times three season which means those TVs are on three times as often, and unlike most universities the distaff side of the basketball season might actually get more TVs that the men.
I do think that conferences are not blind to that equation.
An interesting issue between the ACC and the Big10 is that the Big10 already has enough nationally relevant football teams to hang their hat on, the ACC really does not. So the ACC may be more concerned with finding a more powerful football school than the Big10. The ACC is the Basketball power conference taking over from the BE but has some of the inherent problems that the BE struggled with regarding football - not to the degree of having a split league, but of having too many teams that just aren't in the 'power' category.

 

[hoophuskee]

I know football performance is important but it is really more the media footprint of fans than the actual team that these conferences are considering. It really doesn't matter how good a team ND has year in and year out - the footprint of their fan base is the 'holy grail' of conference realignment. And Uconn's best commodity is the shoreline between New Haven and the NY border - full of affluent CT residents many of whom work in NYC and a large number of corporate HQs.
If Uconn is playing a team from the midwest or from the mid-atlantic coast in any sport a lot of TVs in that corridor will be turned on and a lot of consumers will be watching commercials. Now if the team is competitive the numbers go up but ... And while football has a x game season, basketball at Uconn has an x times three season which means those TVs are on three times as often, and unlike most universities the distaff side of the basketball season might actually get more TVs that the men.
I do think that conferences are not blind to that equation.
An interesting issue between the ACC and the Big10 is that the Big10 already has enough nationally relevant football teams to hang their hat on, the ACC really does not. So the ACC may be more concerned with finding a more powerful football school than the Big10. The ACC is the Basketball power conference taking over from the BE but has some of the inherent problems that the BE struggled with regarding football - not to the degree of having a split league, but of having too many teams that just aren't in the 'power' category.

IMO the B1G is after the best potential football school it can get.

 

[sawxfan23]

Clemson and Fla State are all about football. Anyhow - have to be hopeful that there is some type of combination of Fla State and Clemson to SEC. And ND or another school in B1G. Or maybe the Northwestern issue etc may affect the landscape favorably. .

I totally agree hoop. I can definitely see Fla ST and Clemson heading to the SEC to make the greatest Football conference even greater. I can also see the ACC picking up UConn when they leave and thus creating a mega Basketball conference in the ACC.

 

[sawxfan23]

UCONN can point to it all they want. Our football is too poor for B1G to want us. ACC will be more "forgving" for poor football if enough of the Fla State's will leave. When SEC decides to expand- imo a no-brainer is to go after Fla State. The SEC is about having the best football schools in the country. Just becuase Fla will complain - i won't matter. Most of the other's won't.

One opening may be enough to get into ACC. As far as Clemson- Univ. of South Carolina was nothing before Spurrier. When he goes, Clemson can be an attractive alternative. USC will complain-- but again tmost of the other schools probably wouldn't. But there might be more favorable teams than Clemson. Give us a couple of more cracks to have possibility of going to ACC - we just might get there.

Lou Holtz had a few good teams that were top 15 or top 20 teams while he was there.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Clemson and Fla State are all about football. Anyhow - have to be hopeful that there is some type of combination of Fla State and Clemson to SEC. And ND or another school in B1G. Or maybe the Northwestern issue etc may affect the landscape favorably. .

Neither Florida State nor Clemson will be allowed into the SEC, and here is why:

In South Carolina, USC has the larger fan base and the urban markets, even including a big dent in the Charlotte and Augusta TV markets outside of South Carolina. Additionally, we don't want our arch rivals gaining the riches of the SEC revenue sharing, so we would block Clemson's entry. In Georgia, the same is true of Georgia blocking Georgia Tech and Florida blocking Florida State. All three schools have also agreed to back each other in blocking their hated in-state rivals' entry into the SEC. If the SEC adds any more teams, it will be to add more TV markets, which is not the case if the SEC added Clemson, Georgia Tech or FSU. If the SEC adds more teams, it would likely be a North Carolina school (likely NC State or UNC) and/or a Virginia school (likely Virginia Tech). Of course, either of those additions would create an opening for you in the ACC. For your sake, I hope you are able to get into one of the power conferences.

 

[jsloanjr]

Forget the ACC....The Big 10.........UCONN will be the end cap on the BIO East.......PennStae, RU, MD, OSU, MI and MSU and UCONN......This is what Joe Paterno wanted to do 20 years ago.........with Syracuse, Pitt, BC, VT, RU, Temple.

Hey, you never know.........Stay tuned.

 

[hoophuskee]

Neither Florida State nor Clemson will be allowed into the SEC, and here is why:

In South Carolina, USC has the larger fan base and the urban markets, even including a big dent in the Charlotte and Augusta TV markets outside of South Carolina. Additionally, we don't want our arch rivals gaining the riches of the SEC revenue sharing, so we would block Clemson's entry. In Georgia, the same is true of Georgia blocking Georgia Tech and Florida blocking Florida State. All three schools have also agreed to back each other in blocking their hated in-state rivals' entry into the SEC. If the SEC adds any more teams, it will be to add more TV markets, which is not the case if the SEC added Clemson, Georgia Tech or FSU. If the SEC adds more teams, it would likely be a North Carolina school (likely NC State or UNC) and/or a Virginia school (likely Virginia Tech). Of course, either of those additions would create an opening for you in the ACC. For your sake, I hope you are able to get into one of the power conferences.

Thank you.

There are 14 teams in the SEC. Three teams can defintively block the others?

 

[buddy]

Uconn needs to get into a big conference when they ALL expand to 16. Football needs to show it cares by expanding The Rent. Football doesn't have to be great i.e Indiana or B.C., but it has to be stable enough. Rutgers was only chosen by the Big 10 because of it's TV market, Uconn offers much of the same. Hartford, Springfield, New Haven, is big, and Uconn carries into New York. It also has the academics those conferences seek. The older ACC teams carry a grudge against CT, so hopefully the new schools, and the realization Uconn would at least make the ACC the undisputed king of hoops the way the SEC dominates football gets them an invite. The Big 10 may also want Uconn to buffer against the ACC, but we have to end up in one of those conferences.

BC great? BC is awful and Indiana is not so hot either.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Thank you.

There are 14 teams in the SEC. Three teams can defintively block the others?

Pretty much, because other schools in the SEC are not going to want to add 2 teams that bring in no new TV markets.

 

[hoophuskee]

Pretty much, because other schools in the SEC are not going to want to add 2 teams that bring in no new TV markets.

"Pretty much" isn't an answer. The answer is "no" ---three teams can't block it. We shall see. Your conference can have/ own the state of Florida by inviting Fla State. They aren't going to dilute the conference by bringing in significantly lesser teams. Your football wants to own the planet. When your conference chooses to add- book it- Fla State will get invited.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

"Pretty much" isn't an answer. The answer is "no" ---three teams can't block it. We shall see. Your conference can have/ own the state of Florida by inviting Fla State. They aren't going to dilute the conference by bringing in significantly lesser teams. Your football wants to own the planet. When your conference chooses to add- book it- Fla State will get invited.

I disagree, but then from 800 miles away I guess you know more about SEC culture than I do.