Could Our Fears Be Overblown? | The Boneyard

Could Our Fears Be Overblown?

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I'm starting to calm down over realignment and am really starting to feel like UConn will be okay regardless of what happens. If the Big 12 does stay together and even if they poach WVU and UofL and preemptively TCU I think the likelihood that the current BCS structure remaining pretty much the same is pretty high. If that is the case I really don't see any scenario where our BCS bid is stripped and just handed over to the MWC.

If the Big East can still be one of the top 2 or 3 basketball leagues in the country then we will still be able to get big money for our TV deal. Football is not and never was going to be a real factor for the BE TV deal aside from the fact that yes we do have football to broadcast during football season. BE football is a non-factor nationally and we all know that. That is why teams are leaving but if basketball remains relevant and the BE tourney remains a top draw all we really have to do is what we have been doing since 2003 and that is put enough football teams on the field to have a football conference.

As parodoxical as it seems the only reason the BE is a BCS conference is due to our basketball strength and our TV markets and that honestly can still be salvaged. I'm just gonna sit back and relax and until something terrible actually happens (stripped of BCS bid, very bad TV deal, etc.) I'm not going to worry about it.
 

nelsonmuntz

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I agree that things are not quite as black and white as they may seem in the emotional response to new news, but there is a tipping out reached if more than a couple of programs leave, particularly if WVU and TCU are two of them, where it becomes difficult to justify continued Big East inclusion within the BCS system.
 
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I agree that things are not quite as black and white as they may seem in the emotional response to new news, but there is a tipping out reached if more than a couple of programs leave, particularly if WVU and TCU are two of them, where it becomes difficult to justify continued Big East inclusion within the BCS system.

I agree to an extent but it's been difficult to justify for awhile. I'm just starting to doubt that it would actually happen. The MWC is not really that great of a conference and they don't have the markets to be valuable enough for the networks to even want to see them in the BCS. I think if things stay at 6 BCS conferences that the Big East will be one of them as long as we have the minimum number of teams required. Of course there will be bitching about us but there always has been. That doesn't bother me.
 
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I'm starting to calm down over realignment and am really starting to feel like UConn will be okay regardless of what happens. If the Big 12 does stay together and even if they poach WVU and UofL and preemptively TCU I think the likelihood that the current BCS structure remaining pretty much the same is pretty high. If that is the case I really don't see any scenario where our BCS bid is stripped and just handed over to the MWC.

If the Big East can still be one of the top 2 or 3 basketball leagues in the country then we will still be able to get big money for our TV deal. Football is not and never was going to be a real factor for the BE TV deal aside from the fact that yes we do have football to broadcast during football season. BE football is a non-factor nationally and we all know that. That is why teams are leaving but if basketball remains relevant and the BE tourney remains a top draw all we really have to do is what we have been doing since 2003 and that is put enough football teams on the field to have a football conference.

As parodoxical as it seems the only reason the BE is a BCS conference is due to our basketball strength and our TV markets and that honestly can still be salvaged. I'm just gonna sit back and relax and until something terrible actually happens (stripped of BCS bid, very bad TV deal, etc.) I'm not going to worry about it.
BE basketball has little to do with BCS. The significance of the BCS bid is for football. Even if Uconn were independant, it wouldn't have much effect on our NCAA tourney situation. If we are good enough, we'll get the benefit of the doubt due to our schedule and history.
Our long term success will be enhanced by joining one of the power power conferences which likely will total magic number of 64. If we don't get in one of those conferences Uconn football will fade away and all the money invested in The Rent and the on campus practice facility would be wasted on the wrong sport. Eventually it will effect basketball recruiting.
 
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Yes, it is very likely that a Big East without Louisville, WV, TCU, Pitt and Syracuse retains its BCS bid.
 

RS9999X

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It's a setback. You can't paint this pig in a positive light.

For the ACC, SEC, and Big 12.

 
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Yes, it is very likely that a Big East without Louisville, WV, TCU, Pitt and Syracuse retains its BCS bid.

I honestly just don't think we really deserved a BCS bid after 2003 compared to the other conferences. We've been playing with 8 members, 3 of whom came from a non BCS league and ourselves who had upgraded from FCS. There is no way that we really deserved it back then when you look at it. We only had 4 real BCS schools at that point but they didn't take our BCS bid away.
 
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It's a setback. You can't paint this pig in a positive light.

For the ACC, SEC, and Big 12.



Agree 100%. Losing charter members with pedigree is definitely a set back.
 

HuskyHawk

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As I am powerless to affect the eventual outcome, it is pointless to be too concerned. However, let me suggest that I am far less concerned with whether UConn has the potential for an automatic BCS berth that with the teams that we play. I really would lose interest should we join an all sports conference with the likes of ECU, CFU, Houston etc. There's no interest in seeing those teams. Basketball would be awful as well.

If it looks like we cannot get into the ACC or B1G, and the few existing BE football teams are poached (WVU, UL, TCU or Cincy) I would MUCH prefer going independent in football and playing hoops in the Big East in the short term. I really don't give a crap about an automatic BCS berth that we're unlikely to get 9 years out of 10. If we're good enough, like Boise St., we'll get one anyway. Most years we'll either get a mid-level or low-level bowl or won't be eligible. AQ has little value for UConn short term, despite last year. I'd much rather schedule appealing opponents as an independent.
 
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I honestly just don't think we really deserved a BCS bid after 2003 compared to the other conferences. We've been playing with 8 members, 3 of whom came from a non BCS league and ourselves who had upgraded from FCS. There is no way that we really deserved it back then when you look at it. We only had 4 real BCS schools at that point but they didn't take our BCS bid away.

that is really a silly thought. Louisville, one of the non-BCS upgraders, beat the ACC rep in the Orange Bowl. West virginia beat the SEC rep and the B-12 rep, yet didn't go unbeaten int eh Big East either year. If you look at the Big East's record since the reorgaization, it would actually be better than the ACC, and based on the USA Today computer rankings, it has been ranked as high as 3rd, and as low as 6th, and even last year we were still ranked well ahead of the WAC. In certain years, it has been more highly ranked than every conference but the SEC.
 
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As I am powerless to affect the eventual outcome, it is pointless to be too concerned. However, let me suggest that I am far less concerned with whether UConn has the potential for an automatic BCS berth that with the teams that we play. I really would lose interest should we join an all sports conference with the likes of ECU, CFU, Houston etc. There's no interest in seeing those teams. Basketball would be awful as well.

If it looks like we cannot get into the ACC or B1G, and the few existing BE football teams are poached (WVU, UL, TCU or Cincy) I would MUCH prefer going independent in football and playing hoops in the Big East in the short term. I really don't give a crap about an automatic BCS berth that we're unlikely to get 9 years out of 10. If we're good enough, like Boise St., we'll get one anyway. Most years we'll either get a mid-level or low-level bowl or won't be eligible. AQ has little value for UConn short term, despite last year. I'd much rather schedule appealing opponents as an independent.


Judge Chamberlain Haller: HuskyHawk, that is a lucid, intelligent, well thought-out objection.
HuskyHawk: Thank you.
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Overruled.

 
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As I am powerless to affect the eventual outcome, it is pointless to be too concerned. However, let me suggest that I am far less concerned with whether UConn has the potential for an automatic BCS berth that with the teams that we play. I really would lose interest should we join an all sports conference with the likes of ECU, CFU, Houston etc. There's no interest in seeing those teams. Basketball would be awful as well.

If it looks like we cannot get into the ACC or B1G, and the few existing BE football teams are poached (WVU, UL, TCU or Cincy) I would MUCH prefer going independent in football and playing hoops in the Big East in the short term. I really don't give a crap about an automatic BCS berth that we're unlikely to get 9 years out of 10. If we're good enough, like Boise St., we'll get one anyway. Most years we'll either get a mid-level or low-level bowl or won't be eligible. AQ has little value for UConn short term, despite last year. I'd much rather schedule appealing opponents as an independent.

It's not a question about whether you get a BCS bowl berth most years. It's a question about whether you go into conference play knowing that if you take care of business you get one. That makes conference games much more exciting and intense, and drives attendance, interest and ratings. It absolutely is a big deal to be in an AQ conference.
 
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Judge Chamberlain Haller: HuskyHawk, that is a lucid, intelligent, well thought-out objection.
HuskyHawk: Thank you.
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Overruled.


Said much, much better than I did.

As an aside, I was involved in a case in Alabama state court a year ago. I had to have my associate physically restrain me from asking "what's a yute?" when the judge walked in.
 

HuskyHawk

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It's not a question about whether you get a BCS bowl berth most years. It's a question about whether you go into conference play knowing that if you take care of business you get one. That makes conference games much more exciting and intense, and drives attendance, interest and ratings. It absolutely is a big deal to be in an AQ conference.

I get it. I want to be in an AQ conference, but not at the expense of playing a bunch of schools that I just don't care about. I think as an independent, playing home and homes with the likes of say Michigan State, would drive far more excitement than playing CFU or ECU in an AQ conference. We would have zero rivalries in some of these whacked-out proposed conference scenarios.

When I was at KU, we never missed a K-State or Missouri game, or Oklahoma or Nebraska. Colorado was good then too. Nebraska would pack Lawrence...Winnebago city, all with red NU flags. Wild scene. There is no way than anyone in CT would feel the same way about East Carolina, Central Florida, Memphis or Houston. There is just no connection. I don't care what conference status is on the line, we will never have a sense of belonging in such a league.
 

ConnHuskBask

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I get it. I want to be in an AQ conference, but not at the expense of playing a bunch of schools that I just don't care about. I think as an independent, playing home and homes with the likes of say Michigan State, would drive far more excitement than playing CFU or ECU in an AQ conference. We would have zero rivalries in some of these whacked-out proposed conference scenarios.

When I was at KU, we never missed a K-State or Missouri game, or Oklahoma or Nebraska. Colorado was good then too. Nebraska would pack Lawrence...Winnebago city, all with red NU flags. Wild scene. There is no way than anyone in CT would feel the same way about East Carolina, Central Florida, Memphis or Houston. There is just no connection. I don't care what conference status is on the line, we will never have a sense of belonging in such a league.

What gives you any indication that UConn would have the financial viability to support an independent football program?
 

nelsonmuntz

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What gives you any indication that UConn would have the financial viability to support an independent football program?

UConn would play 8 road games a year and have 2 home games against FCS schools as an independent. It is a non-starter. I would strongly favor a regional conference over a CUSA spread all over the country.

By this I mean a league with Temple, UMass, Delaware, Buffalo, Rutgers, UConn, James Madison and ECU. Throw in one or two of New Hampshire or USF if they needed a home, although they might have trouble justifying the travel for a mid-major league.

While there is a lot of FCS upgrade in that league, those schools are upgrading anyway. That league would actually have a fighting chance of a TV contract that wouldn't be puketastic because it would have presence in so many media markets. Furthermore, the concentration would generate reasonable rivalries. It would not be the Big 10, but it could be an Eastern version of the MWC that could win 30-40% of its games against the majors every year.

It would also be a thorn in the side of the ACC, and be the only way to keep UConn remotely attractive enough to justify a future invite to a major conference. A league like the MAC, which if overly concentrated in Ohio and Michigan, or CUSA, spread all over the South and competing directly with the Big 12, SEC and ACC, would be a mistake.

It makes me ill that I have to think in these terms.
 

whaler11

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It's not a question about whether you get a BCS bowl berth most years. It's a question about whether you go into conference play knowing that if you take care of business you get one. That makes conference games much more exciting and intense, and drives attendance, interest and ratings. It absolutely is a big deal to be in an AQ conference.

And makes it possible to recruit players. There is no program without being in an AQ league. There might be 15k that would come inside Rentschler for a game.
 

ConnHuskBask

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UConn would play 8 road games a year and have 2 home games against FCS schools as an independent. It is a non-starter. I would strongly favor a regional conference over a CUSA spread all over the country.

Going independent isn't an option.

I'm in favor of being in the best possible Big East 3.0 which would be a variation of the list below, plus the basketball schools. It's pretty ugly, but I think it's best to prepare for the worse. 8 team football and 16 team basketball (maybe we could get ECU or others to be football only). Just looking at it on paper that's not a BCS conference, but by using the CURRENT BCS calculations, how far off would that be? (Obviously a hypothetical).

UConn
Rutgers
South Florida
Temple
East Carolina
Central Florida
Southern Methodist
Houston
 

nelsonmuntz

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Going independent isn't an option.

I'm in favor of being in the best possible Big East 3.0 which would be a variation of the list below, plus the basketball schools. It's pretty ugly, but I think it's best to prepare for the worse. 8 team football and 16 team basketball (maybe we could get ECU or others to be football only). On paper that's not a BCS conference by today's standards, but using the CURRENT BCS calculations, how far off would that be?

UConn
Rutgers
South Florida
Temple
East Carolina
Central Florida
Southern Methodist
Houston

I accidentally hit "post" on my earlier post before putting my conference recommendation.

I don't know that I see much point in having a far flung mid major league, although I don't feel that strongly about it. Whatever we do, we keep UConn in the Big East basketball league, which would probably add Butler and Xavier. A 12 team league of UConn, Georgetown, St. Johns, Villanova, Marquette, Butler, Xavier, Depaul, Providence, Seton Hall, Rutgers and Notre Dame would still be a major conference for basketball and would likely be a 5-6 bid league most years. That league would definitely get a sweet TV deal.
 

ConnHuskBask

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I accidentally hit "post" on my earlier post before putting my conference recommendation.

I don't know that I see much point in having a far flung mid major league, although I don't feel that strongly about it. Whatever we do, we keep UConn in the Big East basketball league, which would probably add Butler and Xavier. A 12 team league of UConn, Georgetown, St. Johns, Villanova, Marquette, Butler, Xavier, Depaul, Providence, Seton Hall, Rutgers and Notre Dame would still be a major conference for basketball and would likely be a 5-6 bid league most years. That league would definitely get a sweet TV deal.

What would your proposed 8 team football conference be? (Assume only UConn, Rutgers and USF are left - no TCU either).

I understand the notion for a more regional feel, however I feel like we should grab the best football programs from anywhere Texas eastward. Basketball will still provide the regional rivalries. Football on the other hand, cannot be picky or afford to take projects (UMass/Buffalo) in the region, because it could make the league below C-USA/MAC levels and it further depletes our talent pool. Let's face it, if we're going up against BC, Cuse, Pitt, Penn State, etc. for recruits in a non-AQ conference, we're going to need all the help we can get.

Definitely interested in your thoughts (as you are one of the few that understands the need for a hybrid).
 
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As a UConn football fan I want us to play in a BCS conference first and foremost. If that conference has a core of:

UConn
Rutgers
South Florida
Cincinnati
Temple
Villanova
East Carolina
Central Florida
Southern Methodist
Houston

Then so be it. I guess I would prefer to go to the ACC but that could still be one of the best basketball conferences when you factor in the classic BE schools plus ND and UConn would be the big dog which has something to be said for it. All I'm saying is that we can't predict the future and that league still may be able to retain a BCS bid regardless of whether other people think we deserve it or not. That would be one thing I wouldn't care about in the least. I personally would be able to start rooting for those teams to beat teams from the other conferences when they played them and would be just as big a UConn fan and supporter as ever.
 

whaler11

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As a UConn football fan I want us to play in a BCS conference first and foremost. If that conference has a core of:

UConn
Rutgers
South Florida
Cincinnati
Temple
Villanova
East Carolina
Central Florida
Southern Methodist
Houston

Then so be it. I guess I would prefer to go to the ACC but that could still be one of the best basketball conferences and UConn would be the big dog which has something to be said for it. All I'm saying is that we can't predict the future and that league still may be able to retain a BCS bid regardless of whether other people think we deserve it or not. That would be one thing I wouldn't care about in the least. I personally would be able to start rooting for those teams to beat teams from the other conferences when they played them and would be just as big a UConn fan and supporter as ever.

That could end up being a league. That league has as much of a chance to be in the BCS as the CCC South does.

I don't think you get how important being in a BCS AQ league is. It's the difference between UConn having an athletic program and UConn not having an athletic program.
 
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What would your proposed 8 team football conference be? (Assume only UConn, Rutgers and USF are left - no TCU either).

Definitely interested in your thoughts (as you are one of the few that understands the need for a hybrid).

I agree that we need a hybrid too if we remain in the Big East. Those basketball schools form a huge part of the Big East identity that would still be valuable to the networks.
 
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That could end up being a league. That league has as much of a chance to be in the BCS as the CCC South does.

I don't think you get how important being in a BCS AQ league is. It's the difference between UConn having an athletic program and UConn not having an athletic program.

That's where you are completely wrong. I do get it. I want to be in a BCS league at all costs even if nobody thinks it deserves it's BCS bid. The Big East at least is in the position where it would have to be stripped from us. We don't have to convince them to give us something we do not yet have like the MWC.
 

whaler11

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That's where you are completely wrong. I do get it. I want to be in a BCS league at all costs even if nobody thinks it deserves it's BCS bid. The Big East at least is in the position where it would have to be stripped from us we don't have to convince them to give us something we do not yet have like the MWC.

Yes, I'd take a BCS bid that no one thinks we deserve. The option isn't give the BCS bid to the MWC - it's create another at-large for the SEC. There were a bunch of stories the last few weeks that the BCS is considering removing the two team conference limit.

The BCS is about money and selling tickets to bowl games and getting ratings. The last thing they are going to do is let the MWC send some 10-2 team to the BCS who sends 3,000 people when they could get the third best team in the SEC.
 
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