Eleven hoops Titles & counting

[GemParty]

Geno's going to continue his trail through history. Guaranteed NCAA units. Ollie is a hot young prospect. We are nestled between Boston & NY. Eventually, our athletic dept. has to be valuable to a more powerful conference. Am I crazy to think this?

 

[Adios]

No, you are spot on.

 

[Vuce]

I am we'll aware that a women's hoop team will not get Uconn into another conference. But, when we do get in somewhere i guarantee that the commissioner if that conference will cite the valuable property that it is that they can sell content around. It is the most valuable entity in women's sports right now. It's a nice piece to have in our overall puzzle and am glad Uconn has it.

 

[Nostical]

(our) women's hoop team....is the most valuable entity in women's sports right now. It's a nice piece to have in our overall puzzle and am glad Uconn has it.

Absolutely. Think of the impact UConn Women would have in B1G or ACC. Every arena would be packed to see the Huskies and TV viewership would soar. There is significant value in the franchise of Husky W Basketball. You can't say that for lots of other schools. And remember, schools need to be sensitive to Title IX and women's issues generally as they play shuffle the conferences. Growing the W side of a conferences sports ledger plays very well in political circles.

Bottom line, we're like the overlooked girl at the mixer. All the guys pass her by because she has glasses and her hair's in a bun. But a friend intervenes, suggests contact lenses and a makeover. So she lets her hair down, puts on some makeup and voila! "How did I miss that good looking woman in the first place. "Pardon me, but would you like to dance?" Raise our academics, build our endowment, get into AAU, win at football, sustain our BBall---in other words, make us look real pretty. We'll be asked to dance, too.

 

[businesslawyer]

I fully understand that football drives the bus. But I have never seen a situation where all the other passengers are so fully and completely ignored. Eventually, someone is going to ask about the contents of the entire bus. You would think.

 

[GemParty]

If any other big time school, went 11-0 in title games, and had a campus within an hour of NYC, what would they be doing to "pump up" their brand. How hard is it to slap 11 trophies on a billboard and splash it all over the City. I understand its costly, but so is being left behind. Be aggressive Warde, please! You have another Gre8t thing to brag about!!!!

 

[huskymedic]

Good read... http://www.nola.com/ncaa/index.ssf/2013/04/womens_collegiate_basketball_m.html

"UConn Coach Geno Auriemma, who won his eighth national championship Tuesday night with the Huskies' 93-60 victory against Louisville, thinks that, for whatever reason, women’s basketball hasn’t caught on with a key demographic, the 18-to-35 year-old male.

True, he said, women’s college basketball has come leaps and bounds and certainly has more interest than in 1991 when the Women’s Final Four made its debut in New Orleans at Lakefront Arena.

“One of the few audiences that we don’t have is that audience that all the advertisers really, really, really aspire to get, I guess, that 18 to 35-year-old guy who buys trucks and Miller Lite and Bud Light and all that good stuff,’’

Auriemma said. “Can we ever attract that 18 to 35? I don’t know. But the fan base that we do have, I think we have to do more to strengthen it. We have to do more to make them more passionate about it. When they do get involved with the game for whatever reason, they enjoy it. They enjoy the experience.’’

 

[Drumguy]

Good read... http://www.nola.com/ncaa/index.ssf/2013/04/womens_collegiate_basketball_m.html

"UConn Coach Geno Auriemma, who won his eighth national championship Tuesday night with the Huskies' 93-60 victory against Louisville, thinks that, for whatever reason, women’s basketball hasn’t caught on with a key demographic, the 18-to-35 year-old male.

True, he said, women’s college basketball has come leaps and bounds and certainly has more interest than in 1991 when the Women’s Final Four made its debut in New Orleans at Lakefront Arena.

“One of the few audiences that we don’t have is that audience that all the advertisers really, really, really aspire to get, I guess, that 18 to 35-year-old guy who buys trucks and Miller Lite and Bud Light and all that good stuff,’’

Auriemma said. “Can we ever attract that 18 to 35? I don’t know. But the fan base that we do have, I think we have to do more to strengthen it. We have to do more to make them more passionate about it. When they do get involved with the game for whatever reason, they enjoy it. They enjoy the experience.’’

We invited both our daughters boyfriends (20 and 23) to the quarter finals and they loved it and continued to watch the tournament. Kevin Duran went on national TV after the Lvile game and said he's a fan. Grains of sand but it's definitely a start, especially in a content starved TV world.

 

[ASweet3781]

I am we'll aware that a women's hoop team will not get Uconn into another conference. But, when we do get in somewhere i guarantee that the commissioner if that conference will cite the valuable property that it is that they can sell content around. It is the most valuable entity in women's sports right now. It's a nice piece to have in our overall puzzle and am glad Uconn has it.

In 1995 people were picking Tennessee to beat UConn in the Final because the Big East was a terrible women's bball conference. In 2013, they had 3 teams in the Final 4. That is directly a result of the years of UConn pushing the bar in that conference. They toughened teams up, made schools take the sport seriously, pushed opposing coaches to get better and brought talented players into the league to play AGAINST them. I would hope the Big Ten (who hasn't had a women's team in the Final 4 since 2005) or the ACC (who hasn't had a women's team in the Final 4 since 2007) will realize the benefit of having this program in their league if that time comes.

 

[tzznandrew]

I don't think it should be a driving factor at all.

But you would think they could see some ancillary benefits, and use basketball (men's and women's) as a tie-breaker, of some sort. You want your own channel? There are only so many football games you can play, and it is far fewer than the number of basketball games.

 

[UCFBfan]

You want your own channel? There are only so many football games you can play, and it is far fewer than the number of basketball games.

This. I would think that the BTN would have some interest in filling those winter months with UConn women's games. Let's be honest, MBB games like Penn St-NW isn't jacking up viewership. Heck, any RU game will not garner any viewers. Throw on a UConn game and you have a larger audience, even if the majority are in CT. There are B1G schools that have mens bball teams that have smaller followings than our women's team.

Now, while I'd love to be in the B1G, the ACC would be the smartest to grab UConn for their new network. Outside of the obvious that we've all said about why we fit into the ACC, look at the WBB aspect. All of the major players that we play OOC are from the ACC, outside of Stanford and Baylor (I don't know if Baylor will remain relevant w/o Griner). Have the ability to show a UConn-Duke, UConn-UNC, UConn-ND game? You've got big viewership. I am fully aware that women's basketball is still third on the food chain after FB and MBB, but it's content for these networks that ar year round. Football is great in the fall but there's still the winter and UConn WBB would be great filler. (I'm not mentioning our MBB program because we've talked about their benefits to death)

 

[The Funster]

I fully understand that football drives the bus. But I have never seen a situation where all the other passengers are so fully and completely ignored. Eventually, someone is going to ask about the contents of the entire bus. You would think.

And you know what, those other passengers aren't going to be ignored. The move towards confernece networks requires content and not just fluff content like coaches shows and reruns of coaches shows. Baseball, softball, women's basketball, soccer, etc. will all grow in importance for the big conferences becaise they provide quality content. SEC softball on ESPN has been a success for the SEC. The ratings are pretty good and the exposure for the SEC is awesome. None of those sports combined will bring in the revenue that football will, they don't have to, they just have to help raise the brand of their respective conferences.

 

[Husky25]

If any other big time school, went 11-0 in title games, and had a campus within an hour of NYC, what would they be doing to "pump up" their brand. How hard is it to slap 11 trophies on a billboard and splash it all over the City. I understand its costly, but so is being left behind. Be aggressive Warde, please! You have another Gre8t thing to brag about!!!!

Geezus, maybe in a Ferrari. Please tell me you are talking about the Stamford branch...

 

[Brochacho]

That's all the B1G/ACC needs to know.

 

[Point6]

I believe 12 is the magic number. Plenty of schools are 11-0 in championship games.

For example, Maryland is also undefeated in championship games: http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/64358/numbers-to-know-womens-title-game

 

[CL82]

I believe 12 is the magic number. Plenty of schools are 11-0 in championship games.

For example, Maryland is also undefeated in championship games: http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/64358/numbers-to-know-womens-title-game[/quote]

The article you linked seems to say different.

8 -- UConn’s eight national titles are tied with Tennessee for the most in women’s NCAA history. The only college basketball program -- men’s or women’s -- to win more national championships is the UCLA men with 11.

11 -- Connecticut improves to 8-0 in national championship games. Combined with the men’s team, UConn basketball programs are a perfect 11-0 in NCAA title games.

How impressive is that? Only one other school has won men’s and women’s titles without ever suffering a loss in the title game: Maryland is 2-0, with the men and women winning one title each.