Jersey Guy Pushing Our Buttons

[Waquoit]

Is there anything more useless than swagger? Isn't swagger the reason all of out former conference mates sold us down the river?

 

[uconnell]

Bladshaun, what do you recommend for BCU to get their swagger back? Shouldn't you be concentrating on them as they really need help?

 

[FDNY99]

He was a HUGE Boo Corrigan to UConn guy..he's not on his list any more...same with Nick Carparelli. He really has no idea what will happen with this search. ESPECIALLY when they get into final interviews...

 

[ElGuapo]

My concern is we have a generation of student fans (soon to be Alumni) and football/basketball players moving through that are going to be pussified because of this conference and the opponents we currently face.
The hard fought rivalries that brought all of us together during our ascendance are gone.
We are settling into a period of having to accept the mediocrity of where we currently are until things improve.
With no definite end in sight.

UCONN is going to UCONN.
That will always be true.
And hopefully do it somewhere better really soon.
But I fear the farther away we get from those scrappy times and the lessons we learned when we were the underdog and nobody gave us credit or welcomed us in the club will not be ingrained in this generation of students and athletes moving through.

I'm going to play Glory Days by Springsteen right now and crysturbate my sorrows away.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Blauds appears to only write with a 'Rome is burning' theme regarding any and all northeast athletic programs. UConn hasn't lost its swagger...and what the hell does it mean that UConn needs to become UCONN?? Senseless drivel

 

[coachcap]

Blauds appears to only write with a 'Rome is burning' theme regarding any and all northeast athletic programs. UConn hasn't lost its swagger...and what the hell does it mean that UConn needs to become UCONN?? Senseless drivel

On the other hand, Coach Calhoun had him in his back pocket. Blauds hated the Thunderchickens' move to the ACC. He was a big proponent of the old Big East. He has to face the fact that those days are WAY in the rear view mirror.

 

[Ldandy]

What a stupid flipping article. UCONN needs to go back to being UCONN? What a hot take. Hey genius, UCONN hasn't changed s***. The circumstances around the program have spiraled out of control. In the time that UCONN has been banished to the Siberia of athletic conferences, they have managed to win multiple national championships in basketball and Olympic Sports, while at the same time setting about rectifying its issues in football. One can argue that they have out performed more than two thirds of the athletic departments that currently comprise The P5.

Wait, fans aren't coming out in droves to watch rivalries like UCF in football or SMU in basketball? That's impossible. Who wouldn't want to watch that? How do you think Husky fans would react to seeing PSU take the field in their iconic road whites for an 8:00 PM kick under the lights at The Rent? Do you think anybody would feel differently? How about watching IU warm up in their classic candy canes before a huge game at Gampel? UCONN has one problem and it ain't swag. Its being a big time program trapped in a small time conference. The author should stick to writing about things he knows, namely the effects of brain damage on sports blog writers.

 

[FartMan69]

UConn basketball is currently playing an inconference game against Tulsa in February. Sorry if it doesn't feel like our inconference games from a few years back but it's not like we chose this.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Am I the only one that prefers the way UConn looks compared to UCONN? Is all caps really necessary?

You aren't. In fact, the administration agrees with you. UConn is correct.

 

[SubbaBub]

I was looking at the four letter networks website this morning looking to see how much coverage the game received on the front page, the MBB page, and their rolling twitter feed. Since the game was on the deuce, it fits the policy of promoting games on their air over those on other networks. The neg was that neither team was ranked and one was Tulsa.

My conclusion was indecisive, while ESPN rarely promotes non P5, non-ranked teams, I had to concede that during the height of the old BE you almost never saw coverage of Tulsa, even if we were playing them. Verdict: lean screw the G5 and not necessarily UConn.

 

[CL82]

Is there anything more useless than swagger? Isn't swagger the reason all of out former conference mates sold us down the river?

Nope, it was fear.

 

[nomar]

He used to be the BC beat writer for the Globe. He now spends his days thinking of ways to get people to click on his blog posts.

At the Globe, he was always very pro-UConn. Not sure what happened. He turned into a concern troll.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I don't think this is anti-UConn, and he's not really wrong. Being left in the American was a body-blow. It isn't the Big East, which was at least a "BCS" league. Now we are considered the rough equivalent of mid-major. Those in the P5, and their fans, look at UConn as similar to say, Gonzaga. Decent hoops...otherwise useless. The perception needs to change. We do need to do some ass kicking.

A nice Sweet 16 run would help. Ollie being a bit more of a cheerleader would help. I thought Diaco was a good hire because I thought he could be an evangelist for UConn football, and he has. I never thought we needed one for basketball, but where is Kevin Ollie? Calhoun was in the news constantly. He was on TV, he was everywhere. Everyone knew him, and many hated him, but that's fine. Ollie is just too quiet. He needs to make some noise, and start talking up his program a bit. We need a bit of bombast, some flair.

 

[freescooter]

A bit if whistling past the graveyard going on here I think. I get exactly what he is talking about. Not so long ago UConn was a regular among the top10 in basketball and the Syracuses and BCs of the world were legitimately worried that we would become the dominant football program in the northeast too. And Calhoun was, well Calhoun. Now we're excited about just making the Tournament and Ollie might be good or he might be bad or even an indifferent coach but nobody can say he is another Jim Calhoun. In basketball we aren't even Gonzaga or Providence these days.

 

[CL82]

A bit if whistling past the graveyard going on here I think. I get exactly what he is talking about. Not so long ago UConn was a regular among the top10 in basketball and the Syracuses and BCs of the world were legitimately worried that we would become the dominant football program in the northeast too. And Calhoun was, well Calhoun. Now we're excited about just making the Tournament and Ollie might be good or he might be bad or even an indifferent coach but nobody can say he is another Jim Calhoun. In basketball we aren't even Gonzaga or Providence these days.

I suspect that these guys might disagree:

 

[CallMeBruce]

A bit if whistling past the graveyard going on here I think. I get exactly what he is talking about. Not so long ago UConn was a regular among the top10 in basketball and the Syracuses and BCs of the world were legitimately worried that we would become the dominant football program in the northeast too. And Calhoun was, well Calhoun. Now we're excited about just making the Tournament and Ollie might be good or he might be bad or even an indifferent coach but nobody can say he is another Jim Calhoun. In basketball we aren't even Gonzaga or Providence these days.

Providence? You're a joke.

 

[CTMike]

A bit if whistling past the graveyard going on here I think. I get exactly what he is talking about. Not so long ago UConn was a regular among the top10 in basketball and the Syracuses and BCs of the world were legitimately worried that we would become the dominant football program in the northeast too. And Calhoun was, well Calhoun. Now we're excited about just making the Tournament and Ollie might be good or he might be bad or even an indifferent coach but nobody can say he is another Jim Calhoun. In basketball we aren't even Gonzaga or Providence these days.

Nobody can say he's another Jim Calhoun because even Jim Calhoun wasn't Jim Calhoun 3 years in to his coaching tenure.

 

[BoatShow]

I don't think this is anti-UConn, and he's not really wrong. Being left in the American was a body-blow. It isn't the Big East, which was at least a "BCS" league. Now we are considered the rough equivalent of mid-major. Those in the P5, and their fans, look at UConn as similar to say, Gonzaga. Decent hoops...otherwise useless. The perception needs to change. We do need to do some ass kicking.

A nice Sweet 16 run would help. Ollie being a bit more of a cheerleader would help. I thought Diaco was a good hire because I thought he could be an evangelist for UConn football, and he has. I never thought we needed one for basketball, but where is Kevin Ollie? Calhoun was in the news constantly. He was on TV, he was everywhere. Everyone knew him, and many hated him, but that's fine. Ollie is just too quiet. He needs to make some noise, and start talking up his program a bit. We need a bit of bombast, some flair.

 

[methodology]

A bit if whistling past the graveyard going on here I think. I get exactly what he is talking about. Not so long ago UConn was a regular among the top10 in basketball and the Syracuses and BCs of the world were legitimately worried that we would become the dominant football program in the northeast too. And Calhoun was, well Calhoun. Now we're excited about just making the Tournament and Ollie might be good or he might be bad or even an indifferent coach but nobody can say he is another Jim Calhoun. In basketball we aren't even Gonzaga or Providence these days.

Providence is severely overrated in basketball. Every rating system out there has UConn rated about 20 spots higher than Providence. In reality Providence is a 40-55 ish type team in the country while UConn is top 30 in all systems.

Gonzaga has struggled a little this year as compared to how they usually perform. UConn is still rated higher than them in the majority of systems.

 

[MattMang23]

But Kris Dunn. And. And. And. Ben Bentill? Loaded roster.

 

[BUConn10]

He's off here and there but I can't say I disagree with much of what he said.

 

[HoopsFan21]

A bit if whistling past the graveyard going on here I think. I get exactly what he is talking about. Not so long ago UConn was a regular among the top10 in basketball and the Syracuses and BCs of the world were legitimately worried that we would become the dominant football program in the northeast too. And Calhoun was, well Calhoun. Now we're excited about just making the Tournament and Ollie might be good or he might be bad or even an indifferent coach but nobody can say he is another Jim Calhoun. In basketball we aren't even Gonzaga or Providence these days.

Between the two basketball programs over the last two decades, we've enjoyed 14 national championships. We've gotten to celebrate a national championship in basketball on average 3 out of every 4 years. Let me know when another program has that kind of success.

 

[freescooter]

Nobody can say he's another Jim Calhoun because even Jim Calhoun wasn't Jim Calhoun 3 years in to his coaching tenure.

He kinda was. He took a team from D2 to league champs in 3 years and a d1 NCAA bid. And as for Providence who is a top 25 team and who is a couple of losses from the nit? It is really a sad thing how far UConns stock has fallen in such a short time and most of you know it. Just don't want to admit it.

 

[CTMike]

He kinda was. He took a team from D2 to league champs in 3 years and a d1 NCAA bid. And as for Providence who is a top 25 team and who is a couple of losses from the nit? It is really a sad thing how far UConns stock has fallen in such a short time and most of you know it. Just don't want to admit it.

And Ollie has an NCAA Championship under his belt. What's your point? Or are you just discounting it because you have never been a fan of his?

 

[freescooter]

Between the two basketball programs over the last two decades, we've enjoyed 14 national championships. We've gotten to celebrate a national championship in basketball on average 3 out of every 4 years. Let me know when another program has that kind of success.

He's not talking about the last 2 decades. He's talking about 2016 and beyond. Some of you are pretty clueless if you don't see how far we've fallen in public perception. Losing Calhoun and ending up in the American has been a huge setback whether you want to admit it or not.