Jay Wright: This is the Best BE

[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.

 

[Durks07]

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.

LOL, somebody's mad now.

BTW, we made our history, you were all bystanders.

 

[intlzncster]

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.

I was making the same points as you, but when I compared 'great' vs 'good', 'great' to me implies HOF top 5 type coaches: K, JC, Wooden, Knight, et al. Just a matter of defining terms. If you put him with that group, then I'd disagree.

 

[BigEast]

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.

Well, I guess you showed me. I'll bump this thread in 15 years and you can do a victory lap.....will you also be handsomer and richer then?

 

[intlzncster]

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.

The name of the NCAA tournament is far more likely to change than the teams competing in it. There's way too much money to be left on the table were the latter to occur.

 

[Stainmaster]

Well, I guess you showed me. I'll bump this thread in 15 years and you can do a victory lap.....will you also be handsomer and richer then?

I'm already handsomer and richer simply because I don't support a dumpy program whose carcass UConn carried for 30 years.

 

[BigEast]

I'm already handsomer and richer simply because I don't support a dumpy program whose carcass UConn carried for 30 years.

Hope you can do the same in the AAC and get more than 2,000 people to show up for your league opener. That had to be thrilling.

 

[Stainmaster]

Hope you can do the same in the AAC and get more than 2,000 people to show up for your league opener. That had to be thrilling.

Keep trying, you're just embarrassing yourself. UConn is bigger than any one conference. Looking at our NCAA titles and our track record of putting kids in the NBA, we are definitely bigger than the rest of both the OBE and the NBE.

 

[BigEast]

Keep trying, you're just embarrassing yourself. UConn is bigger than any one conference. Looking at our NCAA titles and our track record of putting kids in the NBA, we are definitely bigger than the rest of both the OBE and the NBE.

Nobody's been insulting UCONN. This isn't a UCONN pissing match, you can dial back your insult reflex.

UCONN has a tremendous history of success the last few decades. If anything I'm complimenting UCONN. It's an insult that only 2,000 people came out last night to see them play. There's not a Big East arena, short of DePaul, that would happen in. Problem is, AAC has like 7 or 8 DePauls.

 

[David 76]

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.

I think the NBE is closer to the original intent of league. But that is irrelevant. They jumped the BE and the name was ours. That is why they had to buy it, Just saying it might have been best to let thr name and records die. The real BE is dead and we didn't kill it. BC and Syracuse did but you could argue that the other Catholics refused to play big time football and doomed the BE. I don't look forward to a time when some one like Xavier can claim the most BE championships, or Jay 's stupid statement.

 

[BigEast]

I don't look forward to a time when some one like Xavier can claim the most BE championships, or Jay 's stupid statement.

It's always been evolving once football changed it in 1991. I mean even Pitt wasn't an original member. Virginia Tech was around for a while. West Virginia. Rutgers....Louisville....there have been teams in and out and they've won titles. It happens. If Xavier's around long enough to set a record, more power to them they are now part of the Big East legacy. And it's exactly what the Presidents wanted when they extended the invite to Xavier - they wanted an elite basketball program. Three years later as we sit today, that Xavier program is rated No. 1 in the RPI. They've been a great addition to a basketball centric conference.

 

[David 76]

They are part of a Big East Legacy they purchased! Never participated in. I'm not picking on Xavier. It could be anyone who didn't play in the real BE.
Yes things change. And, if we had any sense, when they left the league they were so much a part of, that should have been their end of using that name.

 

[BigEast]

It's not a random collection of teams that purchased naming rights. The conference came from Providence and Gavitt. Providence is still there. As is Hall, SJU, Gtown, Nova. This isn't some random collection.

 

[Jerry1714]

It's not a random collection of teams that purchased naming rights. The conference came from Providence and Gavitt. Providence is still there. As is Hall, SJU, Gtown, Nova. This isn't some random collection.

The thing I will never get is fans of programs like St. Johns and PC come here and tell us how good the NBE and how bad the AAC is, but why do not you guys care that your programs have been losers and basement dwellers for decades?

I would think you would be embarrassed.

We are a national program with years of success and 4 banners hanging in our gym, and they are not NIT participation banners. I will take that any day and play in the CCC West over being St. John's and PC playing in any conference.

Go out and win something and maybe people will give two about your crappy programs.

 

[champs99and04]

The thing I will never get is fans of programs like St. Johns and PC come here and tell us how good the NBE and how bad the AAC is, but why do not you guys care that your programs have been losers and basement dwellers for decades?

I would think you would be embarrassed.

We are a national program with years of success and 4 banners hanging in our gym, and they are not NIT participation banners. I will take that any day and play in the CCC West over being St. John's and PC playing in any conference.

Go out and win something and maybe people will give two s about your crappy programs.

Funny thing is that the Providence program has just about done a 180 since moving to an easier league. Even most of the posters on the Providence board admit that, while they're sad the old Big East was broken up, PC may never have been able to enjoy the same success in that conference that they're having currently (and I get that they haven't accomplished anything yet, but it has to be a welcome deviation just to be relevant). You can probably put 'Nova in the same boat, to a lesser extent. It'll be interesting to see if Hall, DePaul, SJU, etc. ever get off the mat and if they can sustain any sort of success.

I've often wondered how programs like Wake Forest and Georgia Tech might benefit from the ACC splitting in half...or if Penn State, Northwestern, etc. might be better served playing in a conference where they're not perennial cellar dwellers, because once your established as a league doormat, it really doesn't matter what league you're playing in...that's a tough label to shake. It's one of the reasons UConn should be fine, at least for a little while, in the AAC. Now having to play Tulane, Houston, and Central Florida instead of Syracuse, Louisville, and Pittsburgh makes it less appealing to recruits to some extent, but the prestige of the program itself is still intact which is the most important thing.

 

[mauconnfan]

Hope you can do the same in the AAC and get more than 2,000 people to show up for your league opener. That had to be thrilling.

Your team vs the Johnnies at Carnesseca will be selling a ton of tickets I'm sure, now go FO! Whoever you root for you should come here and say thanks for UConn carrying your *** for the last 20 years in the BE.

 

[BigEast]

Funny thing is that the Providence program has just about done a 180 since moving to an easier league. Even most of the posters on the Providence board admit that, while they're sad the old Big East was broken up, PC may never have been able to enjoy the same success in that conference that they're having currently (and I get that they haven't accomplished anything yet, but it has to be a welcome deviation just to be relevant). You can probably put 'Nova in the same boat, to a lesser extent. It'll be interesting to see if Hall, DePaul, SJU, etc. ever get off the mat and if they can sustain any sort of success.

I've often wondered how programs like Wake Forest and Georgia Tech might benefit from the ACC splitting in half...or if Penn State, Northwestern, etc. might be better served playing in a conference where they're not perennial cellar dwellers, because once your established as a league doormat, it really doesn't matter what league you're playing in...that's a tough label to shake. It's one of the reasons UConn should be fine, at least for a little while, in the AAC. Now having to play Tulane, Houston, and Central Florida instead of Syracuse, Louisville, and Pittsburgh makes it less appealing to recruits to some extent, but the prestige of the program itself is still intact which is the most important thing.

I don't think anybody debates that Providence is better off with the Big East as it is today. However you want to frame it is up to you, but they are in an excellent basketball centric conference and likely headed to their third straight NCAA appearance with a nice 12 year deal with Fox Sports and plenty of cash. Worked out well and it sounds like you guys are happy where you are so we're all good.

It's OK to discuss this, I'm not sure why everyone gets so worked up and goes into instant New York Yankee "LOOK AT OUR RINGS" mode. If you guys are good where you are then great - but to the point of the thread and why in the world Jay would ever say that - well, it's an excellent league. If you just want to call him a dipshit and make pretend Xavier and Villanova and Providence suck, I don't know what to yell you.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Funny thing is that the Providence program has just about done a 180 since moving to an easier league. Even most of the posters on the Providence board admit that, while they're sad the old Big East was broken up, PC may never have been able to enjoy the same success in that conference that they're having currently (and I get that they haven't accomplished anything yet, but it has to be a welcome deviation just to be relevant). You can probably put 'Nova in the same boat, to a lesser extent. It'll be interesting to see if Hall, DePaul, SJU, etc. ever get off the mat and if they can sustain any sort of success.

I've often wondered how programs like Wake Forest and Georgia Tech might benefit from the ACC splitting in half...or if Penn State, Northwestern, etc. might be better served playing in a conference where they're not perennial cellar dwellers, because once your established as a league doormat, it really doesn't matter what league you're playing in...that's a tough label to shake. It's one of the reasons UConn should be fine, at least for a little while, in the AAC. Now having to play Tulane, Houston, and Central Florida instead of Syracuse, Louisville, and Pittsburgh makes it less appealing to recruits to some extent, but the prestige of the program itself is still intact which is the most important thing.

If Northwestern had Vic Law they would definitely make the tourney this year. They also lost their starting center for the last 2 games and burned the Pardon RS. Collins will start to get NW into the tournament. Then maybe leave for Duke?

Next year with Pardon, Falzon, Ivanauskas (2016), Lindsey and Mcintosh they should contend for a bid. Mcintosh, Pardon and Falzon is a threesome that can compete with the top half of the conference. At least next year if not this year. Collins is a great young coach. IMO that label won't last much longer concerning NW.

 

[BigEast]

Your team vs the Johnnies at Carnesseca will be selling a ton of tickets I'm sure, now go FO! Whoever you root for you should come here and say thanks for UConn carrying your *** for the last 20 years in the BE.

SJU is bad, I wouldn't buy a ticket to see them play anyone either. But I will say that terrible Johnnies team just sold out at Providence yesterday. That probably hasn't happened in a very long time. And it happened without UCONN being involved. Amazing, huh?

 

[David 76]

NBE is not an excellent conference. OBE was excellent. You are less than that. I want you to do well but wish you didn't have the name of the greatest conference in history. Or at least, if you use that name that you don't represent it as one and the same as the one that had 3 teams in 1 final four. And that was the stupid, false thing Wright said.
Funny thing is our conferences are comparable. We think our conference sucks and are afraid it will be the death of us. You think your's is excellent. JJay thinks it's as good as any real BE year.
It's funny...or sad.

 

[mauconnfan]

SJU is bad, I wouldn't buy a ticket to see them play anyone either. But I will say that terrible Johnnies team just sold out at Providence yesterday. That probably hasn't happened in a very long time. And it happened without UCONN being involved. Amazing, huh?

Amazing anything happened at the Dunk that meant anything. They're good this year no doubt have the utmost respect for their potential this year. But this is why you are trolling because finally since Pitino you are somewhat relevant. Stay at your place and enjoy your AH friends.