Nova is UConn’s biggest rival

[AntG168]

Yea…..

I wanna do that again!

 

[xclamations]

Providence Villanova Syracuse

 

[Demo Square]

Guys,

The

 

[huskyfan224]

I hate Syracuse and want everything bad to happen to them. I want their program to suffer and fall into an abyss and never make it out. I don't want that for Nova. Nova being great makes UConn a better program. I don't like how Nova has demolished us every time we've played since the 2014 tournament though.

The Big East will be at it's best when UConn and Nova are battling for the top spot

I’d rather that happen to Duke than Syracuse. They’re the most cringeworthy and preppy program with the worst fans ever. Bunch of fake tough guys with the media love equivalent to Queen James

 

[uc1990]

38-31 all-time in favor of Nova. Correction

Do you need to update this again?

 

[Zissou]

Do you need to update this again?

38-32 all time. 6 game lead for your Villanova Wildcats.

But tonight is yours. Enjoy.

 

[uc1990]

38-32 all time. 6 game lead for your Villanova Wildcats.

But tonight is yours. Enjoy.

The one win that I actually remember that you had that made me hate Villanova was Kittles coming in when we were ranked #1 in the country (Ithink for the first time?) the rest are forgettable.
You guys are catching up with 5 big East championships now to our 7 and 3 national championships to our 4. So you have to be happy that we don’t totally dominate you in these categories like we used to. Makes it more of a rivalry.

 

[Friarsnoop]

After the basketball we've seen this year, whatever happened to the guy who was making fun of the Big East?

 

[UChusky916]

They will be after tonight. I think this game will be a classic

Got the powerball numbers for tomorrow?! Good call my man, you deserve more than a like for that premonition.

 

[Demo Square]

Hey Guys,

The Old 80's Big East had it all for rivalries. It was the best basketball league, by far, of all time - even better than the ACC in its heyday. EVERY BE TEAM & school was hated by everyone else. PURE HATRED! Every visiting coach (except for Little Looie) was hated& reviled. Every game was an absolute rumble, on & off the court. And the level of hoops & coaching was bar none the best in the land. The energy was incredible at those games, like today's Villanova game approached.

Villanova as the new main Huskie rival today? Sure! why not? But you cannot HATE their ongoing excellence, their good guy, successful coach, their great academic school, or the outstanding talent they consistently attract to the Main Line campus. The Wildcats are a class act all around. But Villanova is certainly no candidate for 'bitter rival' at this time. Not Yet! And Syracuse is gone as is hated BC. Providence simply can't compete with UConn's resources every year. So where is the next true rivalry going to come from?

I mean, anyone, anyone who remembers hearing the courtside "dialogue" between Jim Calhoun & Big John Thompson with that huge white towel hanging malevolently off his 6'10" 300+ lb. shoulder & Jim's face bright red among -f bombs, or saw the post-game fisticuffs everywhere inside & outside those arenas? They experienced what "hated rivalry" truly was.

Georgetown's teams were always great - but their whole approach, coach & players, were the complete definition of the word "THUGS!" And "HOYA PARANOIA was quite a real phenomenon!" And many Huskies played like that too back then, egged on by JC. NOW UCONN - GEORGETOWN? THAT was what a bitter, hated rivalry looked like friends. Glad I experienced it.

Georgetown had hated rivalries with EVERYONE back then. Thompson really did encourage a disrespecting racial edge in his players, unapologetically. Many had police records. Many didn't belong or qualify for any school, let alone a top 20 university like Georgetown. Back then. Intimidation was the rule. Kill or be killed. SoThompson had Big Time problems with JC, Gary Williams, Jim Boeheim, Rollie Massimino, Joe Mullaney & Ricky Pitino, & PJ Carlesimo - the original legendary BE coaches. And those guys were always ready to come to blows, every game.

The only coach universally loved by all was that little basketball luigi from Bayside Queens, Looie Carnesseca (actually, he grew up on the East side over his folks Italian Deli). He originally coached St. Ann's Catholic. which became the Archbishop Molloy of so many NBA & St. John's players, Ha!) Everbody who knows Looie loves him! He's now 97, & still going strong. Those were the days. Looie was a character, crawling around the sidelines in those hideous sweaters. And back then, there were so many characters allowed to be themselves in the game & all of sports. No PC shibai. Remember truly crazy but truly funny people like the young Al McGuire twitching & coaching at Marquette in the Garden.

I think Creighton will grow into a major rivalry with UConn if they stay in the BE (geographic distance is an expense that many private (or state) schools can't pay for anymore), despite/because of the different regions. Same with Marquette. Coach Smart aggression is something to hate, BTW. But he's really good in the right situation. He instills that old BE edge. He actually fired everyone from last year's team & brought in 'his players' right away. They are young & good!

Still, I think that UConn has everything it needs to attract great talent up to Storrs again & DOMINATE today's Big East & the NCAA for a long time. I'd be happy if they could get some great shooters up there next year like we saw at the XL with Villanova's expert marksman today. Ha!

We'll learn more about today's BE rivalties at the BE tournament at MSG! Yesss!

Father Demo

 

[Northbound]

Pitt is 11-17. And it’s one of their better seasons since defecting.

You don’t think I know that. That’s not relevant, Did you not live through all of the battles with the Howland (end of his tenure) and Dixon’s Pitt teams - krauser, page, taft, troutman, knight, blair, etc those games were battles.

You have your rivals, I’ll have mine and it wasn’t any sweeter then being in MSG when Taliek hit that prayer against pitt in tue BET

 

[SportsFan88]

‘Cuse no matter how far their program continues to fall

 

[Huskyforlife]

The problem is if Nova did fall off like Cuse, we wouldn’t care. No matter how bad Cuse is, I still wanna crush whatever’s left of their souls. We want to beat Nova because they’re always ranked, there’s no bitterness.

 

[MDHuskFan]

The problem is if Nova did fall off like Cuse, we wouldn’t care. No matter how bad Cuse is, I still wanna crush whatever’s left of their souls. We want to beat Nova because they’re always ranked, there’s no bitterness.

This^. When we were in the conference not to be named, I actually rooted for Nova in those championships. I’ve NEVER wished Syracuse to even cover the spread as an underdog

 

[Apollo]

The only way this becomes a true rivalry is if UC and Nova are contending for the top 2 spots for a few years and meet in the BET consistently. That’s how it was with Cuse and Pitt for many years and my disdain for those two teams still runs deep.

 

[storrsroars]

38-32 all time. 6 game lead for your Villanova Wildcats.

But tonight is yours. Enjoy.

I don't know what Nova's record was vs Calhoun, but I do know that UConn has a winning record against Wright.

Wins prior to Calhoun's hiring may be relevant to you, but I assure you it's not to most all UConn fans.

 

[Zissou]

You don’t think I know that. That’s not relevant, Did you not live through all of the battles with the Howland (end of his tenure) and Dixon’s Pitt teams - krauser, page, taft, troutman, knight, blair, etc those games were battles.

You have your rivals, I’ll have mine and it wasn’t any sweeter then being in MSG when Taliek hit that prayer against pitt in tue BET

Would you have rather had Pitt at XL last night?

We had our time with Pitt, but that’s now in the past. Pitt turned its back on the Big East and jumped off a cliff for money. No exposure to the NY-Philly-DC corridor. No effective metro recruiting. All of the back stabbers that orchestrated the treason have turned over and they left a mountain of karma for their successors. No national titles for Pitt, and only one Final Four in their entire Big East history, with their 2009 team. No, wait, check that. Scottie Reynolds scored at the buzzer to crush their hearts and send them home from the Elite Eight. No Final Fours for Pitt. And now Pitt sucks. Our rivalry is as dead as their commitment to the Big East.

Nova did have some great rivalries from the old Big East. The Pitt rivalry doesn’t survive to the present. They are not worthy in so many ways.

UConn and Nova are each other’s “main rivals” now. That doesn’t mean “hated rivals” or “bitter rivals”. There is a high level of mutual respect. Competition sometimes brews hatred, but not always. I will definitely pull for UConn in March unless they meet Nova.

WVU, BC, Pitt… it’s ok to let them just fade away. They never won a national championship and their blip of Big East competitiveness is just that.

 

[Zissou]

I don't know what Nova's record was vs Calhoun, but I do know that UConn has a winning record against Wright.

Wins prior to Calhoun's hiring may be relevant to you, but I assure you it's not to most all UConn fans.

Nova had a history of excellence that even pre-dated Rollie. We do care about more than just one coach’s record.

 

[Rocktheworld]

We love playing and beating Nova. I was in Gampel in 2011 (another great game) when Kemba put it off the backboard to himself and later hit a closing-seconds floater. All our lives as UConn fans would not be the same without you guys. As far as being peers, and the respectful rivalry that comes from that, you’re right

You’re a good poster @Zissou and we like you. But with respect, you don’t tell us that you are our biggest rivals. Nothing beats the feeling of beating Cuse and nothing probably ever will. We don’t care how competitive the game is. I’m sorry (?) to say that Jay Wright is still far too likable for us to have a real rivalry lol

Just my take

 

[August_West]

The one win that I actually remember that you had that made me hate Villanova was Kittles coming in when we were ranked #1 in the country (Ithink for the first time?) the rest are forgettable.

Man Kerry Kittles was a killer. I was at that game. Very bitter pill to swallow. Hated him with that one sock pulled up one sock rolled down look. That was a tough Nova squad. Also they had a head coach that looked like Musky the Muskrat from Deputy Dawg.

Typical of the Big East that Nova looked like world beaters knocking us off at home, and winning the BET (the only time they ever won it) and then goes into the NCAA and flamed out to a 14 seed.

 

[fatlucy]

Don’t worry, a couple more games like that and we’ll have one hell of a rivalry!!!

 

[CTBasketball]

Always a high level of respect for Villanova and their fans. I sat next to a few yesterday, no bad blood whatsoever.

HOWEVER, the same Villanova fan did comment on the lack of respect in RI. He told me he brought his family to the Dunk for the PC game, and PC fans were berating his 7 year old daughter for wearing an Archidiacano jersey.

Probably is happy that UConn fans aren’t lifeless pond scum like PC fans. Made me happy.

 

[BugsyCT]

Biggest rival is still Cuse based on past history, but that will water down since they're no longer in the same conference. UConn-Pitt in the 2000s was big too.

In the current Big East it's Nova and Providence.

 

[uconnfn34]

I don't know what Nova's record was vs Calhoun, but I do know that UConn has a winning record against Wright.

Wins prior to Calhoun's hiring may be relevant to you, but I assure you it's not to most all UConn fans.

On UConn's website, they list the matchup history between UConn and Nova from 12/8/87 to today. By that count, UConn's up 28-21. It's an odd date to start the matchup history since Calhoun lost to them twice his first year in 86. Either way, looks like Calhoun was 26-17 against Nova in his career.

 

[John]

moving forward it'll probably end up being Villanova, but when I think UConn Big East rival I'll always think Syracuse and Pitt first. God those were some epic games.