No Joy in Mudville ...

[BlueDogs]

This is the best post on the board in a long while.

Kansas; a perennial powerhouse and recognized "blue blood" has won the ncaa championship once in the last 28 years. ONCE! We are one of the most spoiled fan bases in America...

Well stated. Staying on top though is as much a fear of failing as anything. I'd say UConn fans know all too well they have something extraordinary and the thought of that going away is terrifying. On Kansas, I can't thing of another team(maybe Arizona) that takes the pipe so often. That's a cultural problem.

 

[Pudge]

Just want to make sure I understand. The next few classes are going to take UConn from struggling to put away the 209th best team in the country at home back to being relevant nationally?

YES

 

[ctchamps]

It's an interesting point. For me...happy in September, October, November, December, January, February, March until....damn....lost a tournament game. Is still a lot of happy. I enjoy the season and the NCAA tournament for more than the end result. Now this year, miserable September, Oct., Nov., Dec., and a less miserable January. Even if they make the Elite 8, this has been way too much misery. The journey to late March is more important to me than what happens in the last game.

Yes, 11 tournament games in a row was a lot of happy crammed into a short time period, made more enjoyable because Kemba was an infectious personality like Magic Johnson. But I enjoyed that season much less than 1998-99 or 2003-04 overall.

I watch the football team, men's bb team, and the women's bb team. Amazing the contrast in how different each program has been with my misery quotient.

It's interesting because after a while I've become numb to football losing over the past six years. And I've become slightly ho hum to the women winning all the time.

The men's bb team are killing me. Extreme highs and extreme lows with them. Not something for the feint of heart.

 

[whaler11]

YES

Hope you are right but since this board's could have been changed to "we are going to be awesome next year" the past couples of seasons l'll wait until something happens on the floor to reflect that.

The classes can't fix the biggest problem impacting 'national prominence'. The conference affiliation.

 

[Matrim55]

Hope you are right but since this board's could have been changed to "we are going to be awesome next year" the past couples of seasons l'll wait until something happens on the floor to reflect that.

The classes can't fix the biggest problem impacting 'national prominence'. The conference affiliation.

What is your definition of "national prominence"?

 

[chiller99.5]

Do yourself a favor, visit the scout aac message board and read the hate all the perennial losers have for the Huskies. Every time the beat us its a national holiday for them .To us playing ECU in hoops is embarassing to them its a moral victory they came so close. Enjoy what we have in the trophy case , alot of cupboards are bare in this half ass conference.

 

[intlzncster]

Do yourself a favor, visit the scout aac message board and read the hate all the perennial losers have for the Huskies. Every time the beat us its a national holiday for them .To us playing ECU in hoops is embarassing to them its a moral victory they came so close. Enjoy what we have in the trophy case , alot of cupboards are bare in this half ass conference.

While I appreciate the sentiment, I really do, that last part didn't make me feel any better.

 

[Matrim55]

While I appreciate the sentiment, I really do, that last part didn't make me feel any better.

Meh, we'll be Gonzaga in the regular season by the middle of next year, and that'll give us yearly cracks at being UConn in March once again.

Having these relative minnows -- some of which are really well coached -- come at us with knives out every time is going to be an acceptable, if not ideal, scenario in the long run.

 

[Pudge]

Contrast ...

We saw this repeatedly in the Big East in our 30 years. Teams threw out Capital investment and incrementally nudged to better HCs to compete.

Since 2012:

Memphis is better off with Tubby than Pastner
Tulsa is doing well with Haith
SMU was VASTLY improved getting Larry Brown in and now Jankovichis continuing that.
UCF hiring Dawkins is proving a big upgrade.
Houston is far better off with Kelvin Sampson.

Mick Cronin and Fran Dunphy are both so both solid at their respective University.

Mike Dunleavy? Modest. That leaves USF and ECU as flatlined or trending down.

I think the AAC is markedly better than when UConn joined despite losing Louisville (and not discussing Rutgers). It's a competitive neighborhood. The Big East? I think it's surprising how good that league has gotten. MM is kinda a zero sum game: AAC going up means we take some from others; as with the BE.