Do not look at the Big East's record

[johnhuskies95]

His point was that the Big East has been pretty good this year. (Looking at today's results, he understated his case.)

People seemed to take offense.

I get that they've been good, I agree with that. I took the title of the thread to mean that we shouldn't look at what we missed out on.

The Big East is just another random conference at this point, at least in my eyes. Obviously there's a ton of history there, but the AAC was the only call for UConn to make. There really wasn't another viable option.

 

[johnhuskies95]

It might not be an option, but the fact is that UConn consciously decided against joining a vastly superior basketball conference to continue supporting a football team that is one of the worst in the country. As a guy who cares way more about hoops than football, that's frustrating.

I understand that joining the Big East isn't a realistic option, so it's mostly a moot point.

They were at best slightly better last year and this year they look to be a good deal better but it's still November. Saying the Big East is "vastly superior" is pretty hyperbolic.

 

[Stainmaster]

They were at best slightly better last year and this year they look to be a good deal better but it's still November. Saying the Big East is "vastly superior" is pretty hyperbolic.

Aren't people also forgetting that conference success tends to be cyclical? The Big East didn't send 11 teams to the tourney every year. Just because they may end up having a comparatively good year doesn't mean they are permanently the "better conference". Next year it could just be Villanova+another team completely carrying the league.

 

[champs99and04]

They were at best slightly better last year and this year they look to be a good deal better but it's still November. Saying the Big East is "vastly superior" is pretty hyperbolic.

The version of the AAC that we saw last year included Louisville and did not include ECU, Tulsa, and Tulane, so that obviously distorts the picture a bit. And really, if you're going to compare the two apples-to-apples, you have to eliminate UConn, too (again, this is in a different universe where UConn is choosing between leagues). Minus UConn and Louisville, it was a two bid league.

It might be still November, but the OOC schedule is already half over, so at this point we already have a pretty good idea of which conferences are strong and which aren't. The Big East is closer to #1 and the AAC is closer to #10, and looking at recruiting, I'm not so sure that's going to change anytime soon.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

They were at best slightly better last year and this year they look to be a good deal better but it's still November. Saying the Big East is "vastly superior" is pretty hyperbolic.

They weren't slightly better last year, they were a lot better with just about every single Big East team having a rebuilding year. They only reason that the AAC and Big East were remotely close last year was because of UConn and Louisville. Louisville is gone, and we can't count ourselves when assessing which conference is better. If Lebron James joined my rec league team, it wouldn't mean my team was any better, it would just mean we had Lebron James.

This year, it is no contest. The AAC is going to be fighting to stay in the Top 10 of leagues with us, and the Big East will be one of the Top 3 leagues.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

The Big East is a heck of a conference and I think people are starting to find out again that the Big East is not going away as easy as they once thought. The narrative may be that the Big East is dead and ESPN even formally declared it dead on its "Requiem for the Big East" documentary a year ago but now they must be really puzzled because they spent a lot of the broadcasting airtime today as they will do tomorrow (Okla-Butler, Gtown-Wisc) displaying Big East teams on their best. Basically giving airtime to a rival conference that is property of Fox Sports 1. The league looks as alive as ever before. They are killing the competition right now (including other top tier leagues) and its pretty darn fun to watch

The AAC as a league? not so much. Connecticut will be fine at the end of the day. Connecticut is Connecticut and I don't think it matter what conference it plays on to win championship but from an attendance/hype perspective is much better to belong to a great league than a crappy one. So far the AAC is not even in the top-10 RPI conference. I know its a bit too early to take the RPI too serious, but the signs are there and the AAC has to start winning some games quickly before the loses pile up

 

[whaler11]

Today while the AAC was losing to Hawaii and getting blown out by Davidson and Oklahoma State the Big East picked up wins over Florida and North Carolina. They threw in a win over Minnesota for fun.

Yeah they have Depaul. The AAC has 5 Depauls.

At least Depaul will try and fix it.

 

[Robertelamin]

Go find a Big East team to follow then. Bye!

 

[whaler11]

Go find a Big East team to follow then. Bye!

I love the UConn fans who want to chase off other UConn fans. You guys are the best.

Because if you realize the Big East is a better basketball conference than the AAC, UConn doesn't need you.

Solid strategy.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

wait til you visit XL this winter and you are brave to view a crap conf club contest

a crapper that will maybe draw 6k diehards who have no other alternatives

the place will be center stage for little sir echo

& huskies will probably have a struggle with a roster loaded wit union card carriers

revenue is dwindling fast

that is not good for future growth

 

[Robertelamin]

What UConn fans am I driving away? You are just a miserable turd and your shtick is beyond old, Fishy at least makes his misery posts funny. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[whaler11]

What UConn fans am I driving away? You are just a miserable turd and your shtick is beyond old, Fishy at least makes his misery posts funny. Happy Thanksgiving!

Well you told me to go follow a Big East team - so I guess quite specifically it would be me.

I don't have a 'shtick' nor am I miserable that the Big East is a better league than the AAC. I actually can deal with that fact and don't need to pretend the opposite is true.

 

[metsfan2323]

I actually can deal with that fact and don't need to pretend the opposite is true.

That's because you are better than the rest of us Mr Whaler, you are so smart and we are so dumb and childish.

Please tell us more facts that we can't handle on this Thanksgiving day. Please remind us why we should be unhappy.......

...and thank you for trying to help us see the dark.

 

[7774]

Who said they were meaningless?

I am saying that the RPI and SOS should have given them more credit, but the general consensus (which was wrong) was biased against the conference. Same with the AAC teams. Kentucky was around 20 RPI. Not 36-40.

There is so much information available now about the committee's selection and seeding process. Not sure why you think RPI is some main driver. It's one of many computer rankings they are given, and all those rankings are one small piece of the puzzle. It's also been stated many, many times by various committee members over many different years that they don't even look at what conference teams are in.

 

[mauconnfan]

That's because you are better than the rest of us Mr Whaler, you are so smart and we are so dumb and childish.

Please tell us more facts that we can't handle on this Thanksgiving day. Please remind us why we should be unhappy..

...and thank you for trying to help us see the dark.

If anyone saw the Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving skit on "Debbie Downer" last night that's whaler11 on everything. Always a negative thought involved in his processing.

Having said that what the Big East has done thus far has been pretty impressive, actually really impressive. They've beaten many solid teams on the way and yesterday was icing on the cake with wins over UNC, Florida and Minny. No denying they are going to have a solid year because they are deep. Will the get a NC out of there - NO!

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I really miss days like yesterday, when the basketball schools would knock off 3 major conference teams and we would know that in addition to Louisville, Syracuse and Pitt, we would have great games against Georgetown, Villanova and whoever to look forward to in January and February. 2010-2011 was my favorite season not just because of UConn's March run, but because almost every conference game was a huge matchup going in. I absolutely loved that.

It feels like our schedule ends after the Stanford game this year. It just makes me sad to have almost no games to look forward to in the conference schedule, and that is not going to change as long as we are in this southern midmajor wasteland of a league..

 

[jibsey]

The Big East is a heck of a conference and I think people are starting to find out again that the Big East is not going away as easy as they once thought. The narrative may be that the Big East is dead and ESPN even formally declared it dead on its "Requiem for the Big East" documentary a year ago but now they must be really puzzled because they spent a lot of the broadcasting airtime today as they will do tomorrow (Okla-Butler, Gtown-Wisc) displaying Big East teams on their best. Basically giving airtime to a rival conference that is property of Fox Sports 1. The league looks as alive as ever before. They are killing the competition right now (including other top tier leagues) and its pretty darn fun to watch

The AAC as a league? not so much. Connecticut will be fine at the end of the day. Connecticut is Connecticut and I don't think it matter what conference it plays on to win championship but from an attendance/hype perspective is much better to belong to a great league than a crappy one. So far the AAC is not even in the top-10 RPI conference. I know its a bit too early to take the RPI too serious, but the signs are there and the AAC has to start winning some games quickly before the loses pile up

They've done well EARLY this year. Last year they had Nova who was overhyped and dispatched by us. I don't think you can say that the big east is going to be a powerhouse for years to come. The AAC starts from further behind except for us and as a league it's going to be all about the recruits and talent, and that's where it happens. Can new AAC teams get better players than St. John's and Marquette? I think they can.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

when JC guides sled team to A-10, sign meesa up for seasons tickets

if this dont happen; southern wasteland conf will nuke UCONN across the board with an unprecedented revenue drop

 

[whaler11]

Please tell us more facts that we can't handle on this Thanksgiving day. Please remind us why we should be unhappy..

.

Maybe that's our problem Mets. You seem to think it should make someone unhappy - I don't care that the Big East is better beyond I like college basketball and the sport interests me.

 

[UConn990411]

Th Big East is gonna continue to be a good mid-major ... but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a mid-major.

Not having UConn, Syracuse, Louisville and Pitt in the same conference is a blow that will do damage for the foreseeable future. There really aren't any big draws left in the Big East.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Th Big East is gonna continue to be a good mid-major ... but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a mid-major.

Not having UConn, Syracuse, Louisville and Pitt in the same conference is a blow that will do damage for the foreseeable future. There really aren't any big draws left in the Big East.

The difference between midmajors and majors is network support and money. The big east has both and we have neither.

 

[CTBasketball]

I love the UConn fans who want to chase off other UConn fans. You guys are the best.

Because if you realize the Big East is a better basketball conference than the AAC, UConn doesn't need you.

Solid strategy.

Now Whaler you're usually a good poster, whether its on here or on the football board. But some of your football buddies do this to outsiders way too much.

But I agree with your Big East stance.

 

[UConn990411]

The difference between midmajors and majors is network support and money. The big east has both and we have neither.

For now. Seeing as how their ratings are even worse than the AAC's, you better believe they won't get such a sweet deal the next time around.

 

[mauconnfan]

It's funny how ignorant we can be as fans sometimes. This is a basketball board and if it weren't for football, we'd be in the Big East. The problem is because of football being so awful we are in the AAC and will remain there for a long time unless our football brothers decide to leave the dream behind in which then we can go back to the Big East.

I mean can anyone here - as BASKETBALL fans - say they'd rather be in a conference with SMU, Houston, Tulsa, East Carolina, UCF, USF, Cincy, Tulane and Memphis. This instead of Villanova, GTown, PC, St Johns, Creighton, Butler, Xavier, Marquette and DePaul ??....Now remember adding us would make all of those teams look and recruit better.

We are where we are and have to live with it, but as a basketball fan of UConn I'd gladly take back that "mid-major" league or so you call it, in a nano second!

 

[upstater]

The version of the AAC that we saw last year included Louisville and did not include ECU, Tulsa, and Tulane, so that obviously distorts the picture a bit. And really, if you're going to compare the two apples-to-apples, you have to eliminate UConn, too (again, this is in a different universe where UConn is choosing between leagues). Minus UConn and Louisville, it was a two bid league.

It might be still November, but the OOC schedule is already half over, so at this point we already have a pretty good idea of which conferences are strong and which aren't. The Big East is closer to #1 and the AAC is closer to #10, and looking at recruiting, I'm not so sure that's going to change anytime soon.

UConn team took on Villanova and beat them. A team like Memphis would have profited from the absence of UConn (3 losses) which is why you can't eliminate UConn from the comparison. Eliminate Louisville and the teams have better records as well. How much RPI is lost by eliminating 3 games against UConn? Memphis gains 3 in the win column by that simple move.

 

[upstater]

There is so much information available now about the committee's selection and seeding process. Not sure why you think RPI is some main driver. It's one of many computer rankings they are given, and all those rankings are one small piece of the puzzle. It's also been stated many, many times by various committee members over many different years that they don't even look at what conference teams are in.

Sigh.

I do not like RPI.

I'm not the one bringing it up.

The other posters are.

They are talking about a needed measurement to compare 300 teams.

Whatever measures the committee used, the teams from the AAC received poorer seeds than the RPI dictated, AND then (this is the most important factor) they outperformed their seeds. The BE did the reverse of that. They were given cushy seeds, and they FLOPPED.

 

[upstater]

The difference between midmajors and majors is network support and money. The big east has both and we have neither.

The big boys are making $25m a year+

The BE teams makes $1.9m more than most of the AAC (not UConn, because for 5 years or so UConn has exit fees and NCAA credits coming).

The difference between $25m+ and $2m is great. The difference between $3.9m and $2m is not.

 

[upstater]

It's funny how ignorant we can be as fans sometimes. This is a basketball board and if it weren't for football, we'd be in the Big East. The problem is because of football being so awful we are in the AAC and will remain there for a long time unless our football brothers decide to leave the dream behind in which then we can go back to the Big East.

I mean can anyone here - as BASKETBALL fans - say they'd rather be in a conference with SMU, Houston, Tulsa, East Carolina, UCF, USF, Cincy, Tulane and Memphis. This instead of Villanova, GTown, PC, St Johns, Creighton, Butler, Xavier, Marquette and DePaul ??....Now remember adding us would make all of those teams look and recruit better.

We are where we are and have to live with it, but as a basketball fan of UConn I'd gladly take back that "mid-major" league or so you call it, in a nano second!

You're leaving out the major factor. Getting the hell out of mid-majordom eventually. Because if you can't do that, the future is going to be grim no matter what mid-major conference you're in.

 

[itgoeslike]

As I stated above, the top half of the AAC was better than the top half of the NBE last year. The NBE was a better conference top to bottom (not wildly better) because the the bottom half of the NBE was substantially better than the bottom half of the AAC (which was bad). The NBE is currently 4th in RPI, even with last night's wins. They probably end up 4th. They ended up 4th last year. The AAC ended up 8th last year. The AAC will likely end up 8th this year. However, having ESPN force feed AAC games year in and year out will help many of its teams improve over time. Big wins will help the NBE, but if no one is watching, it may not make much of a difference. Very few people remember what you do two weeks into the season. We'll see how it all plays out. The bottom line is UConn is where it is because it's thinking long term. It's already proven that playing in one mid-major conference versus another isn't going to keep it from winning a national championship.

 

[alexd]

For now. Seeing as how their ratings are even worse than the AAC's, you better believe they won't get such a sweet deal the next time around.

Exactly.

The NBE walked into the upstart Fox Sports offices at the exact right time. It's not that Fox saw great ratings with the NBE, they needed something to fill up their prime airtime and threw huge bucks at the NBE.