With everything on his plate, where to schedule the Lafayette game for the maximum impact is at or near the bottom of the list. Criticizing Hurley for the location of this game is silly.
Home and Home with Florida
- Thread starter gwhuskyfan
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I didn’t criticize him. Exactly the opposite. I don’t think he knew how much of a disadvantage XL was. Why is this coming off as a bad take? We all know XL sucks. Plus this schedule was done before he even got here so obvi none of this was on Hurley. It was on AD.
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“While Hurley hasn’t come out and said it, he has at times hinted a little bit of frustration over the dual-home arena situation — noting UConn doesn’t enjoy an overwhelming homecourt advantage when playing at XL, where it has only practiced sparingly.” From an article by newstimes. Im not accusing Hurley of anything when it comes to scheduling. All I’m saying is that I’m assuming in the future there will be changes made. Sorry don’t mean to change these thread topics but I don’t think I’m being outlandish.
We’re in the wrong thread but saying Hurley doesn’t understand how UConn works and then whining about the game you watched on TV not having enough people there seems like criticism but my bad if I took it the wrong way.
It was 6PM because TV dictated that. UConn has no control over that.
It’s Lafayette on a Wednesday sandwiched between Arizona and FSU in Newark. Nobody was driving to Gamble to see that game either.
The hand-wringing about how it looks on tv is a waste of time. When we had 3,000 in Hartford to watch Marathon Oil, it didn’t stop us from bringing in the talent to win national championships.
I was at Gampel for UMKC. The crowd wasn’t exactly deafening. Plenty of seats. We showed on Sunday that fans will fill that place with great energy. The problem isn’t the XL center. The problem is we were playing Lafayette.
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Well to bring it back to this thread I really truly hope we play Florida at gampel. It’s been years since we’ve had a legit home game. That 2013 Florida game was insane. It just stinks having to play big name schools in Hartford. Like when we played Texas in 2010 at Gampel, it just is a better atmosphere. Why make our kids take the bus to Hartford and stay overnight? Make the opponent do the work. That’s an advantage. I really hope AD and Hurley schedule this in Storrs. But it’ll be in Hartford Bc we need to save the city
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Who said UConn is scared to play PC? I said don't look down on them. If you don't know why it's because you're not paying attention to how well they've recruited the past several years and this year they have a better roster than UConn.
I also said yesterday that playing a "big" game like Arizona as part of a home and home may generate as much revenue as playing both Lafayette and New Hampshire as home games. Do the math. If you draw 15,000 for the "big" one vs. 6,500 per game for the two mid-majors you have more fans in the seats and the quality of the opponent may even allow UConn to charge a premium for non-season ticket holders for the "big" games.
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You're absolutely right about the XL.
Anyone who has been there for big games knows it's as loud or louder than Gampel. I think I recall Calhoun even agreeing about how loud and great an environment the XL can be.
The first time we felt it was the 1990 home games with Syracuse and Georgetown. The building was truly electric and you could feel the vibrations from the crowd noise in your whole body. Bedlam would be a good description of how loud and fun was.
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Of course it is a great place to play big games. Something about the “big” game at gampel has been missing these last few years tho. Wouldn’t it be nice to play a name brand (other than AAC) program at Gampel again?
intlzncster
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This all may be true, but Gampel is a tougher place for opponents to get a win in a packed house imo.
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To answer your first question, if you read my post I said PC fans are saying UConn is scared to play them. I said that is nonsense. You went on to tell me not to look down on them (which I’m not) because they have a good team (which I know). I just said the reason we havn’t played them has nothing to do with being scared. I would still rather play those other national brand programs any day. People outside of New England and the Big East don’t care about PC.
With respect to scheduling more home-and-homes instead of cupcakes I wish we would. It’s something that gets talked about here every year. The program hasn’t changed it’s view on that and if you look around the country what top-tier programs don’t have a home-heavy non-conference schedule? Rarely do any of those programs play more than two true road games. I’m sure if it made sense financially to change the way things are like you say every school would be doing all home-and-homes. I’m sure others here can point out the reasons why schools don’t do it.
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This news is sweet but we still need three more high profile games on the schedule (Providence, Gonzaga, Arizona or another Pac-12 team again).
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Hartford is better for fans and has the better crowd these days. But I like Florida in Gampel for superstitious reasons after the Bazz tour de force.
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It stinks for you having to play big games in Hartford. Not for everyone, certainly not for me.
Hurley made our kids take the bus to Hartford and stay overnight. They don't "have" to. It's a 30 minute drive. I suspect he did it so that they can enforce curfew and get the kids away from the distractions on campus. But they don't "have to", he chose to.
Declaring it "will" be in Hartford despite the fact the last one was in Gampel is strange.
UConn isn't trying to "save" the city. Before Gampel was built I was in the lower levels watching Cliff Robinson. Lots of fans make it to Hartford who won't go to Gampel. It's a mutually beneficial relationship, this isn't UConn taking one on the chin out of the goodness of their collective/imaginary hearts.
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UConn saving the city was a joke by me. You’re all taking my comments too seriously. I know there’s nothing that can be done. And I’m aware XL is a great home court three out of the 9 times we play there yearly. And yes it will likely be in Hartford. Since 2013 when was the last time UConn played a major non AAC team at Gampel? I think the last I remember was a Saturday noon game against Ohio state a few years ago. Should be like once a year.
2014/15: Texas at Gampel (Lost) - Every other "major" OOC game was neutral or away.
2015/16: Ohio State at Gampel (Won)
2016/17: None - However - The only non-neutral site P5 opponent was Auburn played 2 days before Christmas - no way you ever play a big game at Gampel on a Saturday during winter break. UConn can't "make" Auburn come earlier or later, they have to agree on a date.
2017/18: None - However - the only non-neutral major OOC game was Villanova, and the game sold out.
It's not like we're getting 3-4 marquee match-ups outside of early season tournaments. And the last 4-5 years we've had to play return games at Texas, Auburn, Arizona, Ohio St while mixing in big neutral venue games against Duke, FSU, Cuse, Maryland, Oregon, Mich. State, Arkansas, Michigan, Gonzaga, etc.
On years where we have more than 1 home game against a big name, Gampel should definitely get one. I agree. However, depending on the schedule, there won't always be more than 1 of those games at home every year. Hartford should get more of those games because 7,000+/- more fans can get in and watch.
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I'm sure we are always trying to get someone like Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, UNC or Mich St to come and play us at home - but we have not been able to make this happen. The last time we brought any of these guys to CT was UNC in the mid (early?) 2000's and Kansas in the 90's. Don't know that Kentucy or Duke have ever come to play us.
Of course we'd prefer to get a home and home with some of these schools, but if we could only get a game with a team like that by going to see them or at a neutral location I would be on board. At this point it is about getting exposure and more games on national tv (not ESPNU, CBS Sports or ESPN News - I'm talking CBS or ESPN). This will only help with recruiting and obviously with tourny resume if we are able to win one of these away from home.
Of course we'd prefer to get a home and home with some of these schools, but if we could only get a game with a team like that by going to see them or at a neutral location I would be on board. At this point it is about getting exposure and more games on national tv (not ESPNU, CBS Sports or ESPN News - I'm talking CBS or ESPN). This will only help with recruiting and obviously with tourny resume if we are able to win one of these away from home.
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Thanks for clarifying.
My point about one "big" game at the XL generating more revenue than than two games like Lafayette only works in this environment today where for whatever reason those Lafayette type games only draw 6 or 7,000 people.
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