Francesa bodies Ed in Guilford on UCONN- Full Audio

[GuttyWolf]

I am not sure there is a bigger Jim Calhoun fan than Francesa. He calls what Calhoun did at UConn the greatest building job in college athletics and even put him in his top 5 college basketball coaches of all time.He has no faith in UConn ever being able to replicate the success we had under Jimmy C. Whether you agree or not, the clip below is pure gold and deserves a listen. (From Tuesday's show I believe)

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/03/09/mike-francesa-uconn-basketball/

Full Disclosure, I'll be at FrancesaCon 3 Saturday. Go Huskies

 

[August_West]

I am not sure there is a bigger Jim Calhoun fan than Francesa. He calls what Calhoun did at UConn the greatest building job in college athletics and even put him in his top 5 college basketball coaches of all time.He has no faith in UConn ever being able to replicate the success we had under Jimmy C. Whether you agree or not, the clip below is pure gold and deserves a listen. (From Tuesday's show I believe)

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/03/09/mike-francesa-uconn-basketball/

Full Disclosure, I'll be at FrancesaCon 3 Saturday. Go Huskies

Post/Avatar

 

[Bryan Lord]

Lol it was on the podcast yesterday.

 

[Lefty2one]

Traditionally he loves UConn, especially JC. He gave UConn a lot of air time the other day, some of our fans are definitely delusional but that's generally how it goes with people who decide to call in to radio shows.

He made fair points, which is pretty rare for him these days.

 

[Waquoit]

So the number 1 drive time radio show in NYC spends time talking UConn? How often do they talk Cincy or BYU?

 

[Horatio]

KO already won one championship and this years team is the last remnants of our recruiting issues ( NCAA and uncertainty). Imagine where we'd be if KO didn't have that tournament ban and the restrictions. It kinda killed his momentum. Things will get better . Mike has seen a lot of college basketball and he's been fair to us. KO just has to prove him wrong. The one thing that's gonna help is I think KO ( if he stays and wins) will bring in stronger overall recruiting classes than Coach Calhoun.

 

[Lefty2one]

It all started with a caller ripping Ollie. Fatso wasn't knocking Ollie either, he likes Ollie, but he called our fanbase spoiled for wanting KO gone so quickly.

He was empathetic towards our conference situation. He also said we were a Top 5 program in America under JC and said that will never be the case with Ollie, especially if we stay in the AAC. He didn't say we'll suck or that we'll turn into Boston College though. But it's fair, as much as we love to tout our four titles in the last two decades, we aren't a traditional blueblood like UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, etc. All of those great programs had down years after their patriarch retired, we'll struggle a bit too whether Ollie is on the sideline or someone else. I do think KO will get us back to perennial Top 25 team in the next couple of years though.

 

[CTPride]

Welcome to the boneyard Mr. Francesa

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

We are so spoiled. 4 championships in that span of time is truly unreal. He's right that we will never EVER have a run of dominance like that again, there is too much parity.
With that said, we could very well be a perennial top 20 team starting in the next couple years.

 

[dtrumpet]

I don't listen to him much anymore, his constant interrupting callers before they get to make a point is tiresome, but I listened to the clip. College hoops is right in Francesa's wheelhouse and Ed from Guilford lobbed him a softball. He didn't just rant though, he made some good points.

 

[BugsyCT]

To be fair, JC is one tough act to follow. Ollie had a very good 1st 2 seasons (with Calhoun's players) and a tougher last couple seasons, but let's remember he's still a newbie at this head coaching thing. JC built a great thing here and laid the foundation - we may never again be what we were with him but that doesn't mean KO or another coach can't have sustained success here.

 

[gtcam]

Francesca is a dolt BUT he did bring up some good points and I could argue with him about the fact that UConn wont be Kansas, wont be Duke - hell UConn is already in that tier.
The caller from Guilford should never have brought up the UCLA argument - it doesn't make sense
In the same vein - to compare UConn to GTown and ST Johns is a slap in the face
The problem is that a school like UConn, in many "experts" minds, should never have been allowed to attain that stature - a state school from a crummy little state in New England of all places.
I look forward to KO and UConn continuing to build on the JC foundation.

 

[BUConn10]

Fran's entire reason for why UConn can't be in the tier of the U.K., Kansas and Dukes was simply because they aren't UK, Kansas and Duke. He doesn't have a concrete reason as to why they aren't the same, just that they aren't the same. Everything about the level of basketball being played between these two groups and the successes reached are identical, the difference he is referencing is our PERCEPTION.

People all over the country know UConn basketball, but it's more like a "plucky upstart" as opposed to a tradition powerhouse. Their is an air and an aura around the blue bloods which feeds into their revenue, media discussion time, recruiting, getting the benefit of the doubt in AP rankings and selection Sunday, it's simply undeniable and UConn doesn't have that because Calhoun and UConn actively suppressed that and I think it will hurt the program in the long run. Stuff like how JC pushed the media away instead of embracing them to his advantage like guys like Calipari do has had lasting effects in how people think and talk about UConn.

 

[Dave]

So the number 1 drive time radio show in NYC spends time talking UConn? How often do they talk Cincy or BYU?

or Rutgers

 

[MattMang23]

So the number 1 drive time radio show in NYC spends time talking UConn? How often do they talk Cincy or BYU?

Where is Kevin McSchmuck or Dennis Dodds or Andy Gresh or whoever else to tell us we get no pull in NYC?

 

[GuttyWolf]

Post/Avatar

Nice catch.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

People all over the country know UConn basketball, but it's more like a "plucky upstart" as opposed to a tradition powerhouse. Their is an air and an aura around the blue bloods which feeds into their revenue, media discussion time, recruiting, getting the benefit of the doubt in AP rankings and selection Sunday, it's simply undeniable and UConn doesn't have that because Calhoun and UConn actively suppressed that

What? What you're describing does not in any way resemble the program I remember under Calhoun. They were not a "plucky upstart" when he was on the sidelines, particularly after they beat Duke in 1999 and most certainly when they were curb stomping Georgia Tech in '04. They went head to head with top programs for recruits, played in high profile games, UConn jerseys were ubiquitous, and Calhoun himself welcomed the attention to the program, the target on the back, all that _____.

UConn basketball circa 2016 has absolutely no profile whatsoever. Zero. And that sucks. And it might not come back. But it has not always been that way.

 

[80shusky]

Fran's entire reason for why UConn can't be in the tier of the U.K., Kansas and Dukes was simply because they aren't UK, Kansas and Duke. He doesn't have a concrete reason as to why they aren't the same, just that they aren't the same. Everything about the level of basketball being played between these two groups and the successes reached are identical, the difference he is referencing is our PERCEPTION.

People all over the country know UConn basketball, but it's more like a "plucky upstart" as opposed to a tradition powerhouse. Their is an air and an aura around the blue bloods which feeds into their revenue, media discussion time, recruiting, getting the benefit of the doubt in AP rankings and selection Sunday, it's simply undeniable and UConn doesn't have that because Calhoun and UConn actively suppressed that and I think it will hurt the program in the long run. Stuff like how JC pushed the media away instead of embracing them to his advantage like guys like Calipari do has had lasting effects in how people think and talk about UConn.

I heard this as well though he did sort of have a reason. He discussed the fact that we aren't in a P5 conference and that we got screwed. He said due to the conference situation we won't get the national TV exposure and that is the key to maintaining that level of success. In his estimation.

 

[CTKIDD]

I listened to most of the call live on my way home. I was ok with it until he started blurting out EVER.. EVER....that rubbed me... The tone in his voice was douchy.
Surprised no one picked up on today's show Someone called and suggested Calhoun to Rutgers as a possibility

 

[Bryan Lord]

I heard the Rutgers thing ha, didn't seem worth discussing.

 

[BUConn10]

I listened to most of the call live on my way home. I was ok with it until he started blurting out EVER.. EVER....that rubbed me... The tone in his voice was douchy.
Surprised no one picked up on today's show Someone called and suggested Calhoun to Rutgers as a possibility

I agree. I can understand if you have a gut feeling and are trying to make a prediction, but to say something with so much certainty is douchy. Add in the fact that UConn has had 10x the success of all the programs he listed over the last 25 years as us never being able to reach (minus Duke, UK, and maybe KU) and it's ridiculous that someone could be so sure that UConn will never be one of the blue bloods, when they've surpassed them on the court over the last quarter century already. It's like looking at Apple's stock in 2006 and saying this company has peaked, it will NEVER, NEVER meet projections.

 

[kemba]

We won a national championship 2 years after Calhoun and the first year we were eligible. That trumps anything else in these arguments about what UConn will be post Calhoun. A couple more down years maybe that can be called into question but not now.

 

[Huskies4ever]

So the number 1 drive time radio show in NYC spends time talking UConn? How often do they talk Cincy or BYU?

Or Cuse? I thought they were New York's team?

 

[BUConn10]

The thing that really gets me is when people give all these reasons for why UConn will never be peers with the blue bloods, then when you point out that almost all of those reasons also apply to Duke (one winning coach, not competitive in football, only nationally relevant relatively recently) they come up with equally weak reasons as to why Duke is exempt from this and has always been a blue blood, LMAO.

 

[David 76]

[QUOTE="BigErnMcCracken, post: 1612450, member: 70"

UConn basketball circa 2016 has absolutely no profile whatsoever. Zero. And that sucks. And it might not come back. But it has not always been that way.[/QUOTE]

Zero?? We aren't what we used to be, but we did win two NCs in the last 5 years. People know UConn basketball. I remember when they didn't.