A nice sentiment sure, but let's not pretend that would be the case for a majority of other kids. + much of that "tradition" is directly correlated with prior conference affiliation.
We're in the ACC or B1G and maybe we're not the bridesmaid on some of these recent near misses.
Conference is a factor but I believe those misses were less the result of conference and more the result of an abysmal season. I don't think it would be a stretch to say that if UConn had made it to the Sweet Sixteen Diallo would have come to UConn, the players would have been less upset with KO going all JC on them, there would not have been dissension in the coaching ranks, Glen would still be at UConn resulting in MAL being a Husky instead of a Friar.
The one loss would have been Zach. But those arguing KO should have not taken Zach because of the warning signs need to be more freescooter like who postulated JC should never have accepted the type of recruits he accepted (he was obnoxious before the Nate Miles fiasco). Free cherry picks when he comes to this forum. You never see him here when things are going well. But he was consistent about the type of recruits that should be recruited. The KO detractors with regards to Zach are cherry picking failures.
It was a vicious cycle of problems, some of which is on KO, some on the other coaches, some on the players and some on a rash of extreme bad luck. I'm sure there weren't many programs that suffered the injury bug UConn suffered. Those two early losses were hard for all of us to accept. But we've seen UConn teams go through difficult slumps, posters begin to write the team off, and then the team begins to gel. Last years team never got the chance because of those injuries.
