National Championship or ACC?

[pj]

Winning a title is a moment in time where a TEAM succeeds. Getting into a premier conference is not a singular moment but essentially all time going forward, where your PROGRAM is put in a favorable position to win future championSHIPS (plural).

It is kind of like politics. Winning the election is cool for a few months, but what really matters is the future of your country.

True, but the assumption that conferences and the current economics of basketball are forever is dubious. Universities live on federal funding and college athletics lives on unpaid labor from athletes. There is no guarantee that the ACC is going to be a perpetual money fountain, relative to the AAC or B12 or wherever we end up. Certainly there is no guarantee it will be a "future championSHIPS" fountain as you hope.

 

[BUConn10]

True, but the assumption that conferences and the current economics of basketball are forever is dubious. Universities live on federal funding and college athletics lives on unpaid labor from athletes. There is no guarantee that the ACC is going to be a perpetual money fountain, relative to the AAC or B12 or wherever we end up. Certainly there is no guarantee it will be a "future championSHIPS" fountain as you hope.

It’s actually not dubious at all to compare conference to economics, seeing as how the conference determines the payday, and the payday determines the budget. And that is all while completely ignoring the exposure component which may be more important than the $$$.

Also if you are hanging onto me saying ACC “guarantees championships” as your counterpoint then you are playing a straw man. I’m not saying conference guarantees titles... actually I don’t even have the energy to type this out. Like I said, if you are not picking “conference” in this survey, you don’t know how college basketball works. I’ve written pages of this shhh on this board on this subject over the years and bickered with know nothings has quite frankly exhausted me. Feel free to take a gander at those old posts, you might learn something.

It amazes me in 2019 we are still playing the “AAC is not that bad” game. Meanwhile ESPN publishes two separate articles in 2019 about the potential for UConn to cut entire athletics altogether, lol.

You guys remember how “UConn and Memphis are supposed to be the cornerstones of the conference” bs? How all the premier program of the AAC matchups between uconn and Memphis would be “must see tv”? Yea well the game today is on CBS Sports Network, aka a decline in people giving a fk, and it’s only gonna keep going in that direction. Every game until now has been on ESPN or CBS, not this one, probably not the last one either. This conference is a graveyard.

 

[pj]

Past environment is no guarantee of future environment, is all I'm saying. Right now the ACC looks much better than the AAC, but athletics could become a significantly less important part of universities in the future, and universities generally a less important part of the culture. Therefore, the balance of good sense might shift in the question posed by OP to seize the day by taking the two championships, rather than to count on deferred gratification from a better conference affiliation.

 

[whaler11]

I guess I am different than many here in that our basketball National Championships have provided me with much more sustained happiness for decades. In the years before we won championships it was cool to be in what was then considered a premier conference, but winnning championships is so, so, so much more satisfying to me. I think many who voted for ACC don’t know what it’s like to not have them, nor appreciate what a difference each one makes. Two more—in consecutive years no less—would be an insanely unique and defining characteristic that no one can take away (barring severe NCAA improprieties).

A conference, by contrast, can be fleeting; and I am not convinced that the ACC won’t ultimately get swallowed up by the other four of the P5, because it is the weakest football conference among them. So while it is no doubt better than where we are now, the same can be said of the Big East, and I’m not sure that either one of them secures long-term viability, especially for the last one in the pool.

In this poll, the NCs were a no-brainer for me. If the conference choice was switched to the Big Ten I would probably vote the other way, because I think we have a lot more in common with those institutions and it would provide much more certainty for long-term viability, such that it would probably be worth the trade-off with the two consecitive NCs.

or we are the same age and i care about having a football team.....

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

It seems pretty simple. ACC membership makes the athletic department viable in the long term.

Two more basketball championships let you tweet 6>1 at Syracuse fans while they knock down Rentschler and shelve the hockey team.

You really have to only give a damn about basketball to make that trade.

Well that’s how most of the people over here feel. Unfortunately.

 

[whaler11]

Well that’s how most of the people over here feel. Unfortunately.

its kinda like do you want to be employee of the year at wendy’s or do you want to get into a leadership program at google.

 

[uconnell]

I’ll take the imaginary 2 titles over the imaginary ACC invite all day. Though some of you would rather wave your imaginary ACC flag around.

Much like your imaginary Ch banners.

 

[huskyfever]

Are people nuts? Who would turn down the next two NCs?! That would mean we are better versions of Memphis when Calipari was there, UNLV with Tark or Gonzaga over the past several years. With that success, you could make the non-conference schedule whatever you wanted since everybody would want to play you.

 

[willie99]

F the ACC, we win and everything takes care of itself

We win two more titles, the Big 10 comes knocking and that's more money than the ACC that did everything in their power to destroy us

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

F the ACC, we win and everything takes care of itself

We win two more titles, the Big 10 comes knocking and that's more money than the ACC that did everything in their power to destroy us

 

[pj]

F the ACC, we win and everything takes care of itself

We win two more titles, the Big 10 comes knocking and that's more money than the ACC that did everything in their power to destroy us

The Big 10 will come knocking if UConn fits the profile of a Big 10 university. That means upgrading research into the top tier, and strong fan support for athletics. The former isn't likely given the state's budget troubles and declining demographics and economy, and the latter looks suspect with the lack of sellouts for football and basketball.

But I empathize, I'd love to see the ACC lose the whole Northeast corridor by giving up on UConn in favor of the second best program in northern Kentucky.

 

[whaler11]

The Big Ten is never going to come knocking.

Thats a fantasy that was invented here that people repeated until it sounded realistic.

 

[8893]

The Big Ten is never going to come knocking.

Thats a fantasy that was invented here that people repeated until it sounded realistic.

This poll isn’t a fantasy?

 

[whaler11]

This poll isn’t a fantasy?

of course it is but nobody believes the poll. people actually believe the big ten thing

 

[8893]

of course it is but nobody believes the poll. people actually believe the big ten thing

Of course the Big Ten is never going to come calling, silly; but only because we are already going to be in the Pac 12 by then.

 

[B1GEast]

Said Syracuse

You think that we're on par with Syracuse? We have tradition, facilities, champions with both men and women and I think a better coaching situation.

All things being equal, if Uconn gets into the ACC, we'll eclipse all of the former BE legacy programs and some of the traditional ACC programs.

Bank it. I hope it happens. Trust me, Pitt, Cuse, BC, and the rest know this.

Every non P5 school is slowly getting squeezed out of favorable tourney brackets, pairings and officiating.

 

[pj]

You think that we're on par with Syracuse? We have tradition, facilities, champions with both men and women and I think a better coaching situation.

All things being equal, if Uconn gets into the ACC, we'll eclipse all of the former BE legacy programs and some of the traditional ACC programs.

Bank it. I hope it happens. Trust me, Pitt, Cuse, BC, and the rest know this.

Every non P5 school is slowly getting squeezed out of favorable tourney brackets, pairings and officiating.

If Pitt, Cuse, and BC know this, why would they allow UConn into the ACC?

 

[B1GEast]

If Pitt, Cuse, and BC know this, why would they allow UConn into the ACC?

Unfortunately. I think this is why we don't get in unless the Irish decide to bring us to the party.

 

[pj]

Unfortunately. I think this is why we don't get in unless the Irish decide to bring us to the party.

This is about the size of it. To get into the ACC we need Notre Dame to join. To get into the Big Ten we need the university to progress in a way that the state can't afford to fund. The B12 is the best shot for a conference upgrade.

 

[buddy]

F the ACC, we win and everything takes care of itself

We win two more titles, the Big 10 comes knocking and that's more money than the ACC that did everything in their power to destroy us

This is one of the funniest things I have ever read here.

 

[Dean Wormer]

Quick, who played for the NC in 1997? Exactly.
Being in the ACC would guarantee UConn AD, long-term stability.
Winning NC's in this Mickey Mouse conference means nothing after a number of years.
If the P5 decides to ditch the NCAA, no one will give a hot danm about a couple of "extra" NC's, won in the waning days of the NCAA. It'd be like those prestigious NC's won by NYU, CCNY, et al...in the old NIT. Essentially meaningless.
I want my grandkids to watch UConn basketball on the biggest stage, thriving and surviving. Joining a P5 is the only way that happens down the road. It scuks that's the case, but it is what it is.

 

[JeepCSC]

Arizona vs Kentucky played in 1997. I remember it because the next year in April, SI magazine had a blurb on the funny Tucson paper that the day after Kentucky won the ‘98 title announced that Arizona had stopped a dynasty. Weird stuff that sticks with me.

All that said, two titles guarantees happiness for awhile. But not forever. Butler played in back-to-back title games but lost their coach to the NBA. And they might have been really screwed but they parleyed their success into a better league and payday (twice over actually).

This is one of those “give a man a fish, feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime” scenarios. Being the most successful basketball college of the 21st century wasn’t enough to go from 2014 to the edge of the abyss in a nanosecond. The best way to leverage your title-winning past into the future is to have a schedule with Duke and UNC and UVA and Syracuse for the next 50 years. Titles are great and the ultimate and all that, but the promise of titles is what keeps us as fans sane.

 

[Scrutineer]

Agree. But I'd rather kick that can down the road a bit and win the next two nattys while doing so.

I mean, if we win two of the next five – forget about two in a row – we have six in 25 years. That's the most dominant stretch in the sport since UCLA, and will come just as CR is being discussed again, and will have happened under three different coaches (which proves that the program isn't just about one guy), and given those parameters I like our chances of getting a seat at the grown-ups table.

Plus I have old relatives who'd love to see another title or two before they croak. That beats out the admittedly far superior regular season schedule we'd play in the ACC, Big 10 or Big East.

Oh and ALSO, just imagine how much it would make Cuse, Duke, UNC, Georgetown, Indiana, UK, Kansas etc eat their own livers if we won two more out of the AAC. It would be HILARIOUS and I'm here for it.

Plus, with two more only Kentucky and UCLA would have more titles. Get football stabilized and the ACC or B1G may want us for the regional ratings, especially in New England, NY and NJ. BC and Rutgers sure aren't adding very many viewers outside Chestnut Hill and Pissscataway.

 

[Scrutineer]

Syracuse plays zone as their primary defensive strategy they have done incredibly given what they are working with there. They just don't win titles. Why can't we be objective here...

They've done incredibly? Do you mean the last couple tournaments? If so, it's the zone that helped them do well because so few teams have any meaningful experience playing against a zone.

 

[ucp990411]

We are UConn and we play for championships. It doesn’t matter who gets in our way. Screw the ACC, you want to be in the conference as BCU?

 

[polycom]

They've done incredibly? Do you mean the last couple tournaments? If so, it's the zone that helped them do well because so few teams have any meaningful experience playing against a zone.

JB is a HOF coach solely because of what he did at Cuse. So yes they have done, incredibly. Why do you hate facts?

 

[polycom]

This thread is a microcosm of how our state handles everything short sighted and not thinking about the future as long as it feels good today. It’s no wonder, why kids graaduating from UConn & Yale could give two about staying in CT. Overrun with people who only care about the good ole days.

 

[Friendship]

Win the next two national championships and in two years we are in back in the same boat.

Join the ACC and we finally have games that are worth watching every week for the rest of our lives.

 

[Dean Wormer]

Win the next two national championships and in two years we are in back in the same boat.

Join the ACC and we finally have games that are worth watching every week for the rest of our lives.

Exactly this. Can’t believe how shortsighted some folks are. We all hate the ACC, but I’d join the “Satan Athletic Conference” if it meant the long term survival of UConn’s AD.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Exactly this. Can’t believe how shortsighted some folks are. We all hate the ACC, but I’d join the “Satan Athletic Conference” if it meant the long term survival of UConn’s AD.

Is that what Mike Jarvis has been doing?