ESPN Poll - Are You Rooting Against UConn

[Wbbfan1]

http://espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=womenbb&pollId=4257787

Surprising Tenn is 76% against UConn.

 

[FairView]

Actually, the results of this poll say great things about how UConn is viewed.
How is a 60 -40 against UConn great?
Easy, let's take a look at the universe being polled.
This poll is in the Women's basketball section of ESPN. The people who go there are, almost without exception, fans of women's basketball. If you're a fan of women's basketball, you almost always have a favorite team you root for. Quite often that allegiance is geographical. So that tells me that many people who are fans of other women's basketball teams are rooting for UConn and/or there are significant numbers of UConn fans in areas that would usually be rooting for a different home team. Add in the human propensity to root for the underdog/against the favorite and these numbers are even more impressive.

 

[AndyCT]

Actually, the results of this poll say great things about how UConn is viewed.
How is a 60 -40 against UConn great?
Easy, let's take a look at the universe being polled.
This poll is in the Women's basketball section of ESPN. The people who go there are, almost without exception, fans of women's basketball. If you're a fan of women's basketball, you almost always have a favorite team you root for. Quite often that allegiance is geographical. So that tells me that many people who are fans of other women's basketball teams are rooting for UConn and/or there are significant numbers of UConn fans in areas that would usually be rooting for a different home team. Add in the human propensity to root for the underdog/against the favorite and these numbers are even more impressive.

Also that poll is carried over from before the tournament started, when a lot of the participants still had teams in the brackets; the voting might be somewhat different today as it was even more split at the beginning of the week.

(I know just because I happened to check it I think on Tuesday night (?) - there were about 75,000 votes on that question versus just a few hundred on the others.)

 

[Larry67]

I think UConn getting 40% is pretty good considering a lot of people want a new champion. When I was at the Denver Final Four two years ago I came across two Tennessee "fans" wearing "ABC" T-shirts - Anyone But UConn. I told them that was pretty poor sportsmanship. No comment from them.

 

[JoePgh]

Considering that this would be the championship that would cause Geno to pass Pat in total number of NC's, it is understandable (and not necessarily unsportsmanlike) for Tennessee fans to have an "ABC" attitude.

At Indianapolis I sat behind two fans in orange "We back Pat" shirts who were rooting raucously for Notre Dame to beat UConn and booed every foul call on a Notre Dame player. I find it surprising that they would go all the way to Indy for a tournament in which their team was not playing just to do that. But perhaps they got tickets when they thought their team would be playing, and didn't want them to go to waste.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Surprising Tenn is 76% against UConn.

As opposed to 100%?

 

[Zorro]

We got all the important states.

 

[Plumber Luigi]

We're the Yankees and Cowboys (when they were good) of woman's div I basketball. Since it went to 64 teams in 1994 Connecticut has been in 14 of 21 Final Fours, 19 Elite Eights and all 21 Sweet Sixteens. We're the Duke/Kentucky/NC of women's basketball. Loved in their own state and despised by everyone else because they seem to be always there.

So no surprise there. If you are on the outside, you hate "Dynasties".

 

[sawxfan23]

I love the fact that a lot of people dislike UConn and want them to lose. Only the teams that win a lot and dominate get this treatment and honestly I hope it never stops.

 

[rocky rococo]

My favorite part is the relatively high pro-UConn numbers in SEC states such as Alabama and Mississippi. Suggestive.

 

[easttexastrash]

I think UConn getting 40% is pretty good considering a lot of people want a new champion. When I was at the Denver Final Four two years ago I came across two Tennessee "fans" wearing "ABC" T-shirts - Anyone But UConn. I told them that was pretty poor sportsmanship. No comment from them.

Telling someone that they are a bad sport is kind of being a bad sport yourself. So I am a bad sport...let's keep this thing going.

 

[easttexastrash]

It is human nature to root for the underdog.

 

[UcMiami]

Well - presumably at this point most people who are voting are fans on one of the 4 remaining teams (or hate them!) so ... one would expect it to be 75% against. At 40% we are actually get 15 points better than an even split. And earlier voting prior to the elite 8 games would have pushed that number lower with more team's fans still hoping.

 

[Hongster]

That is very good number if you ask me. If the question was asked to the ohter teams. I don't thing any of the other teams can top that number.

 

[HGN]

No one likes Goliath.......But they all love David. But David better bring more than a slingshot to this Final Four Battle Royal.

Don't hate Goliath because he has grown bigger and better over the years , hate the game. The game is to get better weapons than your opponent , Devise better strategies , And train to put those strategies to work. Goliath has done that better than anyone.

The truth is they ALL want to be Goliath.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Considering that this would be the championship that would cause Geno to pass Pat in total number of NC's, it is understandable (and not necessarily unsportsmanlike) for Tennessee fans to have an "ABC" attitude.

At Indianapolis I sat behind two fans in orange "We back Pat" shirts who were rooting raucously for Notre Dame to beat UConn and booed every foul call on a Notre Dame player. I find it surprising that they would go all the way to Indy for a tournament in which their team was not playing just to do that. But perhaps they got tickets when they thought their team would be playing, and didn't want them to go to waste.

Actually, maybe they just like going to Final Fours. At one time, we thought about making it an annual thing (before RU was even making the tourney under Vivian), but the next year sold out and then came the lottery. So only the 2 RU Final Fours plus the 1st one (Charlotte).

Likewise softball; we went some years ago and thought it was great; we thought we would start a new tradition and went in 2012. In '13 the weather kept us away (we sold our tix) and then we realized that it is just too much of a commitment.

 

[Zorro]

No one ever hated the St. Louis Browns.

 

[intlzncster]

I'd be insulted if TN fans DIDN'T wear those ABC tshirts. I prefer them on that side of the fence.

 

[UCONNfan1]

We got all the important states.

I was thinking that. Clearly UCONN is New England's team and NY as well. It's no wonder the men own Madison Square Garden...

 

[Icebear]

I was thinking that. Clearly UCONN is New England's team and NY as well. It's no wonder the men own Madison Square Garden...

The Big Ten should take note of the NY-UCONN connection.

 

[ScarlettB]

I have gone to quite a few final fours and I have never rooted for UConn. I was an ABC fan. The funny thing is, I have some friends that I met up with at the final four every year, that were UConn fans., including Maria Conlan's uncle. I used to really dislike Geno - never your players, but I have mellowed over the years and now really respect him. I will still be rooting against you this year as I really like ND, but I will always appreciate how wonderfully UConn plays the game and will give props where they are due.

 

[uconnfan68]

I have gone to quite a few final fours and I have never rooted for UConn. I was an ABC fan. The funny thing is, I have some friends that I met up with at the final four every year, that were UConn fans., including Maria Conlan's uncle. I used to really dislike Geno - never your players, but I have mellowed over the years and now really respect him. I will still be rooting against you this year as I really like ND, but I will always appreciate how wonderfully UConn plays the game and will give props where they are due.

Those props will be due Sunday and Tuesday. Get ready.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

As opposed to 100%?

Vandy,or Memphis fans

 

[willtalk]

I remember the poll and in fact voted. I do think the wording use in this thread is wrong. The poll ask if you were rooting for Ucon to win the NC, not if you were against Ucon. There is a difference. However if those voting were WCBB fans the fact that they got the numbers they did of people who were rooting for them would be surprising. Ucon is just a high profile team and would thus naturally have more sim- fans than most other programs. It would make sense that most of the voters would not really be WCBB fans persay, but just sports fans in general. If that were so the number of people rooting for Ucon to win would have been significantly less. If the poll was dominated by WCBB fans it would make sense that Ucon would have had a smaller share of those rooting for them to win. Rooting for a different team does not necessarily translate being against a team. I frankly thought the wording of the poll should have been more in line with what was suggested in this thread. They way it was actually worded was not specific enough and thus tells us very little.

 

[willtalk]

http://espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=womenbb&pollId=4257787

Surprising Tenn is 76% against UConn.

And as Tenspro2002 stated ( as opposed to 100%) I think that probably would be that number if it were exclusively answered by WCBB fans. Does anyone really think other wise. In fact when I took the poll it was much higher than 76 %. That low number seems to validate my previous post that the poll is exclusive to none WCBB fans. WCBB fans do not constitute a large percentage of the general sport fan population which would take these tests.