Dan Shaughnessy dismisses UConn.

[ivrytontusker]

Um, Rhode Island is in New England and the attendance in Providence has been just fine. URI had hundreds of people at the airport last night to welcome URI back from Pittsburgh. Not so simple...

Right, because it is a novelty. Whether we can say it "matters" depends on what things look like at URI even when the team stinks. It's not that they couldn't build that kind of fanbase, but it isn't there yet.

Of course Providence and BC have had success in the past. They don't today, and, in any case, do not have the statewide profile that UConn has. This map illustrates the situation: Connecticut looks more like Ohio, Wisconsin, Louisiana, etc., than the rest of New England. (Admittedly, that is about football, but the point stands.)

 

[Danzz]

College sports in Boston and (except for hockey if anybody cares) is non existent.