What get you in the stands - Uconn-Tulane, or Uconn-BC? To make it a little more relevant, since you could drive to both if they are away, Uconn-Umass or Uconn-BC? Try to be intellectually honest in your answer. And you know Uconn-BC in MBB is a distinct possibility next year.Minor sports (hockey, baseball, soccer) who cares.
No hoop, no football. No way.
I am SU undergrad/BC law alum so I know I am going to get hated, but I don't care. All business is personal, and if you hear differently that person is either a sap or not a realist. Syracuse-UConn have had a nice top 10 national rivalry in basketball since 1990 and you guys are a top 10 basketball brand, but SU-UConn is not even Syracuse's biggest rivalry that is Georgetown. Your ex-HOF coach Jim Calhoun during an interview with Andy Katz during the last SU-UConn said Syracuse is our biggest rival. While I respect and hate UConn basketball Jim Boeheim and the SU fanbase would not say the same thing about UConn and that is a fact. Basketball doesn't drive the boat in the power conference expansion and that is Football.
UConn fans want to behave like your football brand is as good as your basketball brand. Syracuse SUCKED absolutely SUCKED from 2005 till 2009 which is when UConn has played its best college football. If UConn had a history of Maryland, Purdue, Missouri, Arizona State in football their fate would be a lot differently. UConn has not surpassed Syracuse football nationally by winning the Big East BCS bid 1 time in 2009 and having a co-title in 2007? When UConn joined the Big East in 2004 you were a 2 star(out of 5) program nationally since that time you have beaten Syracuse, Pitt, Indiana, Notre Dame, Duke, Baylor, South Carolina,Louisvile, South Florida, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Maryland, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Virginia which has bumped you up to a 3 star program nationally. During the entire time frame of Syracuse-UConn being conference mates in Big East football conference you have only challenged yourself twice in playing 5 star program Notre Dame and Michigan and you beat Notre Dame when they sucked as did Syracuse in 2008, and got crushed at Michigan. Who the hell is UConn to demand 1-1s off the bat when they don't have any history? Play Ohio State at the Horseshoe like Colorado did 2 years ago, take a 2-1 deal with top programs and earn the respect and teams won't regard UConn as a bad loss. Syracuse sucked under Greg Robinson and our creditability fell down because we flat out sucked, but we have still scheduled home/homes during that time with Penn State, Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota, USC, Illinois, Florida State, Washington. In 2007 when Greg Robinson team was on the hotseat we scheduled Washington, Iowa, Illinois to start the season UConn scheduled Duke, Maine, Temple. Gee, I wonder who was more successful?
Of course UConn's improvements have been impressive, but color me unimpressed and the fact you expect Syracuse and Boston College to value you as rivals isn't fair to those schools as your rival is Rutgers since both of you are state flagship universities from the Tri-State area while Boston College and Syracuse are private universities. Syracuse and Boston College feel no natural rivalry with UConn because both are private schools and UConn is a state flagship university you can dispute that all you want, but it won't change the fact that in football we don't "hate" your school. Work behind the scenes repair damage as much as you can with Boston College, but realize Frank the Tank has nailed his analysis about teams protecting their turf. TCU was in the Southwest conference until it blew up and they had a history in football with Sammy Baugh, Davey O'Brien and more recently LaDainian Tomlinson and that program worked its way from Conference USA to the Big XII without being awarded a slot in the BCS because of association to football schools that its non-football team had. It can be done for UConn, but you have to go play teams on the road like TCU went into Death Valley and beat Clemson, went to Norman and ended Oklahoma's home winning streak do that and UConn will get an invitation. I am not going to tell the UConn fanbase not to be bitter as you have a legitimate and undisputed right to be angry, hurt, at the ACC turning you down, and taking a lot of teams but as I said above all business is personal.
Who the hell is UConn to demand 1-1s off the bat when they don't have any history?
I am SU undergrad/BC law alum so I know I am going to get hated, but I don't care. All business is personal, and if you hear differently that person is either a sap or not a realist. Syracuse-UConn have had a nice top 10 national rivalry in basketball since 1990 and you guys are a top 10 basketball brand, but SU-UConn is not even Syracuse's biggest rivalry that is Georgetown. Your ex-HOF coach Jim Calhoun during an interview with Andy Katz during the last SU-UConn said Syracuse is our biggest rival. While I respect and hate UConn basketball Jim Boeheim and the SU fanbase would not say the same thing about UConn and that is a fact.
I am SU undergrad/BC law alum so I know I am going to get hated, but I don't care. All business is personal, and if you hear differently that person is either a sap or not a realist. Syracuse-UConn have had a nice top 10 national rivalry in basketball since 1990 and you guys are a top 10 basketball brand, but SU-UConn is not even Syracuse's biggest rivalry that is Georgetown. Your ex-HOF coach Jim Calhoun during an interview with Andy Katz during the last SU-UConn said Syracuse is our biggest rival. While I respect and hate UConn basketball Jim Boeheim and the SU fanbase would not say the same thing about UConn and that is a fact. Basketball doesn't drive the boat in the power conference expansion and that is Football.
UConn fans want to behave like your football brand is as good as your basketball brand. Syracuse SUCKED absolutely SUCKED from 2005 till 2009 which is when UConn has played its best college football. If UConn had a history of Maryland, Purdue, Missouri, Arizona State in football their fate would be a lot differently. UConn has not surpassed Syracuse football nationally by winning the Big East BCS bid 1 time in 2009 and having a co-title in 2007? When UConn joined the Big East in 2004 you were a 2 star(out of 5) program nationally since that time you have beaten Syracuse, Pitt, Indiana, Notre Dame, Duke, Baylor, South Carolina,Louisvile, South Florida, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Maryland, Rutgers, Vanderbilt, Virginia which has bumped you up to a 3 star program nationally. During the entire time frame of Syracuse-UConn being conference mates in Big East football conference you have only challenged yourself twice in playing 5 star program Notre Dame and Michigan and you beat Notre Dame when they sucked as did Syracuse in 2008, and got crushed at Michigan. Who the hell is UConn to demand 1-1s off the bat when they don't have any history? Play Ohio State at the Horseshoe like Colorado did 2 years ago, take a 2-1 deal with top programs and earn the respect and teams won't regard UConn as a bad loss. Syracuse sucked under Greg Robinson and our creditability fell down because we flat out sucked, but we have still scheduled home/homes during that time with Penn State, Northwestern, Iowa, Minnesota, USC, Illinois, Florida State, Washington. In 2007 when Greg Robinson team was on the hotseat we scheduled Washington, Iowa, Illinois to start the season UConn scheduled Duke, Maine, Temple. Gee, I wonder who was more successful?
Of course UConn's improvements have been impressive, but color me unimpressed and the fact you expect Syracuse and Boston College to value you as rivals isn't fair to those schools as your rival is Rutgers since both of you are state flagship universities from the Tri-State area while Boston College and Syracuse are private universities. Syracuse and Boston College feel no natural rivalry with UConn because both are private schools and UConn is a state flagship university you can dispute that all you want, but it won't change the fact that in football we don't "hate" your school. Work behind the scenes repair damage as much as you can with Boston College, but realize Frank the Tank has nailed his analysis about teams protecting their turf. TCU was in the Southwest conference until it blew up and they had a history in football with Sammy Baugh, Davey O'Brien and more recently LaDainian Tomlinson and that program worked its way from Conference USA to the Big XII without being awarded a slot in the BCS because of association to football schools that its non-football team had. It can be done for UConn, but you have to go play teams on the road like TCU went into Death Valley and beat Clemson, went to Norman and ended Oklahoma's home winning streak do that and UConn will get an invitation. I am not going to tell the UConn fanbase not to be bitter as you have a legitimate and undisputed right to be angry, hurt, at the ACC turning you down, and taking a lot of teams but as I said above all business is personal.
An SU undergrad, BC law alum has both the time and interest to come and post a paragraph like that here. HMMMM.
The University of Connecticut in 1979 was a lot, A LOT different than it is now. It was a lot different then, also, than places like Syracuse University and Boston College University. In the 33 years since that the Big EAst conference existed, UCONN has become THE premiere public school in the northeast USA. In 2013, the University of Connecticut is a lot, a LOT different than it was in 1979, and also continues to be a lot different than Syracuse University and Boston College University. There are dozens and dozens of ways you can measure the changes over a shade longer than 3 decades.
When you look at all those different ways you can meausre changes, from academics, to facilities, to infrasturcture, to athletics, the only and I mean ONLY thing that a place like Syracuse and BC can look at UCONN and not feel completely inferior, is in the university endowment level. And that's got to be making people that look at such things nervous too, becuase we finally after three decades of phenomenal growth tangibly, visibiliy, have leadership that realize that we need to get the bank accounts pumped up too, adn they're working on it - successfully......
UCONN has lost the regular conference matchups in men's basketball that were built up over the past 3 decades. UCONN has lost the men's basketball tournament at MSG. Those things hurt. Other than that, there are no traditional rivalries in football - YET - for UCONN at this level of competition, and this isn't news to UCONN fans. YEt we've got two league titles and a BCS berth since we started playing at this level. Women's basketball, dominated the Big East, and national competition was where it really is at, and there's no loss there.
The funny thing, to me, about these Cuse and BC clowns that come here, is that they seem to fail to realize, that the biggest things, that UCONN has lost (the regular conference matchups in mens' big east basketball, and the tournament at MSG) - are also the same things that Syracuse and BC have lost.
Money comes and goes, but those things are gone forever - for Cuse, UCONN, and BC.
I hope your law practice is sucessful enough that you have plenty of time on your hands.
have a nice day.
Please explain how BC is academically inferior to UConn. It's illusions of grandeur like this that cause BC alums (like me), and Syracuse alums for that matter, to think that so many UConn fans are delusional. UConn is good school academically speaking, but how can you say it is superior in every measurable way to BC? You do realize that's a crazy statement, right? I live in Connecticut. I went to graduate school at UConn. I know the university pretty well. It's a nice school that his improved a lot in the last 15 years. Also, on the endowment front, to put things in perspective, BC raised more money during the "quiet phase" of its latest $1.5B capital campaign (i.e., before the campaign was even formally announced) than UConn has in its entire endowment. UConn has done a lot, but it has a ways to go if it wants to be on the same level of elite public universities like Michigan or Virginia. (Note: I fully expect to be called a troll, but in all honesty, I enjoy reading this board from time to time because I live in Connecticut and am very interested in conference realignment. It is only against my better judgment that I've chosen to respond to a post.)
Please explain how BC is academically inferior to UConn. It's illusions of grandeur like this that cause BC alums (like me), and Syracuse alums for that matter, to think that so many UConn fans are delusional. UConn is good school academically speaking, but how can you say it is superior in every measurable way to BC? You do realize that's a crazy statement, right? I live in Connecticut. I went to graduate school at UConn. I know the university pretty well. It's a nice school that his improved a lot in the last 15 years. Also, on the endowment front, to put things in perspective, BC raised more money during the "quiet phase" of its latest $1.5B capital campaign (i.e., before the campaign was even formally announced) than UConn has in its entire endowment. UConn has done a lot, but it has a ways to go if it wants to be on the same level of elite public universities like Michigan or Virginia. (Note: I fully expect to be called a troll, but in all honesty, I enjoy reading this board from time to time because I live in Connecticut and am very interested in conference realignment. It is only against my better judgment that I've chosen to respond to a post.)
You're right on the illusions/delusions distinction. Good call. I can be pretty bad at idioms.First, it's delusions of grandeur. And secondly, why would you rate Syracuse ahead of UConn? Who else does?
You're right on the illusions/delusions distinction. Good call. I can be pretty bad at idioms.
I wasn't really talking as much about the difference between Syracuse and UConn. I guess US News has them pretty close, with Syracuse slightly ahead. I consider them both to be similar, though I'd probably agree that Syracuse is a slightly better school. Really, I was talking more about BC. Obviously I'm biased, and I don't want to really get into the debate over which is a "better" school (although, Carl, every mainstream ranking has BC well ahead of both, e.g., BC is #31 in US News versus UConn as #63). My real point was that saying UConn is better academically in every measurableway than BC is an absurd thing to say. It has no basis in reality.
I have no dog in this BC/Syracuse/UConn academic quarrel. For my own kids (who are 15 years away from college age, so it will be awhile), I would advise them to go to a flagship public university for undergrad as opposed to paying private school tuition unless it's Ivy League caliber (where the benefits are very clear). Personally, I think that generally gives you the best ROI for your education.
However, if money is no issue, then the national academic perception of BC is definitely the strongest of that group when it comes to undergrad and then Syracuse and UConn are generally viewed on the same tier. The admissions stats for those schools support that perception. For the purposes of conference realignment, I like to say that a lot of fans always underestimate how much university presidents overestimate the value of BC - they all *love* the thought of being in the Boston market and really like BC's academic profile and tradition, regardless of how crappy of a college sports town Boston might be. Just because it's not a top graduate research school (which is what the Big Ten is generally looking for) doesn't detract from the fact that BC's academic reputation is actually fairly high nationally for undergrad. At the same time, BC actually does draw pretty good TV ratings nationally considering their performance on-the-field. They're not a headliner-type team like Michigan/Notre Dame/Alabama, but BC vs. a headliner-type team is a better national TV matchup than most when it comes to ratings history. They're kind of a poor man's Miami in this regard, where local interest and attendance might be terrible yet they draw enough national TV eyeballs that they're perceived to be an upper tier TV property. Whether it's fair or not, there will always be a power conference that will take a flier on BC for those reasons.
It's tough to compare a public research university to a private, Catholic, liberal arts university. BC is not trying to be UConn, and vise versa. BC is also much more expensive, and you could probably make a good case that UConn has a better ROI (as Frank referenced). But by most measures—rankings, prestige/reputation, selectivity, facilities/campus, location—BC is a better school. I really have no interest in getting into an academic pissing match between BC and UConn. Again, I just thought it was crazy to say UConn was better in every measurable way (except endowment, which is a big caveat) than BC.Hot damn you people, I've got no problem admitting when I'm wrong (it's rare when I am) when I'm proven to be wrong. I made a pretty big claim for sure, and it drew a bug from the woodwork, but you guys are doing his work for him.
It's rare to find one of these boston college or syracuse people that show up around here that actually are intellectually worth anything. I wasn't impressed with the first one at all, and this second one, is getting his work done for him - which if that is an intentional thing in the real world - is a pretty intelligent thing to be able to do - to get others to work for you, but don't do it here.
I want to see the BC guy (who did his graduate work at UCONN) write a decent piece describing how superior Boston College Univeristy is, as compared to the University of Connecticut.
Carl,
Nowhere in my post did I mention academics. My post was in reference to the UConn posters in this thread that thought a 5 year stretch where Syracuse sucked epic proportions and UConn was at best mediocre nationally somehow gave your fanbase the perception that nationally UConn football was better than Syracuse. Again, I pointed out that from 2004 to present when you guys have joined the Big East Football Conference you have only played 3 big boys in Football Michigan Notre Dame, and Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. You beat a crappy Notre Dame team in South Bend which even Greg Robinson did at Syracuse and got killed by Michigan and Oklahoma.
Your fans are overrating your football brand was my point. Your basketball brand is elite, but ask Kansas where they would be if Big XII blew up? Either with the AAC schools or in the Mountain West. I think UConn, Syracuse, and Boston College all have fine academic insitutions, and could care less about getting into a pissing match about that. Syracuse is going to continue playing in MSG as St. John's and Villanova have both scheduled games at MSG in the 2 of the next 3 seasons. Syracuse will play in the Jimmy V Classic, and other preseason tournaments at MSG. The only negative of moving to the ACC is losing the Big East Basketball Tournament, but the ACC will probably make NYC a part of its rotation.
Frank the tank and his blog has been neutral in analyzing these moves and I understand you are UConn fans and going to see thinks in your light, but I was getting tired of Syracuse bashing. Our football brand and the fact we didn't ruffle any ACC members feathers, and ESPN renegotiation clause caused ACC to expand helped SU. If UConn was the best option for the ACC they would have been selected even if BC, Miami objected. Pitt was a viable alternative the first time, and Florida State cashed in its political capital the second time and got Louisville. Talk academics I could careless my S.I. Newhouse degree and Boston College Law degree look good no matter how much better a UConn degree is.
Your links don't work, or at least not for me. I don't know when student loan default rate became the ultimate metric for comparing schools, but from what I can find, the 3 year default rates for UConn (2.51%) are more than double what they are for BC (1.05%). But really, who cares?You know what - it pisses me off when non-UCONN people come here and begin to spout off about what UCONN fans think. Get your own popular website.
<<<<<It's tough to compare a public research university to a private, Catholic, liberal arts university.>>>>>>
No, it is not tough to compare them. There are plenty of things to both compare - and contrast. But that takes a high level of thinking.
<<<<<BC is also much more expensive>>>>>
Absolutely, it is, and if you think that there are no socioeconomic and biopsychosocial aspects to compare regarding that fact, then, once again, for you, it would be difficult to compare and contrast. In fact, the behavior that you exhibit, coming here, and writing what you've done, and at the same time, my outlandish claims I wrote - are exhibits of those differences....but there I go - doing your work again.....
<<<<But by most measures—rankings, prestige/reputation, selectivity, facilities/campus, location—BC is a better school>>>>
Yeah, sure, but what really matters? Let's look at student loan default rates:
Boston COllege default rates have more than doubled in the past 5 years. Enrollment hasn't changed.
http://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/defaultmanagement/cohortdetail.cfm?sno=0&ope_id=002128
Univeristy of Connecticut student loan default rates have remained statitistically equal in the same amount of time, while enrollment has increased, and academic standards of admission have increase
http://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/defaultmanagement/cohortdetail.cfm?sno=0&ope_id=001417
What did you study post grad at UCONN btw? Just curious, I'm embarrassed.