Jay Wright: This is the Best BE

[djct1999]

Denial. Insecurity. Or both.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

I think the apocalyptic end of the NCAA is a bit of an exaggeration. The gap will probably continue to widen as the years go by. But the break up is unlikely, and even if it happens... How is that smart business for the Power 5? Don't you want to have a big group of schools you can beat up on and make your national titles more legitimate?

And if it breaks up. You would still have over 200+ schools left out that can rewrite the rules of amateurism and again create a fair national league for student athletes nationwide. I'm sure people will still watch to a certain extent even if the power-5 school leaves. There is value out there for a lot of programs that are not Power 5.

Also, there is enough basketball talent to fill the Power-5 and to trickle down to the non Power-5 as it does now. Enough basketball talent to make it appealing for viewers to attend the games. We see that now with the Big East, and the good mid-majors like Gonzaga, Wichita State, the A-10, etc

 

[Waquoit]

But Jay Wright, coach of Villanova, hyping his own conference? Really nothing to see here, people.

The guy spouted a bunch of crap and folks on a UConn board took exception. What's your problem?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

When the tall trees are removed from the forest, the understory species are then allowed to flourish.

 

[boog204]

He's just selling the conference. Of course he knows its not true. He is dong better in the BE these days, so selfishly he has reason to feel its better.

Anyway: Patrick Ewing, Ray Allen, Mutumbo, Chris Mullin, Iverson, John Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Emeka Okafor, Pearl Washington, my man Taliek Brown, and the list goes on and on. Wow I'm tearing up just reminiscing.

Oh. and the BE Coaches were outstanding and they too were better than JW (who wasn't bad at all).

You listed 5 NBA Hof'ers and everyone there was an all-american.... and then Taliek? Well done.

 

[intlzncster]

You listed 5 NBA Hof'ers and everyone there was an all-american.... and then Taliek? Well done.

And clearly he was messing around.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The guy spouted a bunch of crap and folks on a UConn board took exception. What's your problem?

Hey, message board police: people have every right to get up in arms at some completely innocuous, meaningless remarks made by a coach just trying to tout his conference. And by the same token, other people have every right to comment on how silly they sound. Incidentally, that anyone in this thread is referring to Jay Wright as the insecure one is a pot / kettle sort of thing given the reaction to a harmless sound bite.

 

[Kitaman]

You listed 5 NBA Hof'ers and everyone there was an all-american.... and then Taliek? Well done.

Well like I said he's my Man, and my personal HOFer.

 

[mauconnfan]

You listed 5 NBA Hof'ers and everyone there was an all-american.... and then Taliek? Well done.

boog glad you said that LOL, I can only think it without ridicule. SI may chirp in on it.

 

[BigEast]

When the tall trees are removed from the forest, the understory species are then allowed to flourish.

And the tall trees are then turned into furniture and copy machine paper.

 

[Windsorlocks]

The NBE members jumped ship. For good reason.

The problem is, we never should have sold them the name. Jay is a pretty good coach. I wish the NBE well. But it was still a stupid thing to say. Even before our reign over the real BE, Georgetown, St John's, Syracuse were all better than anyone in the NBE. Even the Cinderella Nova was better than modern Nova.

Do you honestly believe the AAC deserves the name more then the charter schools that are at the core of the BE? A league that was the brainchild of Providence coach Dave Gavitt? And which league most likely resembles what Gavitt had in mind more so now then when it was at it's greatest extent? A basketball-centric league. Dave Gavitt would be delighted by the present BE, and since it was his idea to begin with, it seems only proper that the BE charter schools that are at the core of the present day BE should retain that name for what is still essentially an Eastern conference. Right now, it is an excellent basketball conference. Not quite sure why some here, but not yourself, if they are college basketball fans, would actually want such a league to fail. Personally, I wish UConn was in the BE, rather then the AAC.

 

[intlzncster]

Do you honestly believe the AAC deserves the name more then the charter schools that are at the core of the BE? A league that was the brainchild of Providence coach Dave Gavitt? And which league most likely resembles what Gavitt had in mind more so now then when it was at it's greatest extent? A basketball-centric league. Dave Gavitt would be delighted by the present BE, and since it was his idea to begin with, it seems only proper that the BE charter schools that are at the core of the present day BE should retain that name for what is still essentially an Eastern conference. Right now, it is an excellent basketball conference. Not quite sure why some here, but not yourself, if they are college basketball fans, would actually want such a league to fail. Personally, I wish UConn was in the BE, rather then the AAC.

While I could care less who keeps the name, Gavitt actually had in mind what the Big East became in the mid to late 90s. His idea was a vision for the future based on big money TV revenue, as he saw how the landscape would change. The schools he picked were as much about cities and markets, in order to increase exposure, TV revenue, and overall recruiting talent, as he recognized this was a symbiotic relationship and the future of college sports. His vision is the reason he gets so much respect in the highest places. It's for this reason, he is one of the most significant people in college sports history, not just basketball.

 

[CTMike]

The New Big East is neither Big nor East. Discuss.

 

[IMind]

I never said (nor implying) he was. But there's plenty of very good coaches who haven't won NCs. Guys like Sean Miller, Beilein, Shaka, Few, Huggins, Brey. Jay Wright is in that category imo.

I'm a little tired of hearing how good of a coach Few is. He's had a fair amount of talent come through there, he's gotten easy draws in the NCAA tournament, they're pre-season top 10 ever flipping year, had the supposed national player of the year, has had 5 all americans, his teams have been ranked in the AP top ten 8 times, they walk into the tournament with 25+ wins every year because he's in the west coast equivilant of the CAA... and yet he's had only had 1 elite 8 apperance in 16 seasons?

There is no more over hyped program than Gonzaga. I say this knowing full well that they beat us this year... but for christ sakes... Calhoun already had one national title after 16 seasons... and people were all over him for never making the final four for how long? But Few is a genius.

 

[Durks07]

It's insanity for any UCONN basketball fan to say they'd rather be in the AAC than the Big East. You can't even say that with a straight face. Playing Tulane tomorrow night.....instead of Nova, Gtown, Providence, Butler, Xavier..even Seton Hall, at least there's some regional context....come on, now. Crap on viewership all you want, it's an outstanding basketball league.

ESPN RPI as of today:
1. Xavier
2. Villanova
4. Providence

I personally think UCONN still belongs in the Big East. The football stuff is garbage for basketball fans, which I assume most of this forum is. UCONN athletics is built on basketball and should be figuring out a way to be in a better basketball league and not concerned with a money draining football program that is spending its time in made up bowl games.

I'd rather us play in neither conference personally. If we can schedule Nova and G'Town regularly, that would be great, but I could care less if we never play another team in the Big East again. Seriously, are there any Uconn fans that give a flying f#*& about the likes of Depaul, Seton Hall, Creighton, and St. John's?

 

[intlzncster]

I'm a little tired of hearing how good of a coach Few is. He's had a fair amount of talent come through there, he's gotten easy draws in the NCAA tournament, they're pre-season top 10 ever flipping year, had the supposed national player of the year, has had 5 all americans, his teams have been ranked in the AP top ten 8 times, they walk into the tournament with 25+ wins every year because he's in the west coast equivilant of the CAA... and yet he's had only had 1 elite 8 apperance in 16 seasons?

There is no more over hyped program than Gonzaga. I say this knowing full well that they beat us this year... but for christ sakes... Calhoun already had one national title after 16 seasons... and people were all over him for never making the final four for how long? But Few is a genius.

Didn't say he was a genius. Said he was a good coach, which he is. Part of being a good coach is recruiting talent and getting wins, both of which he does at a school that shouldn't have either. You are comparing him to one of the top 5 coaches in MCBB history, a coach who had the advantage of being at a State U, in the BE, and in a recruiting hotbed. Hardly fair at all.

The fact that Gonzaga is ranked highly every year (unjustifiably at times) is because they are a name program. The fact that a small insignificant mid major is a name program is directly due to Mark Few.

His knock is that he hasn't been able to do it in the tournament, which is why he's not a great coach. But at a mid major, that's not exactly shocking.

 

[IMind]

Didn't say he was a genius. Said he was a good coach, which he is. Part of being a good coach is recruiting talent and getting wins, both of which he does at a school that shouldn't have either. You are comparing him to one of the top 5 coaches in MCBB history, a coach who had the advantage of being at a State U, in the BE, and in a recruiting hotbed. Hardly fair at all.

The fact that Gonzaga is ranked highly every year is because they are a name program. The fact that a small insignificant mid major is a name program is directly due to Mark Few.

You just hit on a pet peeve, don't mind me... that said... apples and oranges... UConn was hardly the job Gonzaga was when Few took over. Gonzaga had just come off of an elite eight run. Gonzaga, and especially Few, gets treated with kids' gloves. They've underachieved tremendously based on just about any metric you want to use.

 

[BigEast]

S

I'd rather us play in neither conference personally. If we can schedule Nova and G'Town regularly, that would be great, but I could care less if we never play another team in the Big East again. Seriously, are there any Uconn fans that give a flying f#*& about the likes of Depaul, Seton Hall, Creighton, and St. John's?

I think many of them give a flying F#*& about St. John's and even the Hall if they give a % about their own history. And I know many UCONN fans, even if you aren't one of them, that do.

But tell me, do you give a flying about Tulane, East Carolina, Houston, Central Florida, South Florida, Mid Florda, Kinda East Florida, Tulsa, and whatever else is in the AAC?

You won't win the "lets list terrible sounding basketball colleges in your conference" game. If that's playing in a "national conference" in your mind then I'm thrilled you enjoyed battling your bitter rival "Tulane" last night to kick off your league in front of a rousing crowd of 2,243 in some gymnasium in Louisiana.

 

[Pudge]

I'm a little tired of hearing how good of a coach Few is. He's had a fair amount of talent come through there, he's gotten easy draws in the NCAA tournament, they're pre-season top 10 ever flipping year, had the supposed national player of the year, has had 5 all americans, his teams have been ranked in the AP top ten 8 times, they walk into the tournament with 25+ wins every year because he's in the west coast equivilant of the CAA... and yet he's had only had 1 elite 8 apperance in 16 seasons?

There is no more over hyped program than Gonzaga. I say this knowing full well that they beat us this year... but for christ sakes... Calhoun already had one national title after 16 seasons... and people were all over him for never making the final four for how long? But Few is a genius.

Actually ...

Few is in the West Coast version of the MAAC. A good Catholic college league - but NOT even the Big East level. San Diego, USF, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara ... equals Manhattan, Fairfield, Siena. The outlier is BYU - an anomaly. Few is solid; but, whatever he is doing leads to what happens annually: not going into the Final Four and finishing. And the same, I believe, is where Jay Wright is today.

 

[Stainmaster]

S

I think many of them give a flying F#*& about St. John's and even the Hall if they give a % about their own history. And I know many UCONN fans, even if you aren't one of them, that do.

But tell me, do you give a flying about Tulane, East Carolina, Houston, Central Florida, South Florida, Mid Florda, Kinda East Florida, Tulsa, and whatever else is in the AAC?

You won't win the "lets list terrible sounding basketball colleges in your conference" game. If that's playing in a "national conference" in your mind then I'm thrilled you enjoyed battling your bitter rival "Tulane" last night to kick off your league in front of a rousing crowd of 2,243 in some gymnasium in Louisiana.

I'll say it again: the AAC is our life raft.

UConn will still have an NCAA basketball program in 15 years. Your school will not.

 

[Fishy]

You're all freaking crazy if you don't think Mark Few is a great coach.

Schools in that league have no business doing what Gonzaga does yearly. He's made the NCAA tournament every year and he's been to five Sweet Sixteens.

There's a reason no one else in a similar circumstance has done what Gonzaga has done - they don't have Mark Few.

 

[intlzncster]

You just hit on a pet peeve, don't mind me... that said... apples and oranges... UConn was hardly the job Gonzaga was when Few took over. Gonzaga had just come off of an elite eight run. Gonzaga, and especially Few, gets treated with kids' gloves. They've underachieved tremendously based on just about any metric you want to use.

True, but in terms of potential, UCONN was a 100 (Bob Knight said as much), whereas Gonzaga was like a 40.

 

[Pudge]

There is not much that separates a Ed Conroy at Tulane & what we have seen in the last 20 years at DePaul or Seton Hall or the last 15 years at St. John's. Conroy has a decent program and could beat those 3 schools teams in most of the last few decades.

 

[Pudge]

You're all freaking crazy if you don't think Mark Few is a great coach.

Schools in that league have no business doing what Gonzaga does yearly. He's made the NCAA tournament every year and he's been to five Sweet Sixteens.

There's a reason no one else in a similar circumstance has done what Gonzaga has done - they don't have Mark Few.

Yeah But ...

My point is still valid. USF & Santa Clara & San Diego & Pepperdine & Loyola Marymount are NORMALLY not as good as Siena or Iona or Manhattan etc. It's amazing how really good Gonzaga is. And rarely (mostly Saint Mary's) do they get challenges. That gang in their league is not the level of Seton Hall or Providence.

Few just hasn't gotten to Elite Eight and beyond. Remember we said that about Calhoun for awhile. This time - I believe - point to the Conference not pushing them to develop for March.

 

[champs99and04]

Maybe I'm alone with this thought, but if the P5 does in fact branch off and form their own self-governing body, my interest in college basketball will diminish severely, regardless of whether or not UConn is involved.

I don't think that's going to happen because ultimately, it isn't good for business. The same could happen in football and I'm not sure anybody bats an eye, but I have a hard time envisioning a world in which schools like Georgetown and Villanova - storied programs located in recruiting hot beds - cease to exist as competitors at the national level.

Obviously, the Big East is comprised of small, catholic schools, which limits their growth potential, but the NCAA tournament is a unique model that, in my opinion, demands smaller schools be propped up.

Additionally, even assuming that the ACC or Big Ten moves to add UConn, there is no conference that has a stranglehold on the northeast. That is a region that produces a lot of elite prospects, and it's simply illogical to believe that it will continue to be as underrepresented as it is at the current moment.