Gampel v XL Center Records - Daily Campus

[John]

Remember, it’s not just basketball; it’s hockey and football too. I’m sure some of y’all wish we played baseball and soccer in Hartford as well. It’s just so wrong.

It’s a fundamentally perverse view of college sports. If you want a “Connecticut pro-team” (barf) go be a WolfPack or Yard Goats fan. UConn is not your substitute for the Whalers

You realize that big time college athletics serve as the defacto pro team in states that don't have pro teams?

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Passenger train service between Hartford and Storrs and this whole problem gets solved. A spur on the high-speed between Hartford and Boston and NYC.

 

[zls44]

You realize that big time college athletics serve as the defacto pro team in states that don't have pro teams?

And in those places they play on campus. They don't whine about having to drive another 20 minutes.

 

[Guapo]

You realize that big time college athletics serve as the defacto pro team in states that don't have pro teams?

Ok! Thank you for saying that. I promise I’m not coming at you from a negative place with this response. But, this is a fundamentally northeastern view of the sports hierarchy, I’m telling you no one in these other places views it this way. No one in Kansas thinks Kansas basketball is “Kansas’ pro team” or that Alabama football is “Alabama’s pro team” etc. It’s difficult to explain but the relationship people have with those programs is much more like the entire state’s high school team, more so than it’s pro team.

 

[Kemba Time]

Ok! Thank you for saying that. I promise I’m not coming at you from a negative place with this response. But, this is a fundamentally northeastern view of the sports hierarchy, I’m telling you no one in these other places views it this way. No one in Kansas thinks Kansas basketball is “Kansas’ pro team” or that Alabama football is “Alabama’s pro team” etc. It’s difficult to explain but the relationship people have with those programs is much more like the entire state’s high school team, more so than it’s pro team.

And that’s exactly what defacto means. Nobody here actually calls UConn Connecticut’s pro team, and there are many other pro teams our fans root for, but in attendance, interest, coverage and reach, UConn basketball functions as the state’s defacto pro team just as Nebraska football, Kentucky basketball, Alabama football and Kansas basketball do in their respective markets.

I think you are taking it as a negative in terms of amateurism, but it’s really a positive in terms of just how much fans across this state care about the program. You can go to any corner of the state and the basketball teams are likely leading the sports page year-round, you can wear a UConn shirt anywhere in the state knowing you are in UConn country and fans in every part of the state feel connected when UConn wins. It’s why this state went fanatical for UConn basketball when both programs started winning big.

I also grew up outside of the Northeast and would 100% agree that people in those places view their teams in more of a high school sports way than we do in New England, but that goes so far beyond this convo. Fans very rarely boo their actual professional teams, let alone college players, in place like Milwaukee, Kansas City or Denver whereas in Boston or New York, you will get booed for one bad at-bat or half. I was in Milwaukee when the Brewers went to the NLCS and described it as Milwaukee’s high school team is going to state — signs on windows, pep rallies at schools, free burgers at local restaurants — it’s just different outside of this area and it trickles from pro to college without a doubt. As they say in Always Sunny in Philadelphia “We’re a very passionate fan base”

 

[mauconnfan]

Sorry in the late 80s and 90s having a packed house at XL was a loud and boisterous venue, memorable. They made it a business and I understand that but they lost the “state of CT fan” who didn’t want to pay the extra cash to see 10 games by charging the fees. I get it but it’s simple they lost a lot of those types.

And win games, they will be there no matter which venue. They’re both now old and ugly but full they’re beautiful. Win the close ones for once people will find their way.

 

[willie99]

Official records for each venue are available in the media guide. Based on the numbers there (so take with grains of salt), when you compare both XL and Gampel since 1989-90, here's what you get (not including this season):

Overall
XL Center - 235-54 (.813)
Gampel - 202-40 (.835)

vs. Ranked opponents
XL Center - 26-20 (.562)
Gampel - 25-14 (.641)

Big East Years (1989-2013)
XL Center - 192-36 (.842)
Gampel - 149-23 (.866)

AAC Years (2013-2020)
XL Center - 43-18 (.705)
Gampel - 46-14 (.767)

This in an by itself simply blows up the authors argument, which is why he was so limited in his scope.

I've been going to games at both arenas since GP opened. I like both arenas, for different reasons. I think both arenas have faults, for different reasons.

But I know beyond a reasonable doubt what I observed on the court

PS: The author didn't cover that

 

[Kemba Time]

And win games, they will be there no matter which venue. They’re both now old and ugly but full they’re beautiful. Win the close ones for once people will find their way.

Winning solves everything. One thing that is so hard to understand as a fan who cares as much as anyone who checks this site is how performance-based interest of the average fan is — and how much the past five-six years impacted that. We are just starting to climb out of it, but there’s a lot of winning left to do.

This is what the XL Center looks like when we are really, really good in one clip. Somehow scoring points, putting 16,000 in the stands on a weeknight and students finding their way to the building become non-issues when you are really, really good.

P.s. Put Ben’s number on the wall, in both buildings.

 

[Get a Job]

Winning solves everything. One thing that is so hard to understand as a fan who cares as much as anyone who checks this site is how performance-based interest of the average fan is — and how much the past five-six years impacted that. We are just starting to climb out of it, but there’s a lot of winning left to do.

This is what the XL Center looks like when we are really, really good in one clip. Somehow scoring points, putting 16,000 in the stands on a weeknight and students finding their way to the building become non-issues when you are really, really good.

P.s. Put Ben’s number on the wall, in both buildings.

This is the game I walked/hitchhiked to from campus at 1 in the morning!

 

[CL82]

Official records for each venue are available in the media guide. Based on the numbers there (so take with grains of salt), when you compare both XL and Gampel since 1989-90, here's what you get (not including this season):

Overall
XL Center - 235-54 (.813)
Gampel - 202-40 (.835)

vs. Ranked opponents
XL Center - 26-20 (.562)
Gampel - 25-14 (.641)

Big East Years (1989-2013)
XL Center - 192-36 (.842)
Gampel - 149-23 (.866)

AAC Years (2013-2020)
XL Center - 43-18 (.705)
Gampel - 46-14 (.767)

I’d love to see this info plotted on a timeline or alternatively using a weighted average in which recency is given more weight.

 

[JohnFSilver]

My issue is not with wins and losses, it’s that continuing to play a large number of sports far off campus is indicative of a school and state government that still doesn’t truly grasp how college athletics works - that lack of understanding contributed to UConn getting left behind in conference realignment, despite our winning history, and yet we don’t learn

I don’t think any of that contributed to realignment.

 

[Guapo]

I don’t think any of that contributed to realignment.

This is not an “I think, I feel”. This is an “I know.”

It’s a fact that the rentschler set up was pointed to by a number of ACC schools as indicative of UConn not being a “cultural fit”.

Now, that can be viewed as an excuse or whatever to push other schools but it did come up

 

[Kemba Time]

This is not an “I think, I feel”. This is an “I know.”

It’s a fact that the rentschler set up was pointed to by a number of ACC schools as indicative of UConn not being a “cultural fit”.

Now, that can be viewed as an excuse or whatever to push other schools but it did come up

Seems like an excuse? Miami plays football 35 minutes from campus at the Dolphins stadium. Pitt plays off campus at Heinz, NC State plays off campus and Louisville became the apple of everyone’s eye during realignment by building a 20,000-seat downtown basketball McMansion.

 

[Guapo]

Seems like an excuse? Miami plays football 35 minutes from campus at the Dolphins stadium. Pitt plays off campus at Heinz, NC State plays off campus and Louisville became the apple of everyone’s eye during realignment by building a 20,000-seat downtown basketball McMansion.

Yeah Miami’s situation is awful. But, there’s a massive difference between those other schools and their off campus stadiums and UConn’s

 

[Kemba Time]

Yeah Miami’s situation is awful. But, there’s a massive difference between those other schools and their off campus stadiums and UConn’s

Oh absolutely, but still seems like a bit of a stretch when a chunk of the conference isn’t playing home games in the shadow of its dorm rooms. And there’s a massive difference between UConn’s football and basketball situations too.

UConn tried to manufacture big-time football leveraging every available resource against a local population by Storrs that, uhh, does not share your vision for a flagship university college town … and it damn near worked, until performance fell off a cliff.

Let’s face it: If your football team isn’t filling its stadium six Saturdays a year, it’s not because of where you put the stadium. Basketball has a lot of different factors at play.

 

[Lefty2one]

It's amazing they built a football stadium in East Hartford instead of on campus.

I will never understand this decision. Basketball is one thing: weeknight games, far more games, etc. It made no sense for football; fans from all over the state would drive to Storrs on a Saturday for 5-6 college football games a year. The football stadium should be on-campus.

Driving an extra half an hour on a Saturday morning a half-dozen times a year is nothing. Getting to Gampel for a 7 PM Tuesday game is impossible for many adult fans.

 

[willie99]

Paul Pasquolni's (whatever) football incompetence and Jim Calhoun's retirement kept UConn out of the ACC

NOT THE RENT

Good God

 

[CL82]

Paul Pasquolni's (whatever) football incompetence and Jim Calhoun's retirement kept UConn out of the ACC

NOT THE RENT

Good God

Probably neither one of those things. For what it’s worth, BCU’s dislike of Calhoun was a contributing factor. A small one but a contributing factor.

 

[Chief00]

Which is what? That the convenience of older alumni is more important than that of active students?

I'm an alum living in western CT. XL is easier to get to by about 20 minutes. Put all the games at Gampel.

If driving an extra 20-30 minutes is going to deter fans from attending games so be it. It'll probably add twice as many students to the crowd when they can just walk to the venue.

I was at Creighton on Tuesday. The place was a ghost town. We can't fill XL except for one or two games a year. Why more games are played there than on campus for a COLLEGE SPORT is beyond me.

How much do students pay for a ticket? A seat donation? Do the math.

 

[Nicklo28]

Even Geno was quoted in Hartford Courant that he Hates playing at XL. He wished all games were at Gampel.

 

[Tuna]

Why do you want UConn to be worse at basketball?

Why are you ignoring his arguments?

 

[JohnFSilver]

Probably neither one of those things. For what it’s worth, BCU’s dislike of Calhoun was a contributing factor. A small one but a contributing factor.

Calhoun was an issue. They wanted nothing to do with them.

Pasqualoni? Had nothing to do with it. Pitt and cuse were gone before he even coached his first big east game.

 

[Husky25]

Here, here, Stratton Stave!!

He makes some good points in that article, but is railing against games at the XL Center on Twitter because students have GPAs to maintain, which is a transparently lazy hogwash excuse...with all respect.

 

[XLCenterFan]

I believe there are multiple teams in the BE that have more than 1 home arena. I would guess throughout the country there are many. If a team is going to make a run in March, they have to win anywhere, in multiple arenas.

Both Hartford and Storrs have plusses and minuses about their venues. I'm partial to XL because I don't even have to get on a highway to go to the game. I also remember the glory days of the HCC when the program was up and coming, and sell-outs were normal (even vs. Central or UHart). I have been attending games at both arenas for 30+ years now. The Texas game when we beat the lame duck #1 in Storrs was the loudest that place ever got, but there were so many games in Hartford throughout the years that were louder and more raucous.

 

[CTBasketball]

We better bring out A Game Friday night in Cincinnati. Tough place to play!

We can’t exit that game on a 4 game losing streak.