Houston loses to Lubbock Christian

[johnnyc]

The Strategic Air Command?

lol......with the heights that TBS can reach to block shots maybe. SAC is Wingate's conference......Southern Atlantic.

 

[semper]

Name one good team in our entire new conference besides us and the departing Louisville? Yes, there are bad teams in every conference, but don't we have to see these suckers 16 times or something. I'm bummed, I tells ya.

 

[Coler]

Name one good team in our entire new conference besides us and the departing Louisville? Yes, there are bad teams in every conference, but don't we have to see these suckers 16 times or something. I'm bummed, I tells ya.

I think Rutgers will be pretty good this year.

 

[tomcat]

Maybe, and I think if Geno were to retire while we were still in the AAC that might be an issue.

But, I've not seen a single recruit lately say "I'd rather play for Wake Forest, who has zero chances of ever winning a NC, but hey - at least I'll get the chance to play UNC, Duke, Notre Dame, FSU, Ga Tech, Syracuse, UVA, etc". I totally agree the AAC sucks for WCBB. But UCONN is hot on the trail of the #1 kid from 2014, and about 6 of the top 10 kids in 2015. I hardly think those kids are saying "Umm, I'd rather go to Wake Forest".

I do get the point in general - teams like ND or Duke or UNC might have an advantage to be able to say look at the quality of our conference and how much we play tough teams in our league, but as long as UCONN continues to have a top 10 SOS, I just don't see where that's going to be an issue. We schedule Baylor, Maryland, Duke, UNC, Stanford, ND, Cal, Penn State, etc etc. on a yearly or every other year basis. Until I see our SOS drop to about 25 or worse, or kids say they don't want to come to UCONN cuz of the AAC, I'll continue to believe that Geno can keep reeling them in...

Eric,
All true, as far as it goes. But UConn isn't really recruiting against Wake Forest, is it? UConn recruits against Duke, for example, which CAN offer its recruits something that UConn cannot: great in-league rivalries against teams like UNC and MD, guaranteed year after year.

 

[Alydar]

When I think of Houston I instantly think of Elvin Hayes and that great game vs UCLA in the Astro Dome. So they know about big time BB. I would think that with the number of girls playing HS ball in Texas and the fact that a bunch of women from yankee country are making their women look like little girls may spur a few of the oilmen grads to donate to the program. Wishful thinking maybe, but one never knows. It will be interesting to see how many come to see the UConn women.

The AAC is a poor conference for UConn but except for Notre Dame, Louisville and maybe one or two others, the BE was also a bunch of scrap. So it's not as bad a fall as it seems. The only conference that has any quality depth (teams that make it past the S16 more often than not) is the ACC. Even the ACC drops off in quality once you get past ND, Duke, UNC and Louis. Oops, almost addded MD but they are gone. Besides, we will play most of the erstwhile good BE teams as OOC opponents. And as long as Geno is there ESPN will make sure that UConn plays the top teams around. I would think MD would be a regular B10 opponent, Duke, ND and UNC in the ACC, Baylor, Stanford, ....... The only problem will be scheduling them during the conference play, but again, ESPN has a way of making that happen too.

 

[tomcat]

If you can find a player quote where the conference was a deciding factor in dropping Uconn as a destination I would be shocked. Compelling? Doubtful. Name a conference without bad teams. Name a conference without good teams that Uconn would still beat by 30.

Conference is way down the list of reasons to pick a school. And not a difference maker.

Well, I cannot find a player to say that YET, but I think it's a realistic possibility that it will make a difference down the line. Recruiters will use any advantage to gain an edge, and if recruits hear the same thing from multiple recruiters, they may start to believe it.

Sure, every conference has bad teams. It is just there are very few that have one wonderful team 5 mediocre teams and six bad ones. (I'm making up the numbers here, but you get my point). This league is not bad, it's dreadful.

And you're right. Right now, UConn would beat most everyone, including most of the ACC, by 30. But that is today, and I'm really thinking of UConn down the line a few years, assuming the league picture does not change.

 

[rocky rococo]

Sancho Lyttle played at Houston. She may have been the "shot-blocker" recalled. They also had Chandi Jones, most notable as the player traded by Laimbeer for Katie Smith.

 

[Coler]

Sancho Lyttle played at Houston. She may have been the "shot-blocker" recalled. They also had Chandi Jones, most notable as the player traded by Laimbeer for Katie Smith.

I remember the Chandi Jones days, great scorer. I believe her senior year they went 27-3 or something. Didn't get very far in the NCAAs though.

 

[HuskyNan]

.
Didn't we play Houston at Gampel in the NCAA's years ago when they had a super shotblocker on their team?

That was TCU. Sandora Irvin (sp?) was the terrific shot blocker. That was a great game - DT tried to defer to her younger teammates, who flailed around, so DT took over and personally mowed down TCU pretty much by herself. UConnHenry couldn't make the game so he gave me his tickets. I was almost on the court and got to watch one of Diana's most electric games as a collegian.

 

[Icebear]

Nan, given the way the season has continued after the momentary hope against Michigan I am surprised you haven't returned to the protection of the bag.

 

[Vowelguy]

That was TCU. Sandora Irvin (sp?) was the terrific shot blocker..

Yup. NFL great Michael Irvin's niece.

 

[connboy77]

The AAC is an absolutely brutal league for our women's basketball team. Horrible travel against very poor competition (remember L'ville and Rutgers are gone after this year and the replacement football schools have very little interest in women's basketball). UConn is stuck in the AAC for at least a few more years in order to get their share of the realignment buyouts but we can only pray that something better will shake out.

You play with the cards that are dealt to you! The only thing UCONN can do is have a very strong out of conference schedule.

 

[Vowelguy]

The AAC is a poor conference for UConn but except for Notre Dame, Louisville and maybe one or two others, the BE was also a bunch of scrap.

The big east was getting 7 or 8 teams into the NCAAs. That's not scrap.

 

[doggydaddy]

Well, I cannot find a player to say that YET, but I think it's a realistic possibility that it will make a difference down the line. Recruiters will use any advantage to gain an edge, and if recruits hear the same thing from multiple recruiters, they may start to believe it.

Sure, every conference has bad teams. It is just there are very few that have one wonderful team 5 mediocre teams and six bad ones. (I'm making up the numbers here, but you get my point). This league is not bad, it's dreadful.

And you're right. Right now, UConn would beat most everyone, including most of the ACC, by 30. But that is today, and I'm really thinking of UConn down the line a few years, assuming the league picture does not change.

I really disagree. Of course you can't find a player to say that. YET?? It's just not high on their list of reasons. Now, if EVERYTHING else is equal, MAYBE it's an edge. MAYBE.

Geno is no dummy. He knows the weakness of the conference. It's why he has increased the toughness of the OOC schedule. If an opposing coach in the ACC says you get to play great conference opponents, Geno can counter with the fact that you get to play 6 of the top ten teams in the country every year. Maybe more.

For top players, I would put conference after Coaching staff, Team history and results, Players in the WNBA, Teammates, Past and current Olympians, Location, Academics. Maybe others ahead of conference affiliation.

In a few years? In few years, UConn will have won 1-3 more NC's, been to 3 additional final fours, making it 9 consecutive. Let the opposing coaches mention conference schedule.

 

[Tonyc]

I don't think that we've begun to see just how bad a conference the AAC will be for at least the next few years. Granted, Houston is probably the worst, but still.....

And I still believe that once the world sees what a bad conference this is, no amount of wonderful OOC competition will keep opposing coaches from pointing out to recruits and accurately, I might add):"Sure you can go to UConn. None better. But you won't see the kind of day-in and day-out competition that will truly test your mettle like you'll find in our conference." And for some recruits, that message will be compelling.

I agree with you its not a competitive conference for UConn. It may be for many of the other teams. However how many conferences have 3 or more top 20 teams? I mean really good top 20 teams? The ACC with Duke, MD, and ND and maybe UNC. PAC 10 with Stanford and who else? I said really good not potentially good. The rest of the league is not very good. Why? Not enough schools will make the commitment to Womens BB and their aren't enough great players. Dominate players. UConn has made a commitment to Womens BB and UConn has a bunch of top and dominate players. UConn will continue get their share of top players. The AAC Conference might hurt recruiting a little bit but the positives out weight the negitives. The positive, OOC schedule is tops, all games on TV is tops and the coaching staff and reputation is tops. Look at Tenn. Pat is pretty much out of the picture and Tenn hasn't been to a FF in quite a long time and Tenn still is competing for top recruits. UConn is here to stay at the top. UConn is favored to win the NC the next 3 seasons. Not just get to the FF that is expected. What other team can say that? This is why top recruits want to play for UConn. UConn is feared by every team in WCBB. How many coaches tell recruits we expect to make the NCAAs or FF and then when the NCAA brackets come out, and they see UConn in their bracket what do they think? For those who want to be the very best. For those who want to win National Championships, for those who want it all UConn is the place to be. For those who don't well maybe their not UConn material. They still may have a great future in college BB. But if it were me. To have a chance to do something special with my life UConn is the only place to be. They have just to much to offer and the AAC might be a bit of a negative but everything else out weighs that. When you add it all up other teams can say they have a better conference but they cant say they've got more championships, more AAs, more WNBA players, more overseas players, more Olympians. So if you looked at UConns resume and saw all that and compared it to any other schools resume why wouldn't you choose UConn?

 

[HuskyNan]

Nan, given the way the season has continued after the momentary hope against Michigan I am surprised you haven't returned to the protection of the bag.

At this point I want UConn to lose the rest of the games so that Manuel pries open the checkbook and pays the $$$ for a coach that can take the Huskies to the next level. UConn has some great coaches - Auriemma, Ollie, Reid, Tsantiris, Stevens - the football coach needs to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys and that means a significant investment. If the Huskies somewhat redeem themselves with a couple of ugly-looking wins, Manuel could use that as an excuse to keep second-tier coaches. It's time to move on.

 

[Phil]

There's not really much of a difference between DII and DIII and NAIA schools. There's just huge gaps in talent level when you get down to the general population of college basketball players. Players at those levels are usually choosing a school, rather than an athletic program and don't really care which division the school is in let alone conference.

And schools making the transition to a higher level are usually doing so because their athletic programs have been successful, which doesn't put them anywhere near the bottom of the pecking order. Florida Gulf Coast where Mel Thomas has been working is a good example of that.

I hear what you are saying, and I agree it is probably unfair to assume that the ones transition in were at the bottom. However, I'm not sure FGCU is a good example of the usual process. They are a brand-new school. Karl Smesko was technically hired into an NAIA school, but before they played a single game, before they even built their arena, they decided to move to DII. So that's not a case of a long-time NAIA team moving on up. They did move up to DI fairly quickly.

 

[EricSD]

Eric,
All true, as far as it goes. But UConn isn't really recruiting against Wake Forest, is it? UConn recruits against Duke, for example, which CAN offer its recruits something that UConn cannot: great in-league rivalries against teams like UNC and MD, guaranteed year after year.

Well then let's see who UCONN loses out to over the next 2 years - Duke, ND, etc. where the main reason, or a large reason, is the AAC. I just don't see it.

 

[UConnCat]

I really disagree. Of course you can't find a player to say that. YET?? It's just not high on their list of reasons. Now, if EVERYTHING else is equal, MAYBE it's an edge. MAYBE.

Geno is no dummy. He knows the weakness of the conference. It's why he has increased the toughness of the OOC schedule. If an opposing coach in the ACC says you get to play great conference opponents, Geno can counter with the fact that you get to play 6 of the top ten teams in the country every year. Maybe more.

For top players, I would put conference after Coaching staff, Team history and results, Players in the WNBA, Teammates, Past and current Olympians, Location, Academics. Maybe others ahead of conference affiliation.

In a few years? In few years, UConn will have won 1-3 more NC's, been to 3 additional final fours, making it 9 consecutive. Let the opposing coaches mention conference schedule.

I also think UConn's "informal partnership" (Scotter's term, I think) with ESPN is also important. Kids today like to play on ESPN and ESPN likes to broadcast UConn games (10 games this year). It will be important for UConn to continue to play ranked opponents in Jan and Feb. Fans forget that most of UConn's Big Monday ESPN game over the years have been against OOC opponents and there were a few years when UConn played as many as 3 OOC games during its BE schedule. That's really the most that a team can play during its conference schedule and UConn will need to continue to do that. Last year the games were against Duke and Baylor. This year there is only one OOC game in Jan against Baylor, but that's because both of UConn's games against Louisville are Big Monday games. The key will be to find opponents willing to schedule OOC during their conference schedule (like Duke, OK, Baylor, UNC in past years). ESPN can be pretty persuasive. McCallie has already made a few comments to suggest she might not renew the series with UConn after next year, so Duke may need to be replaced with another willing opponent.

 

[UConnCat]

At this point I want UConn to lose the rest of the games so that Manuel pries open the checkbook and pays the $ for a coach that can take the Huskies to the next level. UConn has some great coaches - Auriemma, Ollie, Reid, Tsantiris, Stevens - the football coach needs to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys and that means a significant investment. If the Huskies somewhat redeem themselves with a couple of ugly-looking wins, Manuel could use that as an excuse to keep second-tier coaches. It's time to move on.

I don't think it's necessary for UConn to lose the remainder of its games for Manuel to do what you suggest. That's going to happen even if UConn wins the remainder of its games which I hope happens for the sake of the players and fans. Winning games after PP was fired was only going to be a factor in TJ's candidacy to be the next HC. That ship has sailed. There will be lots of pressure on Manuel to make a good hire and I don't think money will be an issue. No retreads.

 

[Alydar]

The big east was getting 7 or 8 teams into the NCAAs. That's not scrap.

Yes it is. 64 teams get in the tournament but only maybe 15 belong in a national championship tournament. On the men's side the are maybe 40 teams in that category. The bottom half of the BE were 8 bad teams. The AAC has 10 teams this year. Take out UConn, Louisville, Rutgers and USF and you have 6 stinkers. That means there are 12 stinker in-conference games this year while there were 8 last year. More, certainly, but not enough to despair over.

Sure, in my dreams I would love to see UConn in a conference with MD. Duke, UNC, Tenn, Louis, Ken., & ND but that isn't happening.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Lots of good points, I think sometimes some posters confuse UConn (unintentionally) with a regular school, while others simply isolate UConn from reality too much.

Whatever the reasons students pick schools, students picking UConn are not going to be swayed by the conference UConn is in. It isn't the reason anyone is choosing UConn - and won't be as long as UConn remains the dominant (or, as Tony pointed out about Tennessee) a top team in the game. The fear that I think some minimize (and others make too much of) is what happens post Geno and what happens due to the financial constraints of the AAC. To make an RU comparison, lowered athletic budgets (at least for now) have constricted the travel budget for WBB. UConn's athletic budget will suffer as long as they are in the AAC.

I also think you overstate the specific appeal of NC's and the "guarantee" of winning them. I think most top recruits just want to be in a position of contending for a NC with a prominent school that they think can contend. That is why the "top" of WBB is still talented player heavy (and UConn heaviest of all).

And ESPN will continue to showcase the top teams, of which you are currently top dog. They do it in all sports. They do it in their national coverage of early NCAA rounds. Can't blame them, who wants to watch Podunk play Timbuctoo?

 

[Vowelguy]

Yes it is. 64 teams get in the tournament but only maybe 15 belong in a national championship tournament. On the men's side the are maybe 40 teams in that category. The bottom half of the BE were 8 bad teams. The AAC has 10 teams this year. Take out UConn, Louisville, Rutgers and USF and you have 6 stinkers. That means there are 12 stinker in-conference games this year while there were 8 last year. More, certainly, but not enough to despair over.

Sure, in my dreams I would love to see UConn in a conference with MD. Duke, UNC, Tenn, Louis, Ken., & ND but that isn't happening.

Even by your standards, that amounts to 16 " stinkers" next year. Not only up from 8, but the two extra conference gAmes likely come at the expense of two quality non- conf games. UConn is unlikely to reduce its non- conf stinkers because it needs the extra home games for revenue.

 

[doggydaddy]

I think to look at a conference schedule for more than the current year makes no sense. No one right now knows if Uconn will still be in the AAC for the 2014-15 season. Conference realignment has been crazy and predicting it just doesn't work.

That is part of Geno's sales pitch to recruits. He will promise them that they will play the toughest OOC schedule (very Tenessee of me). They will be challenged by that and the coaching staff in practice.

And for this year, they play Louisville twice and RU twice. They will be at the top of the SOS chart.

If playing a weaker conference schedule that is partially offset by a tougher OOC schedule is the reason you don't want to go to Uconn, then you don't belong there.

 

[Wonkster]

Wingate is D II. You're probably thinking of Winthrop.

Or maybe he's thinking of Winthorpe ...

 

[Jim]

Serious question -- how many student athletes don't go to Stanford because Stanford plays in the PAC-12? It seems to me the AAC and PAC-12 are similar. Both have a few good teams at the top plus a bunch that would be thrilled if they made the NCAA tournament.

 

[Vowelguy]

Serious question -- how many student athletes don't go to Stanford because Stanford plays in the PAC-12? It seems to me the AAC and PAC-12 are similar. Both have a few good teams at the top plus a bunch that would be thrilled if they made the NCAA tournament.

The PAC 12 is waaaaaay better than the AAC.

And Stanford probably has the best academic reputation among scholarship d1 schools. It surely is a unique case.

 

[Vowelguy]

Here is the Sagarin rating for the the top conferences last year:

( 1) B12 86.1
( 2) B10 83.4
( 3) SEC 82.9
( 4) BgE 81.4
( 5) ACC 81.1
( 6) PAC 77.9
( 7) WeC 71.9
( 8) MoV 71.0
( 9) A10 70.4
(10) CUS 70.3

The AAC teams had an average of 76.5.
The following year, it falls to 73.6.

 

[doggydaddy]

Here is the Sagarin rating for the the top conferences last year:

( 1) B12 86.1
( 2) B10 83.4
( 3) SEC 82.9
( 4) BgE 81.4
( 5) ACC 81.1
( 6) PAC 77.9
( 7) WeC 71.9
( 8) MoV 71.0
( 9) A10 70.4
(10) CUS 70.3

The AAC teams had an average of 76.5.
The following year, it falls to 73.6.

With each team playing Uconn twice, their SOS will be better even with big losses. Just like the BE SOS will go down not playing Uconn, Louisville and ND. They should be right around The PAC at fourth or fifth. Not great, but not horrendous.

 

[Jim]

Here is the Sagarin rating for the the top conferences last year:

( 1) B12 86.1
( 2) B10 83.4
( 3) SEC 82.9
( 4) BgE 81.4
( 5) ACC 81.1
( 6) PAC 77.9
( 7) WeC 71.9
( 8) MoV 71.0
( 9) A10 70.4
(10) CUS 70.3

The AAC teams had an average of 76.5.
The following year, it falls to 73.6.

I don't see a big difference between PAC-12's 77.9 rating and AAC's 76.5. Secondly, for you to assume the following year score of 73.6 you have to also assume UCONN loses 4 games this year (I don't think so). And lastly, you didn't answer my question -- do you think Stanford loses recruits because of the conference they play in?