Jim Calhoun explains why basketball is 'More Than a Game' in upcoming book

[Waquoit]

Really? You think all real UConn fans are over 70? Let me break this one to you - anyone in the 50ish range and younger is not going to care about Uconn beating Bill Bradley & Princeton back when women thought working out was putting a vibrating belt around their waist and TV Dinners were considered a healthy meal. It doesn't make them less the Uconn fan.

I think it does. When I was a kid, I knew all about Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. Ted Williams, too. They all played way before my time. When did actually knowing something that happened before you were born become a bad thing? Dom Perno's steal came before I was old enough to be a fan, just like you. But somehow it was absorbed over the years of UConn fandom. Those that don't care about how we got here aren't as good fans, imo. They sound like frontrunners that will be gone if things ever turn south.

 

[RuffRuff]

I think it does. When I was a kid, I knew all about Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. Ted Williams, too. They all played way before my time. When did actually knowing something that happened before you were born become a bad thing? Dom Perno's steal came before I was old enough to be a fan, just like you. But somehow it was absorbed over the years of UConn fandom. Those that don't care about how we got here aren't as good fans, imo. They sound like frontrunners that will be gone if things ever turn south.

VERY different sports. Baseball is built on history. There is no split in “modern” era like there is in college hoops. I loved baseball as a kid and was well read on players before my time, which you got from things like baseball cards. College hoops not so much. The NBA was barely an entity before the 80s. Disagree fully.

 

[superjohn]

ChatGBT - it's splitting hairs honestly, from a contextual standpoint.

What? You posted misinformation and I corrected you. You posted misinformation again and I corrected you again. Now you're claiming it's splitting hairs.

 

[RuffRuff]

What? You posted misinformation and I corrected you. You posted misinformation again and I corrected you again. Now you're claiming it's splitting hairs.

I posted CHATGBT outcome. Then double referenced with it. My mistake is thinking it couldn’t be wrong twice. What I’m saying is that 1-2 more ncaa tourney wins over 50 years doesn’t move the needle on national significance over that time period, the original point of the discussion.

 

[superjohn]

I posted CHATGBT outcome. Then double referenced with it. My mistake is thinking it couldn’t be wrong twice. What I’m saying is that 1-2 more ncaa tourney wins over 50 years doesn’t move the needle on national significance over that time period, the original point of the discussion.

Well it's 4 NCAA tournament wins in the 30 years leading up to Calhoun being hired as opposed to the 1 win in 50 years leading up to Calhoun being hired and according to Wikipedia UConn had the second most NCAA tournaments from it's formation until 1970. They had very little tournament success but it also wasn't quite the apocalyptic parking lot of hoops nothingness you proclaimed it to be and then backed it up with fake facts.

 

[RuffRuff]

Well it's 4 NCAA tournament wins in the 30 years leading up to Calhoun being hired as opposed to the 1 win in 50 years leading up to Calhoun being hired and according to Wikipedia UConn had the second most NCAA tournaments from it's formation until 1970. They had very little tournament success but it also wasn't quite the apocalyptic parking lot of hoops nothingness you proclaimed it to be and then backed it up with fake facts.

Uconn was equivalent back then to what Vermont is today - a regional school in a mid major conference that once a decade pulled together a team that squeezed into the tournament and didn't do much. No one thought about them, talked about them other than locals. Calhoun built it from scratch to what it is today. 0-->1 build.

 

[HooperScooper]

What? You posted misinformation and I corrected you. You posted misinformation again and I corrected you again. Now you're claiming it's splitting hairs.

He probably had wrong information because he used "CHATGBT" instead of Chatgpt. Lol

 

[superjohn]

He probably had wrong information because he used "CHATGBT" instead of Chatgpt. Lol

Lolz, CHATGBT must've also told him UConn back then was equivalent to what is Vermont now.

 

[Waquoit]

What? You posted misinformation and I corrected you. You posted misinformation again and I corrected you again. Now you're claiming it's splitting hairs.

But at least he said it was from a "contexual standpoint".

 

[RuffRuff]

But at least he said it was from a "contexual standpoint".

Oh the tribe rallies - I'll take you all on, bring it. Be like swatting flies from the outside dinner table.

 

[Waquoit]

Oh the tribe rallies - I'll take you all on, bring it. Be like swatting flies from the outside dinner table.

There's wrong and then there's RuffRuff wrong.

You posted:

Pre-Calhoun NCAA Tournament Results (men’s team)​

• 1951: Beat Princeton 53–52 (first round). Lost to Kentucky in the regional semifinal.
• 1954, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985: All appearances ended with first-round losses.

Egregiously wrong.

In the 50's alone, UConn made the NCAA tournament in 1951, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959. You missed 3 freaking years! The only NIT during that stretch was 1955. Notice that stretch includes 4 straight appearances. JC never made it four years in a row. And the Yankee Conference was never an auto-bid league. They had to win an additional tournament back then to make the Dance. And you screwed up the 60's just as bad. They made it 5 times, not twice. And one of the years was not 1961. And if UConn made the Dance in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985; Dom Perno would have never been fired. What's your excuse for including those years? To put it in context: In the 1950's and 60's, UConn made the dance more times than it missed it. You called it, "once a decade pulled together a team that squeezed into the tournament".

You admit you are not interested in history, you post multiple inaccuracies (that others believed I noticed) and when faced with the real facts you play victim. Folks are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. No matter the contextual standpoint.

ADD: Data Source: UConn MBB Media Guide 2023-24

 

[Inyatkin]

There's wrong and then there's RuffRuff wrong.

You posted:

Pre-Calhoun NCAA Tournament Results (men’s team)​

• 1951: Beat Princeton 53–52 (first round). Lost to Kentucky in the regional semifinal.
• 1954, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985: All appearances ended with first-round losses.

Egregiously wrong.

In the 50's alone, UConn made the NCAA tournament in 1951, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959. You missed 3 freaking years! The only NIT during that stretch was 1955. Notice that stretch includes 4 straight appearances. JC never made it four years in a row. And the Yankee Conference was never an auto-bid league. They had to win an additional tournament back then to make the Dance. And you screwed up the 60's just as bad. They made it 5 times, not twice. And one of the years was not 1961. And if UConn made the Dance in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985; Dom Perno would have never been fired. What's your excuse for including those years? To put it in context: In the 1950's and 60's, UConn made the dance more times than it missed it. You called it, "once a decade pulled together a team that squeezed into the tournament".

You admit you are not interested in history, you post multiple inaccuracies (that others believed I noticed) and when faced with the real facts you play victim. Folks are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. No matter the contextual standpoint.

I became a fan in the Calhoun years, but even I knew they didn't make it four times in the early 80s. That's basic stuff.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

I posted CHATGBT outcome. Then double referenced with it. My mistake is thinking it couldn’t be wrong twice.

Umm, thats makes the dumb error even worse, no? Did you ask both CHATGBT and Gronk?

 

[RuffRuff]

Umm, thats makes the dumb error even worse, no? Did you ask both CHATGBT and Gronk?

No, just asked it more specifically the second time. I have paid for version.

 

[king conn]

There's wrong and then there's RuffRuff wrong.

You posted:

Pre-Calhoun NCAA Tournament Results (men’s team)​

• 1951: Beat Princeton 53–52 (first round). Lost to Kentucky in the regional semifinal.
• 1954, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985: All appearances ended with first-round losses.

Egregiously wrong.

In the 50's alone, UConn made the NCAA tournament in 1951, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959. You missed 3 freaking years! The only NIT during that stretch was 1955. Notice that stretch includes 4 straight appearances. JC never made it four years in a row. And the Yankee Conference was never an auto-bid league. They had to win an additional tournament back then to make the Dance. And you screwed up the 60's just as bad. They made it 5 times, not twice. And one of the years was not 1961. And if UConn made the Dance in 1980, 1981, 1983, 1985; Dom Perno would have never been fired. What's your excuse for including those years? To put it in context: In the 1950's and 60's, UConn made the dance more times than it missed it. You called it, "once a decade pulled together a team that squeezed into the tournament".

You admit you are not interested in history, you post multiple inaccuracies (that others believed I noticed) and when faced with the real facts you play victim. Folks are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. No matter the contextual standpoint.

ADD: Data Source: UConn MBB Media Guide 2023-24

As for that NIT team, the NIT in the mid 50's was considered the equal of the ncaa's. There were teams would turn down the ncaa bid for the NIT.

If not for some unfortunate tournament sites in that streak of ncaa appearances our history would have been even more impressive.
An older family member who made sure I knew the history of the program from his perspective always lamented how perhaps the best team in UConn history pre Calhoun had to play St. Joes at the Palestra when they were a national power. They lost a tight game ( 3 pts? ) that was no doubt affected by the home whistle. He said that was a final 4 team.