Is the American good for uconn

[maccca3232]

Is the conference the right topic for discussion when talking about addressing the lack of competition? The last 2 years UConn were 4th (16-17) and 2nd (17-18) in SOS. If they had a tougher Conference schedule do we really think they would schedule the same OOC schedule?

While I appreciate the coaching staff want to maximize the cohesion within the starters and core playing rotation couldn't we manufacture closer games by giving more minutes to the non-starters in the second quarter? You can practice as much as you like but nothing can replace in game competition.

Anyway all things being equal the starters will still play similar amounts of minutes together with the decrease in minutes in 2nd Qtr mostly offset by an increase in minutes in 4th Qtr (assuming game will be closer).

I understand using the term manufacture might be frowned upon but the goal to is best prepare the players for the challenges they will face in March not December.

 

[shiverz45]

The AAC football got a big boost this year from UCF who was the only undefeated D1 team. They also beat both teams that played for the NC. Of course the head coach was poached by Nebraska (his alma mater). But it's a step in the right direction for football.

UCF did not beat Alabama or Georgia. They did not play either team. However they did beat Auburn who split with Georgia and beat Alabama.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Yes, it is a dead horse. But if nothing else, it reveals the complexity of the "whole sports" environment.

 

[HuskylnSC]

UCF did not beat Alabama or Georgia. They did not play either team. However they did beat Auburn who split with Georgia and beat Alabama.

I am corrected - thank you

 

[TitleTown]

Uh, no we can't. Do you even bother to compute 1+1=2?

On top of that, the Big East is a step down. The AAC lost Vilanova in women's rowing but gained Florida and Vanderbilt in women's lacrosse. The SEC even puts their programs in the AAC. Yeah, the Big East sure sounds like the way to go.

This gets so old. Who the heck does the Big East give UConn competition in women's basketball? Has anyone ever even bothered to think about even that? God Almighty.

Who in the AAC gives UConn competition? Depaul is as good or better than any team(besides UConn) in the AAC!

 

[huskeynut]

Here we go again. We are in the American for a while. There is no P5 movement at this time. I seriously doubt the athletic department is going to split off football to get into another conference. The ACC said no thanks to BC and a few others in that conference. The Big10 is not expanding and the Big12 is disfunctional.

UConn has to play the hand it has been dealt.

 

[DEpup]

I took that as a rhetorical question.....

 

[dogged1]

There is another Board on the Boneyard dedicated to Conference Realignment. The posters on that board have debated every aspect of realignment in all it's permutations ad nauseum. That board is slowly dying as most of the posters there have realized that there is no way out of the AAC to a P5 conference in the near term.

Uconn as an institution is not giving up on it's aspiration to join a P5 conference, but they know that it is a long term goal not a near term.

Uconn has many of the qualities needed for P5 acceptance, including a great Athletic Department, a world class WCBB team, a nationally recognized MCBB (most NCAA champs in a 20 year period), outstanding record in NC for Olympic sports, First Class Academics (#52 USNR), First Class media and marketing metrics and on and on and on.

But the negatives are there too. BC, Miami and Syracuse all seek to block us from the ACC. While our athletic accomplishments are really good we are not "old school", blue blood, we have little national history. Our football team was rising under Edsal but fell into an abyss when he left, at the worst possible moment in realignment. And while KO started strong, the men's team is at a low. All of this is being corrected, but even so, it will take a shift in the dynamics (media money, media contracts & media outlets shifting, broadcast- cable- streaming) to create another wave of realignment. And that's not happening right now.

If your interested in an in depth analysis of this check out the Realignment Board, it was once vibrant. And especially CL82 posts. He is very knowledgeable on this subject.

 

[Adios]

Who in the AAC gives UConn competition? Depaul is as good or better than any team(besides UConn) in the AAC!

And? USF has been trying to be the second best program but it is possible that another school might become that. Jose Fernandez is not the best coach. But obviously the AAC remains the better option overall.

Why don't we get ODU into the AAC and rebuild their women's bball program so you'd feel better?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I refuse to read this thread. The nonexistent geographic rationality of the American is enough to condemn it. But for WCBB in particular it is a resounding tragedy! A joke. A travesty. A BIG FAT NO.

 

[Sifaka]

The AAC is good for WCBB. Yes, it is good for the totality of women's college basketball.

"Why is that so?" you ask. Because...

1. The meagre competition most of the conference offers UConn leads GA & Co.
to invite other top teams to schedule UConn, thus providing

2. topnotch, often competitive games among the best teams, attracting fan interest above and beyond most conference—AAC and other—schedules, and

3. revealing which coaches usually do (McGraw, Staley, Van derVeer, Walz,) and often don't (Mulkey) choose to engage with the best available competition.

Is the AAC good for UConn? If you haven't yet figured out the answer to that one,
perhaps you advocate a much higher rim, unlimited fouls, and a square ball.

Also, in the spirit of something like mercy killing, it gives a few of the more rabid Lady Vols fans something to talk about on their glorious (!) board when they grow tired of Holly hagiography and fahr Holly screaming matches.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

The AAC is good for WCBB. Yes, it is good for the totality of women's college basketball.

"Why is that so?" you ask. Because...

1. The meagre competition most of the conference offers UConn leads GA & Co.
to invite other top teams to schedule UConn, thus providing

2. topnotch, often competitive games among the best teams, attracting fan interest above and beyond most conference—AAC and other—schedules, and

3. revealing which coaches usually do (McGraw, Staley, Van derVeer, Walz,) and often don't (Mulkey) choose to engage with the best available competition.

Is the AAC good for UConn? If you haven't yet figured out the answer to that one,
perhaps you advocate a much higher rim, unlimited fouls, and a square ball.

Also, in the spirit of something like mercy killing, it gives a few of the more rabid Lady Vols fans something to talk about on their glorious (!) board when they grow tired of Holly hagiography and fahr Holly screaming matches.

Really good, inventive and total just fun. Am I buying it? Nope. Except the Hollyland part. Right on there.

 

[Fightin Choke]

I refuse to read this thread. The nonexistent geographic rationality of the American is enough to condemn it. But for WCBB in particular it is a resounding tragedy! A joke. A travesty. A BIG FAT NO.

One advantage of the crazy AAC geography is that is gets you playing games in Texas, Carolina, Tennessee, etc that have a lot of HS basketball talent. But I agree you need to get into the B1G or even better, the ACC. Then just schedule Baylor and/or Texas every year OOC to get more exposure in Texas.

 

[Woof 101]

I refuse to read this thread. The nonexistent geographic rationality of the American is enough to condemn it. But for WCBB in particular it is a resounding tragedy! A joke. A travesty. A BIG FAT NO.

Rocky have you fallen down the mountain??? You refuse to read a thread and then comment 34 posts in???
Then again after another, something tells me your reading this thread and refuse has a different meaning in Montana...

I get your point though. As a football fan I actually miss the opponents fans at the games. Of course I miss ours more but it was always healthy to see Rutgers, Syracuse, West Virginia (they travel well) and teams within a reasonable proximity in the house.

 

[Sifaka]

Really good, inventive and total just fun. Am I buying it? Nope. Except the Hollyland part. Right on there.

Glad somebody got a chuckle from this early draft of a picaresque novel I've been working on since around 1957. For some reasons, the publishers don't show as much interest as they ought to. I take solace from the memory of E.E. Cummings's dedication to his book of poetry, No Thanks:

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Rocky have you fallen down the mountain??? You refuse to read a thread and then comment 34 posts in???
Then again after another, something tells me your reading this thread and refuse has a different meaning in Montana...

I get your point though. As a football fan I actually miss the opponents fans at the games. Of course I miss ours more but it was always healthy to see Rutgers, Syracuse, West Virginia (they travel well) and teams within a reasonable proximity in the house.

I haven't read it and I said what I feel. I'm very sorry that the best basketball conference in history went poof. It was a seminal moment in the disintegration of college sports. I can hardly wait until so called college athletics among the P5 become official farm teams and the charade of college athletics dies. Yeah, I know, the screaming, beer besotted will hardly notice.

 

[UConnNick]

Who in the AAC gives UConn competition? Depaul is as good or better than any team(besides UConn) in the AAC!

When is the last time DePaul managed to stay within 20 points of UCONN? I'm sure its happened, but how often and how long ago? They don't provide any better competition than USF does. As for the rest of the new Big East, let's not forget that Rutgers, Louisville, ND, WVU and Syracuse are all gone. The former Big East has been gutted. There's nobody left to give UCONN much of a game. Every once in a while maybe DePaul, Marquette or Villanova might stay within 20. Big whoop. That's no reason to join the NBE. The season before last we came close to losing at Tulane. That's likely a far closer game than any NBE team would have given us in the past several seasons.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

The AAC football got a big boost this year from UCF who was the only undefeated D1 team. They also beat both teams that played for the NC. Of course the head coach was poached by Nebraska (his alma mater). But it's a step in the right direction for football.

Central Florida beat Alabama and Georgia? When?

 

[MSSportsGuy]

For what it's worth since I'm bored on a Thursday night (good grief I dislike the NBA playoffs)

We all know football drives all of this and UConn is still very new to the football game. What strikes me about the AAC is that it's just a collection of random schools who have almost zero history together and whose geographic differences will make it challenging to create any sort of rivalries. UCF and USF are no doubt "peer" institutions but it's sort of a hodgepodge from there. I just don't see there ever being much excitement for ECU vs UConn in football, or men's or women's basketball no matter how competitive the teams may be. Conference musical chairs was done for money and that's about it. There was little regard given for geographic locations of schools and I recall thinking when I first learned that West Virginia was joining the Big 12 "hmm, wonder about their travel for sports other than football?". UConn would be a natural fit in what is now the ACC given that Syracuse, Pitt, BC are at least close in proximity, plus the rest of the conference at least has logical rationale to its membership with the exception of Louisville.

Football and the corresponding TV deal is 99% of the reason things are the way they are with current conferences with academic reasons being 1% at best. College football may be the goose that lays the golden egg in the sense that while the growth has been exponential I wonder at what point it evens out. SEC football is truly a religion in the deep south and the games and entertainment aspect seems to get bigger each season. My personal opinion is to just stop pretending college football is anything but amateur and either pay the players or don't make them get an education if they don't want one and just let them focus on football.

 

[Adios]

One advantage of the crazy AAC geography is that is gets you playing games in Texas, Carolina, Tennessee, etc that have a lot of HS basketball talent. But I agree you need to get into the B1G or even better, the ACC. Then just schedule Baylor and/or Texas every year OOC to get more exposure in Texas.

Sorry to even bump this, but the ACC better than the Big Ten as a conference? C'mon. Any ND fans knows that is not true. The ACC chooses Louisville over UConn. While the Big Ten makes smart moves. ND shuns the Big Ten out of claimed animosity and fear (but they did join the Big Ten for ice hockey anyway). UMD left the ACC for the Big Ten, if I am recalling correctly. It's almost like saying Cornell should be in the Patriot Conference instead of the Ivy League.

UConn most definitely is hoping and aiming for the Big Ten. We'd fit in very well and they know it.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Sorry to even bump this, but the ACC better than the Big Ten as a conference? C'mon. Any ND fans knows that is not true. The ACC chooses Louisville over UConn. While the Big Ten makes smart moves. ND shuns the Big Ten out of claimed animosity and fear (but they did join the Big Ten for ice hockey anyway). UMD left the ACC for the Big Ten, if I am recalling correctly. It's almost like saying Cornell should be in the Patriot Conference instead of the Ivy League.

UConn most definitely is hoping and aiming for the Big Ten. We'd fit in very well and they know it.

It depends on things (as to "better conference"). I'm not sure that - at first glance - the ACC isn't the better conference. But I do think that the B1G is the better UConn fit.

 

[veryolddog]

This whole conversation is a day late and a dollar short. This all started in the 1950's and 60's. The State of Connecticut has consistently underfunded UConn sports for over 50 years and did not give it a second thought until the men's basketball team began to win the old Big East. Even when they had the stadium in East Hartford, they only funded 40,000 seats. Everything with football is second class. When the politicians got involved it even aggravated a delicate situation. Basketball is king at UConn. Football is second class. Unless some other league wants a consistent door mat, UConn is destined for the American.

 

[SportsPageMike]

Eventually the two big big boy conferences, the SEC and the BIG 10, are going to expand to 16 teams with two divisions of eight teams. This will start and ripple effect that will change the landscape of college sports. The question is which one of them strikes first. I think that it will be the SEC once again. They started this many years by grabbing Arkansas from the SWC. They followed up by asking Texas A&M and Missouri to join. We all have opinions and so do I. Even with Florida bitching I think that Florida State will get nabbed from the ACC. And, the other team is possibly West Virginia from the Big 12 or both Oklahoma schools.

The Big 10 will not sit and watch what took place without making a move. They will grab and add as well. Virginia would be a perfect fit for them. The other team added would be a hard choice. Even though Iowa State would bring nothing to the table it is properly located within geographic territory not to add them. Plus, it gives Iowa a rivalry in all sports that should be played annually.

There you go. Now, the ACC has holes to fill. UConn and UCF get asked to join their conference no matter what Boston College has to say. The big loser at some point is going to big the Big 12. They stand to loose anywhere from one to four teams when conference realignment takes place. Possibly, even more if the Pac 12 jumps in and steals four of their schools.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Central Florida beat Alabama and Georgia? When?

I misspoke (mis-typed). They beat Auburn who beat both teams. They also finished first in one poll that the NCAA accepts so they are claiming a national championship. Most folks around here think its great fun. They gave all the players rings and hung a permanent sign in the stadium.

 

[ivrytontusker]

Sorry to even bump this, but the ACC better than the Big Ten as a conference? C'mon. Any ND fans knows that is not true. The ACC chooses Louisville over UConn. While the Big Ten makes smart moves. ND shuns the Big Ten out of claimed animosity and fear (but they did join the Big Ten for ice hockey anyway). UMD left the ACC for the Big Ten, if I am recalling correctly. It's almost like saying Cornell should be in the Patriot Conference instead of the Ivy League.

UConn most definitely is hoping and aiming for the Big Ten. We'd fit in very well and they know it.

ND isn't interested in joining the Big Ten over the ACC because, frankly, the Big Ten doesn't bring much to the table for ND as compared to the ACC. And the same is true for UConn.

Just focusing on the sports UConn is good at and/or are nationally "important," I would say that the ACC is stronger than the Big Ten in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, and baseball. The ACC is at worst equal to the Big Ten in football and in field hockey. And for ice hockey, Hockey East is an ideal fit for UConn as is; moving to the Big Ten will not help the ice hockey program.