Creating a non-conference wish list for UConn

[Carnac]

A wish list for UConn’s future non-conference schedules.​

By Dan Connolly.

UConn women’s basketball’s non-conference schedule is pretty close to perfect. The Huskies have a good mix of high-end opponents (Texas), teams they have a long history with (Notre Dame) or both (Tennessee, South Carolina). There’s a quality middle class of interesting games like Princeton, Maryland, NC State and two of Duke/Iowa/Oregon State at PK85 while only having a couple snoozers in Northeastern and Florida State. It’s also well-balanced with five home games, three road games and three neutral games, which isn’t often the case in the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Creating a non-conference wishlist for UConn

The Huskies have a great non-conference schedule this season but who could be some fun additions in the future?

uconnwbbweekly.substack.com

 

[KY Card Fan]

I'm still hopeful that a Louisville-UConn home and home series can be arranged beginning in 2023-24 or 2024-25.

 

[TWG236]

We have never played U of Michigan. I was hoping that once St John’s coach was hired, that would change. It would be great to get our brand in Michigan, we have not been very successful in recruiting there. Also would like to get Duke or North Carolina back on the schedule.

 

[MSGRET]

Would love to see UConn play in Las Vegas, be it against UNLV or maybe in a round robin tournament.

 

[oldhusky]

Would love to see UConn play in Las Vegas, be it against UNLV or maybe in a round robin tournament.

Think the tournament idea is a good one, either early in the season or Christmas break perhaps.

 

[MSGRET]

Think the tournament idea is a good one, either early in the season or Christmas break perhaps.

I would love that more than a single game, that way I might be able to meet many BY'ers who come to Vegas.

 

[TCC Kid]

We have never played U of Michigan. I was hoping that once St John’s coach was hired, that would change. It would be great to get our brand in Michigan, we have not been very successful in recruiting there. Also would like to get Duke or North Carolina back on the schedule.

Duke and NC great. I haven't been a fan of Michigan since the Fab 5 and a son in law.

 

[triaddukefan]

We have never played U of Michigan. I was hoping that once St John’s coach was hired, that would change. It would be great to get our brand in Michigan, we have not been very successful in recruiting there. Also would like to get Duke or North Carolina back on the schedule.

Duke and NC great. I haven't been a fan of Michigan since the Fab 5 and a son in law.

I'm all for a UCONN-NC series. Nobody wants to see a Uconn-Duke series,. When I say nobody, I'm talking about me.

 

[Woof 101]

Vandy for sure, Shea taking a school from the bottom to the top in short order hopefully.

 

[Carnac]

Would love to see UConn play in Las Vegas, be it against UNLV or maybe in a round robin tournament.

Serg, don’t the women of UNLV already host a holiday tournament every year just befoe the Chridtmas break?

 

[Carnac]

Instead of playing the same 6-7 top 10 schools every year, I’d like to see UConn create a pool of 15-20 top 25 programs and play 7-8 of them on a rotating basis.

It would add some excitement to the preseason schedule because that portion of the schedule would always be different than the year before. Some top-ranked programs may be willing to play us once every 3 years every year. I would like to see Duke in that rotation.

 

[MSGRET]

Serg, don’t the women of UNLV already host a holiday tournament every year just befoe the Chridtmas break?

Yes, but very few Power 5 or Top 10 teams come. I believe that UConn had been offered a few years back, but didn't accept.

 

[Carnac]

Agreed. My thinking here while UConn is still a top 3-4 team, they are no longer the dominant elephant in the room they once were. UConn has fallen back to the pack so to speak. The number of losses last year and the teams we lost to bear that out. Losing to unranked Georgia Tech, Oregon, Villanova, and needing two overtime periods to beat North Carolina State in game 4 of last season’s national tournament.

A lot of schools (coaches) no longer fear UConn as they once did. UConn on your schedule can be a recruit tool (or lure). It also gines your program nstional attention as most of UConn’s games can be seen nationally. I’m way out here on the west coast in Southern California, and I get ALL of UConn’s WBB games.

Last but not least, win or lose; playing UConn will provide an opponent with a bench mark as to exactly where they are among elite top 5 ranked Programs in the upper room.

Some coaches still shy away from the thought of playing UConn. Some see it as an probable loss in their precious preseason schedule. They are trying to build confidence, momentum and a habit of winning. A 20 point loss to UConn would disrupt that flow.

 

[Skeets]

Instead of playing the same 6-7 top 10 schools every year, I’d like to see UConn create a pool of 15-20 top 25 programs and play 7-8 of them on a rotating basis.

It would add some excitement to the preseason schedule because that portion of the schedule would always be different than the year before. Some top-ranked programs may be willing to play us once every 3 years every year. I would like to see Duke in that rotation.

Knowing One, that got me thinking. Wouldn't be neat if the top 8 or so teams agreed to form an unofficial "non-conference conference" and play each other every year? You could win your regular conference, like the Big East, and the unofficial conference. That would be impressive. Of course there are numerous problems with this idea. Can 2 teams from the same regular conference play each other again as an OOC game? How would that be reflected in the regular conference standings? Scheduling would be a nightmare. What would you do with a team going through a bad stretch? Kick them out?

It won't happen, but it would be great basketball. Kinda like an in-season "Final 8" every year.

 

[Bald Husky]

Agreed. My thinking here while UConn is still a top 3-4 team, they are no longer the dominant elephant in the room they once were. UConn has fallen back to the pack so to speak. The number of losses last year and the teams we lost to bear that out. Losing to unranked Georgia Tech, Oregon, Villanova, and needing two overtime periods to beat North Carolina State in game 4 of last season’s national tournament.

A lot of schools (coaches) no longer fear UConn as they once did. UConn on your schedule can be a recruit tool (or lure). It also gines your program nstional attention as most of UConn’s games can be seen nationally. I’m way out here on the west coast in Southern California, and I get ALL of UConn’s WBB games.

Last but not least, win or lose; playing UConn will provide an opponent with a bench mark as to exactly where they are among elite top 5 ranked Programs in the upper room.

Some coaches still shy away from the thought of playing UConn. Some see it as an probable loss in their precious preseason schedule. They are trying to build confidence, momentum and a habit of winning. A 20 point loss to UConn would disrupt that flow.

UConn is still a name that is respected across the country. Case in point, the Jimmy V games, two women and two men's, including Duke will be nationally televised, but only one will be on one of the three major networks. While the other three are on the espn networks, they have chosen the UConn-ND game to be on ABC. As far as women's basketball, we are still the #1 audience draw around the country, and nothing that has occurred, or not occurred the last few years has diminished that. Go Huskies.

 

[ConnMotors]

Rivalry games are important in sports. People line up for tickets then watch their teams battle it out whether it be on the field or on the court. I have been going to men's games since the days that they would play at the New Haven Colosseum. I started watching the ladies since they made their first run to the Final Four. Have been hooked since then and have an advocate of women's sports ever since.

In the early years you wanted these schools: Tennessee, Stanford, Old Dominion and Louisiana Tech. They were the teams that put the women's basketball on the map. The tide shifted slightly as Duke and Notre Dame entered the pictures in the early 2000's. Then to South Carolina and Baylor. However, the two schools that have been dominate throughout have been Connecticut and Stanford.

Because of the conferences that UConn has had to play in Geno has to schedule quality games against profile teams prior to the tournament starting. To some people they may like this. But, I really do not. Who would not like to see a Final Four that has UConn, South Carolina, Louisville and Stanford take part in. With only one rule and that is them not meeting each other during season play.

Conference realignment is going to continue to happen. I know that eventually Connecticut and its brand will wind up in a better place that it is now. However, by the time that that takes place Geno and Chris will probably be long since retired.

So until then I would like to see UConn play this group of four for now: Louisville; LSU; Stanford and Texas yearly. If five high quality games can be included into the season then you add on a rotating basis: Baylor, Duke, Maryland, Notre Dame and Oregon.

 

[Majic Hands]

I'm still hopeful that a Louisville-UConn home and home series can be arranged beginning in 2023-24 or 2024-25.

Especially since we're only about 20 minutes north of the Yum Center.

Would have been at Butler last season but covered test came back "+" about an hour before I was heading to Indy.
2.5 hour drive . Golly Gee I had AWESOME seats!

Any place within driving distance is a silver lining for me.

Well maybe not ND. However, I probably could make it to KY in Lexington. Could have the possibility of being with relatives who really bleeds Blue. Just the incorrect shade of blue.

Not to be insensitive . KY fan's can be a special kind of scary crazy . Very different from Louisville fans fun crazy.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

I wouldn’t mind seeing USF on the schedule. Was always some good games against Jose and the Bulls.