Dom Amore: If Big 12 calls, UConn will have to choose between Big East love and Power Five money.

[AntG168]

I mean, your take is pretty silly if you think Kelvin Sampson wouldn't pack his bags if UNC or Duke came calling.

He wouldn’t. He’s 68 years old. He’s not looking for the best big job. He’s looking to angle his son for a job. And the only place he has that cache is at Houston. His play is obvious and public.

Also I don’t have a “take” these are all things Kelvin Sampson has said himself

 

[Jbirdp5]

Texas Tech will draw 30,000+ to The Rent. While we UConn fans/alums (I am an alumnus) like to position ourselves as just below the Ivies, get real. We are a land grant public institution, with a very strong agriculture program. Like Texas Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Iowa State,etc.
Get real. We have much more in common with B12 schools than the Catholic Seven+. The only thing we do not share with the B12 is geography…….and Northeast cultural bias.

Yes I am not referring to the courses of study or the the facts that we are public institutions being similar with the big 12 I am talking about the people. Thats where I think there is a much bigger cultural divide than with the catholic 7. I think geography plays a large role in that, I also think demographics has a lot to do with that

 

[Jbirdp5]

You’re being a moron. Just say you don’t really care about “facts”. And that you are the one twisting yourself into a pretzel lmao. He’s not leaving Houston for another job as his son wouldn’t get the job. He wants his son to take over. His daughter is director of basketball operations. It’s a family affair. He’s retiring a cougar. Idk what your issue with this is. You’re choosing the wrong issue to wage your anti B12 war

You jumped out the window and made a snarky comment, “if you want people to take you serious”. You now look like a dunce. Own it.

If his son is the coach on waiting and Sampson left for another job why wouldn’t his son get the job?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Has Dixon accomplished anything close to what he did at Pitt in TCU?

Is that the point? Being a hardo about "facts" to prove your point a day after saying a guy wasn't at a school a month after winning an NCAAT game there.

 

[superjohn]

He wouldn’t. He’s 68 years old. He’s not looking for the best big job. He’s looking to angle his son for a job. And the only place he has that cache is at Houston. His play is obvious and public.

Also I don’t have a “take” these are all things Kelvin Sampson has said himself

Sampson is 67 years old, Pitino is 70 years old.

 

[Rico444]

Is that the point? Being a hardo about "facts" to prove your point a day after saying a guy wasn't at a school a month after winning an NCAAT game there.

I said he wasn't at the school? He is irrelevant, it's sad how far he's fallen considering how great he was at Pitt for a decade. To be honest I assumed he wasn't there anymore because I haven't heard his name in years but I never said he left the school. If Pitt stayed in the Big East there's a good chance he's got at least a Final Four if not a ring. But they left the conference, lost their recruiting edge, he immediately fell off and that was that.

 

[Billy Jack]

Texas Tech will draw 30,000+ to The Rent. While we UConn fans/alums (I am an alumnus) like to position ourselves as just below the Ivies, get real. We are a land grant public institution, with a very strong agriculture program. Like Texas Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Iowa State,etc.
Get real. We have much more in common with B12 schools than the Catholic Seven+. The only thing we do not share with the B12 is geography…….and Northeast cultural bias.

How many Texas Texh fans will be there?

 

[John]

I said he wasn't at the school? He is irrelevant, it's sad how far he's fallen considering how great he was at Pitt for a decade. To be honest I assumed he wasn't there anymore because I haven't heard his name in years but I never said he left the school. If Pitt stayed in the Big East there's a good chance he's got at least a Final Four if not a ring. But they left the conference, lost their recruiting edge, he immediately fell off and that was that.

Tough call, Pitt pushed him out the door three years after moving to the ACC. He had Pitt in the tournament two out of those three years.

 

[Billy Jack]

Has Dixon accomplished anything close to what he did at Pitt in TCU?

Jamie Dixon’s record at TCU:

2016/17 - 24-15
2017/18 - 21-12 - NCAA tournaments 1st round
2018/19 - 23-14
2019-20 -16-16
2020/21 - 12-14
2021/22 - 21-13 - NCAA tournament 2nd round
2022/23 - 22-13 - NCAA tournament 2nd round, AP #22

 

[navery12]

I've lost about 100,000 brain cells reading these idiots try and justify staying in the Big East. And I'm only on page 5

 

[AntG168]

If his son is the coach on waiting and Sampson left for another job why wouldn’t his son get the job?

Because if he leaves for another job why would Houston honor that? “In Waiting scenarios work when someone retires. Not bolt for another job

 

[AntG168]

Sampson is 67 years old, Pitino is 70 years old.

Okay….they’re both old. I still don’t get why we’re comparing Houston a yearly final 4 contender to Pitino and St. Johns

 

[Jbirdp5]

Because if he leaves for another job why would Houston honor that? “In Waiting scenarios work when someone retires. Not bolt for another job

If you have your coach of the future that you believe in you promote him, if you don’t believe in him you don’t……

 

[Rico444]

I've lost about 100,000 brain cells reading these idiots try and justify staying in the Big East. And I'm only on page 5

What is with the pro-Big 12 people being complete D!ckheads? You're allowed to have your opinion but half of you are throwing tantrums because someone disagrees with you. Chill out dude.

 

[aburks41]

What is with the pro-Big 12 people being complete D!ckheads? You're allowed to have your opinion but half of you are throwing tantrums because someone disagrees with you. Chill out dude.

I understand the allure of staying in the Big East, but I think it gets lost on the Pro-Big East fans that this is a completely unsustainable conference for UConn to be in IF we want to continue to act like a P5 Athletic Department.

A move to the Big 12 is not appealing because of a short-term upgrade in basketball. That's not the point of moving. It's appealing because it finally gets us a seat at the table, which we have not had in this entire realignment saga. When the ACC comes crashing down in 2036, we have to already be in a power conference if we want to dictate our future. I'm sick of fighting against Cuse, Pitt, Louisville, etc. We will lose that battle every single time. And the next time we lose that battle, we are getting locked out of the discussion - forever -

 

[AntG168]

If you have your coach of the future that you believe in you promote him, if you don’t believe in him you don’t……

No that’s not how it works. You think Kevin Ollie gets the UConn job if Calhoun left for another job? It’s not that Houston believes in his son, they believe in Kelvin Sampsons judgement. Once he leaves them in the dust you get hurt feelings and they have zero incentive to honor his wishes.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yes I am not referring to the courses of study or the the facts that we are public institutions being similar with the big 12 I am talking about the people. Thats where I think there is a much bigger cultural divide than with the catholic 7. I think geography plays a large role in that, I also think demographics has a lot to do with that

I get that. My family came from there to CT, then I went back there for a stretch including law school. In 1971 people in CT asked my parents, who moved us from Overland Park, KS, whether there were still "Cowboys and Indians" battling in KS. Incredible. No internet so all people knew of the place came from TV/movies unless they traveled.

In law school, one of my professors made some comment about nobody understanding hockey, then looked at me and said, Oh yeah, except that guy. That was 1991. There weren't NHL teams in Phoenix, Miami, Las Vegas etc. Internet was via a 5600 baud modem and the WWW was mostly raw html text.

Today? The cultural differences are greatly diminished. There are some, but it's not anywhere near what it was. You can get amazing New England IPAs at Lawrence Brewing. You can get good BBQ in CT. People on this board live stream some guy in Texas trying to eat a steak. We've a bit more connected than we were.

What I can say is that whether it is KU, K-State, Iowa State, Ok State, they have passionate fans that care about college sports and college basketball. We've seen it with Creighton, which is the one Big East school in the region. We know Cinci and WVU and Houston well enough. http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/2023/Attend.pdf

 

[Jbirdp5]

No that’s not how it works. You think Kevin Ollie gets the UConn job if Calhoun left for another job? It’s not that Houston believes in his son, they believe in Kelvin Sampsons judgement. Once he leaves them in the dust you get hurt feelings and they have zero incentive to honor his wishes.

If Calhoun didn’t leave in a rush they wouldn’t have hired ollie….you hire someone because you believe in them or you don’t….if they don’t think Sampson son is going to be a good coach for the program they will hire him anyway as an atta boy for the coach on the way out? Sorry that’s not how it works either

 

[superjohn]

Okay….they’re both old. I still don’t get why we’re comparing Houston a yearly final 4 contender to Pitino and St. Johns

I don't get why you're making most of the posts you're making in this thread. I don't know why you choose to get details wrong and act like it doesn't matter.

 

[superjohn]

I've lost about 100,000 brain cells reading these idiots try and justify staying in the Big East. And I'm only on page 5

This is never a good look.

 

[Rico444]

I understand the allure of staying in the Big East, but I think it gets lost on the Pro-Big East fans that this is a completely unsustainable conference for UConn to be in IF we want to continue to act like a P5 Athletic Department.

A move to the Big 12 is not appealing because of a short-term upgrade in basketball. That's not the point of moving. It's appealing because it finally gets us a seat at the table, which we have not had in this entire realignment saga. When the ACC comes crashing down in 2036, we have to already be in a power conference if we want to dictate our future. I'm sick of fighting against Cuse, Pitt, Louisville, etc. We will lose that battle every single time. And the next time we lose that battle, we are getting locked out of the discussion - forever -

I get the argument, and it's not a bad one. There's no way of knowing for sure what's going to happen in the next 10-15 years in conference realignment. I just hate the thought of locking us into a league with no schools anywhere remotely close to us. The quality of schools are much better, but it just reminds me of the square peg, round hole fit when we were in the AAC. The games against Houston were exciting, but didn't compare to Big East games. Cincinnati was obviously fun too, but we had some history with them. The rest of the league games were just godawful. TCU coming to Gampel or the XL will have no juice. When Baylor isn't top 15 that atmosphere will be mediocre too. The Big 12 has been very good the last few years, but they're losing one of their best programs. I don't see how a lateral move in conferences with schools we have zero connection with and are all 500-2500 miles away is anything but a negative for the basketball program. That's why I want to wait, while acknowledging it's a risk, for a better fit.

UConn has value, that's why there's even a chance a good conference that isn't in our footprint is looking into us. I don't believe in the next 5-15 years our value will diminish. I am confident there will be another option down the line.

 

[aburks41]

I get the argument, and it's not a bad one. There's no way of knowing for sure what's going to happen in the next 10-15 years in conference realignment. I just hate the thought of locking us into a league with no schools anywhere remotely close to us. The quality of schools are much better, but it just reminds me of the square peg, round hole fit when we were in the AAC. The games against Houston were exciting, but didn't compare to Big East games. Cincinnati was obviously fun too, but we had some history with them. The rest of the league games were just godawful. TCU coming to Gampel or the XL will have no juice. When Baylor isn't top 15 that atmosphere will be mediocre too. The Big 12 has been very good the last few years, but they're losing one of their best programs. I don't see how a lateral move in conferences with schools we have zero connection with and are all 500-2500 miles away is anything but a negative for the basketball program. That's why I want to wait, while acknowledging it's a risk, for a better fit.

UConn has value, that's why there's even a chance a good conference that isn't in our footprint is looking into us. I don't believe in the next 5-15 years our value will diminish. I am confident there will be another option down the line.

I'm fine with waiting. We don't need to jump right now. The AAC comparisons are a bit ridiculous though. The two conferences are in no way comparable aside from geography.

The Xavier and Creighton crowds this year at Gampel were awesome. We had zero history with these teams a few years ago and they are geographically far away. Those two programs have also never even made a Final Four. Why is it so difficult to imagine that a national championship winning Baylor wouldn't have the same juice? I don't understand that argument.

The issue with waiting is that every single year we are falling another $40-50M behind the rest of the power conference teams. We were recently discussing a $300M makeover for Gampel. Do you know what would help with that? A $50M/yr TV deal.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Yes I am not referring to the courses of study or the the facts that we are public institutions being similar with the big 12 I am talking about the people. Thats where I think there is a much bigger cultural divide than with the catholic 7. I think geography plays a large role in that, I also think demographics has a lot to do with that

I have another perspective to add to this, being second generation of both Italian and Irish immigrants who placed their religion above nearly everything in their lives.

Look at the academic rankings of our school compared to all but the top couple catholic members of our conference. From there, compare how vast the available course study is at UConn when compared to all other member schools and add to that the level of research dollars at UConn when compared to the other members of the conference.

For what can only be labeled as narrow minded thought process built on many decades of programming, there are countless people (including some a generation plus younger than I am) who believe that a private catholic school is automatically superior academically than UConn. The truth is the bulk of our conference members fall short of us I academics.

Culturally we would be far better served being in a conference that primarily consisted of similar institutions. We are a severe outlier here. The similarities are that the fan bases of some of our opponents are in geographic proximity. That is where the similarities begin and end.

 

[AntG168]

I don't get why you're making most of the posts you're making in this thread. I don't know why you choose to get details wrong and act like it doesn't matter.

I don’t get why you think anyone at all cares what superjohn thinks about what they’re saying. The quality of my time on the boneyard would increase dramatically if you never responded to anything I post again.

 

[AntG168]

I'm fine with waiting. We don't need to jump right now. The AAC comparisons are a bit ridiculous though. The two conferences are in no way comparable aside from geography.

The Xavier and Creighton crowds this year at Gampel were awesome. We had zero history with these teams a few years ago and they are geographically far away. Those two programs have also never even made a Final Four. Why is it so difficult to imagine that a national championship winning Baylor wouldn't have the same juice? I don't understand that argument.

The issue with waiting is that every single year we are falling another $40-50M behind the rest of the power conference teams. We were recently discussing a $300M makeover for Gampel. Do you know what would help with that? A $50M/yr TV deal.

I think that’s the gap in opinion. Some value the importance money will play in us staying relevant. Others think we can continue to be UConn as other ADs lap us in revenue 4-5 times over.