I think we're in, but if not ...

[sportsart]

I'd be willing to stand outside ESPN studios holding a sign saying F. U. ESPN.

I would even be willing to give my name to reporters.

By the way, Butch, what is your last name?

 

[LoyalFanCT]

If UConn does not make it into the B12 or the ACC -- now -- try to improve the academic reputation of the AAC. Add Army, Air Force and Rice. It already has Navy, SMU and Tulane. Maybe BYU will be looking for a home, too. There is more of a need for a conference like that than one with football wannabees. And UConn will continue the waiting game.

 

[MattMang23]

Stop paying for ESPN, BTN, YES, LHN, PAC. Start a grass roots effort and get other shunned schools and their fans to do the same. No ACCN, thank you. Millions of subscribers are paying for these channels that they don't watch and won't want any longer. Time to create a movement to stop it...if UConn is left behind. Otherwise, never mind.

You realize that if you cut all those channels, you wouldn't be watching UConn any longer, since UConn plays exclusively on the ESPN networks. And if enough people do it and we're not watching UConn any longer, the only metric on which to judge us becomes ticket sales since we would have no market reach, and suddenly we are a much less valuable property than East Carolina. Sounds like a terrible idea.

 

[CallMeBruce]

You realize that if you cut all those channels, you wouldn't be watching UConn any longer, since UConn plays exclusively on the ESPN networks. And if enough people do it and we're not watching UConn any longer, the only metric on which to judge us becomes ticket sales since we would have no market reach, and suddenly we are a much less valuable property than East Carolina. Sounds like a terrible idea.

And if that happens, we might get screwed over in realignment!

 

[djct1999]

You realize that if you cut all those channels, you wouldn't be watching UConn any longer, since UConn plays exclusively on the ESPN networks. And if enough people do it and we're not watching UConn any longer, the only metric on which to judge us becomes ticket sales since we would have no market reach, and suddenly we are a much less valuable property than East Carolina. Sounds like a terrible idea.

If we get passed over now, do you really think we will be viable 8 years from now? Its over. Even all the UConn loyalists must realize the implications. Rutgers will make 400 million in that time. UConn a 1/10th of that. Its over. At least to me, for UConn to continue to have my unconditional support, they better give us answers. What was done, what will be done, etc! If they give us the same "UConn will continue to do its best" blah blah blah, I am done. Will always root for UConn, but simply will care much, much less.

 

[Kolumbo]

Army and Air Force since we are The American.
ODU, Charlotte, Rice, UMass....I don't think it will matter much because the wormhole continues to shrink.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I don't know how you people can even consider this without vomiting. If it is poached for more than one school and UConn isn't included, we need to take drastic steps to get out.

 

[Sea Goat]

Let's say political correctness knocks out BYU because of their position against gays. Then Houston doesn't get invited because most Big 12 schools don't want to expand in Texas. So the Big 12 then takes Cincinnati & UConn. Cincinnati is very competent and we are the crown jewel of the G5.

But if that doesn't happen, and Cincinnati and Houston are taken, what do we do? I don't think shrinking to 10 is a valid option. Rice would be an acceptable replacement for Houston. They are a top 20 school and somewhat decent athletically. They're the Northwestern of the South, in a top 5 TV market.

But what about replacing Cincinnati? I have no good answers for that loss. Marshall? UMass? Northern Illinois? Toledo? Buffalo? I can't support any of them for inclusion. Do we go with another Southern school? Old Dominion? Do we try to pick off Colorado State? They won't go without Air Force.

I'm stumped. Someone smarter than me must have an answer for a 12th school.

Please, let's have no posts about just giving up and getting the old Yankee Conference back together.

I've reached that point in life where I just deal with bad $#!t as it happens - can't worry about future $#!t. We'll deal with it then. One thing is for sure, the gulag sucks and any change from that just might be better.

 

[BlueandOG]

Stay at 10. We can still have a conference championship game and play more P5 schools out of conference.

 

[buddy]

You realize that if you cut all those channels, you wouldn't be watching UConn any longer, since UConn plays exclusively on the ESPN networks. And if enough people do it and we're not watching UConn any longer, the only metric on which to judge us becomes ticket sales since we would have no market reach, and suddenly we are a much less valuable property than East Carolina. Sounds like a terrible idea.

There will be no UConn to watch if they get passed over. New contract will be renegotiated, likely with a different network. UConn's days on ESPN are nearing an end if UConn is passed over again anyway. My point was not to pay for channels that UConn will not be seen on anyway.

 

[John]

There will be no UConn to watch if they get passed over. New contract will be renegotiated, likely with a different network. UConn's days on ESPN are nearing an end if UConn is passed over again anyway. My point was not to pay for channels that UConn will not be seen on anyway.

 

[Redding Husky]

We no longer need 12 for a championship game so don't bother adding 2. That's how we ended up with Tulane and Tulsa.

I agree. If we could add Rice and another quality school, I'd say go to 12. But the option if we lose two schools may be Rice and Northern Illinois. In that case, no thanks.

 

[Hoophound]

I need to brush up on Rice because I just don't get why they are attractive. Without looking it up, my perception is that Rice is a strong academic school with mid-major sports and football traditionally a notch below Marshall and Southern Miss. No idea if that is accurate but there aren't money schools who would have a better chance of getting my wife to say, "Who's that? Am I supposed to be excited about this?" as we head to a game.

 

[UConnNick]

I need to brush up on Rice because I just don't get why they are attractive. Without looking it up, my perception is that Rice is a strong academic school with mid-major sports and football traditionally a notch below Marshall and Southern Miss. No idea if that is accurate but there aren't money schools who would have a better chance of getting my wife to say, "Who's that? Am I supposed to be excited about this?" as we head to a game.

Rice was a huge power in the old SWC back during the 1940's and 1950's. They won a few conference championships and went to the Cotton Bowl and other major bowls. The City of Houston built Rice Stadium for the school after they won the SWC in 1949. Incredibly the 75,000 seat stadium was finished in less than a year for 7 million. They played their home games there the following season. UH played all its home games there until the Astrodome opened in 1965. By the 1960's they couldn't compete anymore in the SWC due to their high academic standards. Over the years they have produced some fairly good NFL talent.

Starting in the late 1980's they enjoyed something of a revival in football. For several seasons at the tail end of the SWC they were competitive. They even beat UT for the first time in forever during the 1994 season. They were in the WAC for a while and then joined C-USA. They've been up and down, but they have generally been competitive in C-USA more often than not. They broke a 40+ year bowl drought in 2005, and have been to one or two other bowl games since. Not that it matters, but they have one of the best baseball programs in the country. They won the CWS in 2002. Basketball has been awful, and they play in a glorified HS gym built in the early 1950's which used to be known as "The Jungle" because it wasn't air conditioned up until about 10 years ago.

Their biggest problem is the school only has an enrollment of about 3,000 undergrads, so they don't have a huge alumni base like their regional counterparts, but what alums they have are generally well heeled. They've also been lucky if they can draw 5,000 for home football games. They deliver next to nothing in their own media market.

Unfortunately, they would add nothing to the AAC other than their nationally prominent baseball program, and Wayne Graham is 80, so he's not going to last there much longer.