Connecticut Future in the AAC?

[FollowerCT]

FYI ... http://www.swishappeal.com/2013/10/...nnecticut-american-athletic-conference-future

 

[RadyLady]

short-lived, I hope

 

[Alydar]

"1. In women's basketball, I think that as long as Geno Auriemma is the head coach there, the Huskies will be fine. UConn should still be a Top 10 program regardless. But depending on whether recruiting at other AAC schools are like, will the team start playing with less intensity once conference play starts? Then after Auriemma leaves or retires, if the rest of the AAC isn't improving in women's basketball, we could see the Huskies decline like Louisiana Tech and Old Dominion have because they are not in power conferences."

Should have just stopped after the first sentence. As far as losing intensity, if they could play hard against Providence, Pitt et al for the last several years the question is silly. As far as becoming LATech or Old Dom, I would want to know what their wcbb budgets were. My guess is that they were great as long as bigger schools didn't support their women's programs fiancially. Once schools outside the south started spending and recruited players to other parts of the country their fates were sealed. UConn will be a top program as long as they maintain the budget.

Way too much credit is being given to the level of competiton in the so-called major conferences. Without Notre Dame the BE would have been little better than this year's AAC. Every wcbb conference in the country is loaded with bad teams.

 

[Vowelguy]

. UConn will be a top program as long as they maintain the budget.

But that becomes harder when other conferences are paying out $20m a year and yours is only $1m . And this also affects facilities, coaching salaries, etc. And attendance declines if the rest of the conference doesn't up their game significantly

 

[AZHuskiePop]

The Big East in WBB was nothing until UConn emerged.
Maybe even worse than the balance of the current AAC
The women's teams in the AAC will have and use UConn as a recruiting tool.
it only takes a few recruits to make a leap in BB.
JC used Georgetown and Cuse to recruit players from all over the country. WBB in the New Big East will suffer the most.
The ACC will remain strong but if they don't win it will fade as the
AAC ascends. That is if UConn remains in the League.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

But that becomes harder when other conferences are paying out $20m a year and yours is only $1m . And this also affects facilities, coaching salaries, etc. And attendance declines if the rest of the conference doesn't up their game significantly

I think the writer of the article brought that up - or it was one of the folks writing comments on the original site. The financial commitment will be key, especially after Geno is gone, regardless of the conference. The point is that in the AAC, it may be harder to maintain the necessary financial commitment.

It remains the key fact - which posters often miss - that no decisions are going to be undertaken by any conference because of women's basketball. It will be football driven - that's where the real money is - with men's basketball peripherally considered.

And I don't doubt that AAC WBB programs will try and upgrade themselves in WBB - at question would be how much support the athletic departments are willing to put into it. And how much support they can, with the financial issues from the football side.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Honestly, I personally dont think it will matter too much in the near future. IMO, UCONN will get an invite to the Big10 or ACC at some point. Just my gut.

Living in Chicago, I can tell you folks around here think it will be the Big10.

 

[Aj]

It really doesn't matter what conference they play in because they are playing against basketball so it don't matter who is on the court. The bigeast was never competative until the last couple of years when ND finally gave them competition.

 

[jsloanjr]

UCONN will get their wishes by 2015. B10 needs to have UCONN with the New England and NY markets.. RU will not get any AD $$$, but UCONN has a huge SNY contract and is on TV more than any WCBB team in America........UCONN needs a Big time football coach to get them in a new spotlight....B10 needs UCONN football to be competitive and UCONN will need to expany the Rent to 65 or 70,000 seats which is a minimum in the B10......

 

[caramel]

In reference to the team declining after Geno moves on,there are assistant coaches there right now who understand excellence,and are being prepped by Geno and Chris to be outstanding future head coaches.There is also Jen R. who has been whispered as a possible future with the team.Sure,Geno is one of a kind and one of the greatest,if not the greatest,head coach in women's basketball.However,UConn has outstanding depth in coaching that will probably be among the list of possible candidates for women's head coach at UConn. I,for one,would have confidence,when that day comes,in any of the following-Chris,Shea,Jen,or anyone else that Geno would suggest for the position.

 

[Vowelguy]

It really doesn't matter what conference they play in because they are playing against basketball so it don't matter who is on the court. The bigeast was never competative until the last couple of years when ND finally gave them competition.

Last few years?
UConn did not win the big east tournament in 2003 or 2004.

 

[Coler]

Last few years?
UConn did not win the big east tournament in 2003 or 2004.

You guys didn't win in 07 either. And RU won the regular season title back in the 05-06 season with a perfect 17-0 BE record. So it was competitive years before ND...

 

[Aj]

How many bigeast teams won the NC in the last 20 yrs besides uconn?

 

[Fightin Choke]

How many bigeast teams won the NC in the last 20 yrs besides uconn?

Just Notre Dame (2001). But the BE has had other teams make it to FF (9 times total: 5 for ND, 2 each for Rutgers and Louisville) and the NC game (6 times total: 3 for ND, 2 for Louisville, and one for Rutgers), all since 1997.

 

[Aj]

Do you think uconn cares more about winning the conference title or a NC?

 

[hjoerring]

FB is clearly the driver here. And for most teams all the other sports are dependent on them for their survival. This is the case for UCONN as well. However, UCONN cannot afford to let sports such as wo/menbb, f.hockey, soccer decline (this is true for Duke and NC) decline because they are it's brand/sports of excellence. But even more. UCONN would be nothing of value if these sports begin to fade-- all in the Athletic Div should know this. FB is a mess and is clearly not ready for the aac, muchless the big boys- and with no tradition (RU,BC) to appeal. Personally, I doubt if we will ever be competitive on the national stage. Nevertheless, we are doomed to put in all the penny we can find into the program, hire a big time coach who's only desire in life is to build a program up from zero into a respectful one. The AD has connections in that world so it could happen- at least a known head coach. We should have enough left over money from the BE to use on FB.

 

[pinotbear]

Do you think uconn cares more about winning the conference title or a NC?

You're changing your argument here, Aj: first, you said that the Big East was never competitive until the last couple of years with ND. That statement was proven erroneous. Now, you're using a preference for a national title as your standard, instead of conference success. That's a big leap, and since UConn has won as many titles as any school in the country, much less the conference, it's kinda a non-issue: we're on a UConn fan board, we know the answer to that one.

Basically, your argument is like the foolish Geico commercials about "fifteen minutes can save you 15%" - Old McDonald's spelling ability has nothing to do with car insurance pricing, and a desire for national championships has nothing to do with past conference records.

 

[Big Fan]

UConn will never get an invite to the Big 10 unlesss they upgrade their academics. Every Big 10 school including the University of Chicago (which is an academic member only) is an AAU school. This includes new members Rutgers and Maryland. (Except Nebraska which was an AAU school when they joined but has since lost acredidation)

http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476

 

[pinotbear]

UConn will never get an invite to the Big 10 unlesss they upgrade their academics. Every Big 10 school including the University of Chicago (which is an academic member only) is an AAU school. This includes new members Rutgers and Maryland. (Except Nebraska which was an AAU school when they joined but has since lost acredidation)

http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476[/quote]

If you are interested in this, BF, you might want to go over to the Conference Realignment Board area of the Boneyard. There are months n' months of threads on the subject, including extensive ones on the academic aspect that you are interested in. I'm not deeply informed about it, but, my impression is that UConn's academic reputation has been steadily improving, and that new president Herbst (I hope I got that right) has made it a strong priority. The state government has provided impressive funding for new academic programming, and, (again from the Conference Realignment Board), this has not escaped the notice of Big 10 presidents and conference poobahs.

UConn is not AAU yet, but, I believe there has been considerable progress made towards that objective.

 

[Icebear]

UConn will never get an invite to the Big 10 unlesss they upgrade their academics. Every Big 10 school including the University of Chicago (which is an academic member only) is an AAU school. This includes new members Rutgers and Maryland. (Except Nebraska which was an AAU school when they joined but has since lost acredidation)

http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476

Yes, it is no longer no longer true that all are members.