Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[don356]

He played college hoops at OSU.

Fantastic player though.

Jerry Lucas's Osu team lost to an underdog Cincy team for the Ncaa championship in i think 61 which is still a sore point for the old guard Osu fans. Oscar Robertson did not play on those Cincy national championship teams.

It's interesting as Cincy's other national player of the year was Kenyon Martin who came from of all recruiting venues................Texas. Right in the heart of Orange country.

 

[The Viking]

As a university president, how do you vote to invite Memphis?

they won't - unless they add 4 and even then I'm not sure they can hold their nose hard enough to invite them.

 

[RedStickHusky]

C. Austin Cox ‏@C_Austin_Cox · 4h4 hours ago
UConn would've had a better shot in #Big12Expansion if ESPN wasn't working against them. Huskies are too valuable to ESPN at an AAC discount

How does UConn retain its value to ESPN if they keep trashing the conference around us?

 

[Kolumbo]

How does UConn retain its value to ESPN if they keep trashing the conference around us?

We should make Travis Rockhold our honorary embassador and fill his inbox/twitter account with our appreciation for his efforts.

 

[ninety-nine]

How does UConn retain its value to ESPN if they keep trashing the conference around us?

Clearly, that's our problem. UConn is like an old car that ESPN plans on driving into the ground. They figure the state will pay to have it fixed (i.e., kick in money for athletics) for as long as it can, and then when the old clunker finally breaks down for good, they'll junk it in an A-10 graveyard and move on to something else. They have probably modeled that the state will prop up UConn for a few more years before the programs start to fade beyond recognition, which is A-OK by them. It's like a hidden tax break.

How much can they make off UConn for the next couple of fiscal years? That's the only question in their eyes. ROI baby, ROI. Institutionally, they DO NOT CARE if UConn, or UConn sports, has a future beyond the end of the contract. The execs at ESPN are just trying to keep their jobs by showing profits right now.

We're a fungible good.

 

[Rico444]

How does UConn retain its value to ESPN if they keep trashing the conference around us?

Didn't this guy just say a week or so ago that ESPN was pushing for our inclusion in B12 expansion?

 

[IMind]

There's never been a bigger piece of bullsh--t than the travel issue. These are all big time athletic programs... they're already playing a national schedule. It's not going to break the bank if Texas has to fly it's baseball team out to UConn for a weekend series once a year or once every other year. Texas' tennis team's already fly all over the country. You might have a valid argument if these programs only played local teams in their non-conference schedule... but they don't.

 

[CL82]

There's never been a bigger piece of bullsh--t than the travel issue. These are all big time athletic programs... they're already playing a national schedule. It's not going to break the bank if Texas has to fly it's baseball team out to UConn for a weekend series once a year or once every other year. Texas' tennis team's already fly all over the country. You might have a valid argument if these programs only played local teams in their non-conference schedule... but they don't.

I'm going to disagree, a little. Texas has a really sweet deal right now being able to play a huge percentage of its non-revenue sports away dates in state.

I agree it really doesn't matter for the revenue sports, especially football.

 

[Slasher]

I'm kinda confused by a lot of the comments on here. When talking recruiting territory, people are talking about football. Most (all?) men's basketball teams have to recruit pretty broadly in the U.S. There's an uptick in the NYC area, but generally for basketball you search everywhere and anywhere. There's not too many "hot spots" for college basketball recruits.

 

[don356]

I'm kinda confused by a lot of the comments on here. When talking recruiting territory, people are talking about football. Most (all?) men's basketball teams have to recruit pretty broadly in the U.S. There's an uptick in the NYC area, but generally for basketball you search everywhere and anywhere. There's not too many "hot spots" for college basketball recruits.

It impacts both, but football more so just based on the raw number of bodies involved in the team. It definitely is a selling point, particularly for successful programs to get their product into venues to have kids see them play etc. The more big time they look, the easier to sell a recruit. That said, if the program is already successful, you could argue they do not need the reach. However, the big 12 is seen currently as lagging or slipping in national recruiting. It's also helpful if a recruit knows they will be coming back "home" for a couple games in their career. The Texas area is fertile recruiting ground, but it almost has to be with that concentration of schools. They really need to get into a larger market to keep up based on most recruiting "experts" takes.

 

[IMind]

I'm going to disagree, a little. Texas has a really sweet deal right now being able to play a huge percentage of its non-revenue sports away dates in state.

I agree it really doesn't matter for the revenue sports, especially football.

But they don't. Take Tennis for example they played non conference at Ohio State, Wake Forest, Washington, and San Diego. Does that seem like a program that's worried about travel costs?

 

[CL82]

But they don't. Take Tennis for example they played non conference at Ohio State, Wake Forest, Washington, and San Diego. Does that seem like a program that's worried about travel costs?

I'm not sure you can draw much of a conclusion from nonconference away tennis games.

 

[kobe]

Jerry Lucas's Osu team lost to an underdog Cincy team for the Ncaa championship in i think 61 which is still a sore point for the old guard Osu fans. Oscar Robertson did not play on those Cincy national championship teams.

It's interesting as Cincy's other national player of the year was Kenyon Martin who came from of all recruiting venues......Texas. Right in the heart of Orange country.

Bob Huggins recruited the area very well. We regularly had 2-3 guys on the roster from Texas. Jason Maxiell (First round pick of the Pistons in 2005) was also from Texas. Interestingly for the 2017 class, we've started recruiting Texas again...and landed a commit from one kid and are in on a few more.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The ribs are SLAMMING!!!

A conference that includes KC, OKC and Texas doesn't need Memphis ribs.

 

[noeynox]

A conference that includes KC, OKC and Texas doesn't need Memphis ribs.

Ok, you got me there but how bout Justin Timberlake? Could never have enough JT.

 

[kingdobbs]

No, you don't need to drop track and field if you drop cross country. So you don't need to bulldoze the track facility. The logic is thus: we need to cut costs and can do so by getting to the NCAA minimum of 7 men's sports. Which sports stay? Basketball, baseball, football, soccer and hockey are the major sports in the US; they need to stay. That leaves two spots open: track and field and swimming and diving, which are the major Olympic sports not named above. Cross country is only partially an Olympic event (part of the pentathlon), golf won't be for much longer, and tennis something that you can go to local clubs for.

That wasn't the logic in the quoted article.

The logic was "UConn should cut those non-revenue sports which require round robin or semi round robin play that the Big XII plays so that they can be more attractive to the conference, as it means that the teams from Texas and Oklahoma will not have to travel ALL THE WAY to Connecticut every year for baseball and soccer".

It had nothing to do with UConns expenses. UConn will not need to cut any sports if it gets a P5 invite.

 

[huskymedic]

UConn Huskies ‏@UConnHuskies 2h 2 hours ago
Rio Olympics: Huskies tied for 10th-most medals #UConnNation
Rio Olympics: Which college won the most medals?

 

[CTMike]

Chalk it up to more intangible value, but NBC mentioning UConn a million times has value... Does it not? Not saying it's a critical factor, but it's real value - no one else can reflect as well on a conference as we can. We aren't potential, we are actually out there getting mentioned.

 

[Vuce]

Bob Huggins recruited the area very well. We regularly had 2-3 guys on the roster from Texas. Jason Maxiell (First round pick of the Pistons in 2005) was also from Texas. Interestingly for the 2017 class, we've started recruiting Texas again...and landed a commit from one kid and are in on a few more.

Yeah we like TX too - we had Jake Voskuhl - starting center on our 1999 NCAA Championship team and we also had some guy named Emeka Okafor - starting center on our 2004 NCAA Championship team. It's been fertile soil for us

 

[Rico444]

Yeah we like TX too - we had Jake Voskuhl - starting center on our 1999 NCAA Championship team and we also had some guy named Emeka Okafor - starting center on our 2004 NCAA Championship team. It's been fertile soil for us

Three of our four men's championships were won in Texas.

 

[huskymedic]

UH president Renu Khator met with UT booster Red McCombs to talk Big 12

UC to Big 12: Let's move forward
>>Interim President Beverly Davenport sent a letter to Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby on July 25 "to express our interest and excitement in moving forward to explore our candidacy for the Big 12 Conference," according to a document obtained by The Enquirer through a public records request.

UC and Big 12 officials on Monday declined comment about what the next step is in the process.

It's believed schools wanting to join the Big 12 were required to submit a letter of interest. Davenport's four-sentence letter was submitted to Bowlsby through the Big 12's Kansas City-based law firm. It asks attorney Kevin Sweeney to direct inquiries to Karen Kovach, UC's lead attorney.

The letter is a formality giving both parties the go-ahead to officially begin discussions. It is not an indication UC will receive an invitation to join one of the five major college football conferences.<<

 

[jostar1]

Berry Tramel‏@BerryTramel
Power Lunch Chat with Berry Tramel
Power Lunch Chat with Berry Tramel

• John
  ‎12‎:‎11‎:‎29‎ ‎PM
  Read your uconn piece. Question - have you spent time there? Know the culture? You couldn't be more wrong about them. They aren't important to their state at all. Football is a joke. 10 years ago these guys were playing in a stadium that most 3A schools in our state play in. Please dig deeper before you throw your things out.

• Berry Tramel
  ‎12‎:‎13‎:‎41‎ ‎PM
  Yes, I've been to Connecticut. And you are wrong. UConn is very important to that state. And while football is not king -- basketball is -- the nature of their football stadium is one of the reasons UConn is attractive. Yes, the Huskies used to play in a rumdum field. And now they don't. They have a new stadium. UConn has made a commitment to football and to its athletic department. I'm blogging about this this afternoon. UConn's athletic budget is $72 million. That's far and away the most of any school outside the Power-5. That's without a major TV contract.

• Jeff
  ‎12‎:‎16‎:‎07‎ ‎PM
  When should we expect to hear from the big 12 leadership if we are going to expand? Would that be in October or sooner? Guess it could happen any time in the next year, but if you haven't heard of news by a certain date would you expect nothing to happen ?

• Berry Tramel
  ‎12‎:‎16‎:‎36‎ ‎PM
  Great question. Some figured by Sept. 1. Most people said by Oct. 1. I heard over the weekend it could go to December. So I don't know. It might not happen at all.

• Big 12 Guru
  ‎12‎:‎21‎:‎30‎ ‎PM
  Berry, you have given us some great insight into the Big 12 expansion debate. However, your latest piece about why UConn should join the Big 12 makes me question your sanity. Adding a school as far away as China which has a pitiful football program just because they are a state school is ridiculous. Nobody up there cares about watching Texas Tech and TCU square off. Have you spent too much time in the Oklahoma sun?

• Berry Tramel
  ‎12‎:‎22‎:‎40‎ ‎PM
  Actually, my tan is rather solid. But I lined out the reasons for adding UConn. I think they're solid. Connecticut people don't have to watch Tech and TCU. They have to buy a potential Big 12 Network. And they would. That's my point about the change in television.
  • drbosu
    ‎12‎:‎39‎:‎03‎ ‎PM
    If the Big 12 is no more, what happens to the rest of the schools? In particular Kansas and K State?
• • 
    Berry Tramel
    ‎12‎:‎40‎:‎22‎ ‎PM
    That's the best question ever asked on the chat. That's what troubles me most about a potential Big 12 demise. These are good schools and great people. I think KU and KSU will be fine. But I don't know about Iowa State. I think KU could end up in the Big Ten or Pac-12. I think KSU could end up in the SEC or the Pac. but Iowa State? I don't know. I see a potential ACC, perhaps. But that's a longshot.
  • Jim
    ‎12‎:‎46‎:‎11‎ ‎PM
    Tell fan boy we aren't whining about those schools, the smart ones are whining our wall flower presidents got us in this jam. Nebraska, Colorado, A&M and Missouri all and more proactive leaders than do OU and OSU. That's the angle the media isn't dealing with. When are you going to be holding Boren and the presidents accountable? This should have never happened!
  • Berry Tramel
    ‎12‎:‎47‎:‎17‎ ‎PM
    Well, I agree, it never should have happened, but the problem goes back to 1995, when the Big 12 was formed. It was formed with too much power given to each school. No power by the commissioner, unequal revenue distribution, etc. This isn't the fault of anyone in the last 5-6 years. This was a 20-year process. Boren is partly responsible, but there are plenty of others.
  • Fan Boy
    ‎12‎:‎29‎:‎18‎ ‎PM
    Why are some fans whining about bringing in “lower level” schools like Cincinnati and Houston etc.? Kansas and Iowa State certainly don’t strike fear into anybody. Why don’t they cry about having to play such bad football schools as those two?

• Berry Tramel
  ‎12‎:‎30‎:‎44‎ ‎PM
  Kansas and Iowa State are great schools, great conference members and have great other attributes, notably basketball. Someone has to finish last. It's straight physics. Cincy and Houston have positives and might work well in the Big 12. Whoever you bring in will have challenges. There are no slam dunks.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

Yeah we like TX too - we had Jake Voskuhl - starting center on our 1999 NCAA Championship team and we also had some guy named Emeka Okafor - starting center on our 2004 NCAA Championship team. It's been fertile soil for us

And Michael LeBlanc from Texas in the same class. He stayed only a short time then transferred to Vandy.

 

[jostar1]

UConn's athletic budget much larger than other Big 12 expansion hopefuls

Berry Tramel by Berry Tramel • Published: August 22, 2016 •

That should be the Big 12’s criteria. Judge athletic programs on what they’ve done. Not on what they say they will do.

Which leads us to UConn. Among the schools outside the Power-5 conferences (and Notre Dame), Connecticut has far and away the largest athletic budget. According to USA Today’s annual research, UConn’s 2014-15 athletic budget was $72 million. The next highest total on the list was Cincinnati’s, $52 million.

Brigham Young is not on the list – USA Today was unable to find the figures for some schools – but BYU’s reported athletic budget is $57 million per year. UConn, with football attendance about half of BYU’s, spends more than do the Cougars.

That’s impressive. UConn’s commitment to big-time athletics is unassailable. It is not recent. Now, Connecticut has some other issues, which I addressed. But it’s clear that UConn is better-equipped than most to step into the high-stakes game of Power-5 athletics.

So Connecticut stands above the field. When you factor in UConn’s strong academics and its status as a flagship school in a populous state, the geographic problems are overshadowed.

More at:

UConn's athletic budget much larger than other Big 12 expansion hopefuls

 

[Penfield]

I think KSU could end up in the SEC or the Pac. but Iowa State? I don't know. I see a potential ACC, perhaps. But that's a longshot.

LOL