Nova is UConn’s biggest rival

[Tyler2Rings]

@Rocktheworld Kemba off the backboard was Georgetown at XL. Both games are fun to rewatch

 

[Zissou]

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

The past is the past. Today it’s Nova dammit.

 

[pepband99]

Biggest conference rival - absolutely. PC will fade off again.

Nova has always been a good rival - the games are strikingly competitive, despite you guys having Steve Lappas on the sideline for some of these (oops).

I agree with most though - i don't hate Nova, but respect them greatly. You guys were like a machine yesterday!

Hate goes to Cuse, Duke, the cheaters (UNC, Illinois, Arizona, etc).

 

[Tyler2Rings]

I still hate Cuse at another level to anyone else. That said, I feel our rivalry with them is trending down and Nova is trending up.

Put another way- I hate UK and Duke, but are they rivals if we don’t play them each year? I fear Cuse is headed toward this situation if they dont want to play us

 

[BugsyCT]

The past is the past. Today it’s Nova dammit.

Dude, off topic, what was this look about? Did the Nova coaching staff drive up to Hartford directly from a Trekkie convention?

 

[Mr. French]

I’m different than many on here in that I don’t have regional hatred for PC or BC.

I developed my UConn love in the 90s and I loved Kittles and Eberz too so I have never hated Nova (maybe Mike Nardi?). I hate Cuse, UK and Duke in that order. The order may have differed in the 2000s and included Pitt too.

Right now, no question Nova is our biggest rival and to me, the most natural going forward for reasons everyone has said.

I’ll never hate them, so it does make it tougher though. There’s not many Nova guys over 25 years I can say I hated. Jay is my favorite coach in the country with Oats. That makes it really tough.

 

[Kolumbo]

Right now It's Nova. Last nights' win was a milestone. I hated SJU when they had Artest, Nova with Kittles, Georgetown with Ewing or Mourning, Syracuse always, Pittsburgh when they played basketball. I think UCONN vs. Nova will be the best rivalry at least until (if/when) SJU and Georgetown can consistently be great. CR screwed up the last decade for programs and conferences so it's tough to evaluate that time period.

syracuse, pitt and bc can commiserate with each other in mediocrity.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

I don't hate Nova enough yet. I'll work on my hate, give it a few years.

 

[tykurez]

It’s hard to grasp how good that Nova team is at responding. They hit (almost) every big shot when they have their backs against the wall. Down 4,5,6,7 - always answering with a huge 3. Crowd going wild - always taking the air out with a slowed down offensive set capped off by a tough basket. On the road with the most hostile huskies crowd in 5 years. They are going to be extremely tough to beat in the tournament.

 

[Rocktheworld]

@Rocktheworld Kemba off the backboard was Georgetown at XL. Both games are fun to rewatch

Maybe the overall angle of his attack was similar to the floater and I’m conflating. I have such a vivid memory of being in the student section and the offense was on the other side of the court

 

[Huskyforlife]

1. Cuse
2. PC
3. Pitt (idk if they consider us rivals but I know our fan base doesn’t like them)
4. Nova

They will move ahead of Pitt if we’re stuck in the Big East for the rest of time. Potential to move past PC since they’re just the annoying little brother anyways. Having big games doesn’t make us rivals, the big game push goes away if one team isn’t ranked. And nobody will ever surpass Cuse, beating them at MSG felt better than this win.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Also why don’t we have a home and home with Cuse set up already? Which school is saying no to that contract?

 

[storrsroars]

1. Cuse
2. PC
3. Pitt (idk if they consider us rivals but I know our fan base doesn’t like them)
4. Nova

They will move ahead of Pitt if we’re stuck in the Big East for the rest of time. Potential to move past PC since they’re just the annoying little brother anyways. Having big games doesn’t make us rivals, the big game push goes away if one team isn’t ranked. And nobody will ever surpass Cuse, beating them at MSG felt better than this win.

Pitt definitely sees UConn as a rival. Maybe behind 'Cuse and WVU, but on the Pitt BB forums, a large number wanted UConn in the ACC to bring back that rivalry.

 

[August_West]

Dude, off topic, what was this look about? Did the Nova coaching staff drive up to Hartford directly from a Trekkie convention?

View attachment 73662

Gillespie is a red shirt

 

[AntG168]

1. Cuse
2. PC
3. Pitt (idk if they consider us rivals but I know our fan base doesn’t like them)
4. Nova

They will move ahead of Pitt if we’re stuck in the Big East for the rest of time. Potential to move past PC since they’re just the annoying little brother anyways. Having big games doesn’t make us rivals, the big game push goes away if one team isn’t ranked. And nobody will ever surpass Cuse, beating them at MSG felt better than this win.

I agreed with everything until the Cuse win felt better than this one. No way. Not even close.

 

[CL82]

Great win Huskies! I hate it!

But this is what it’s all about. High energy. Sold out. 2 ranked teams late in the season. Top 10 team beaten on the road.

It felt like big east basketball didn’t it?

 

[Northbound]

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.

You do you

Syracuse and PC will always be ahead of Nova for me and perhaps going forward Nova will replace Pitt, but the history, great games and the physical nature of them still are head and shoulders above any Nova rivalry to me. Jay has great teams, but honestly I don’t have amy animosity towards Nova its a bunch of jump shooters - it’s beautiful basketball, but I’m old and do miss the OBE i have zero hate for Nova, but a lot of distaste for Pitt because of their guys and style of play - Troutman, Blair, Krauser, Taft, etc. - from that era.

I’m not sure you understand the UConn/Pitt games in the late 90’s and 00’s.

If you want to say Nova is UConn’s main rival have at it, but why does it matter so much to you?

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

2 quality programs:
NCAA titles 4 > 3
BE championships 7 > 5 (more for UConn despite years stuck in AAC).

Don't even dislike Nova, and appreciate Jay Wright, similar to Tyler Olander they've won more titles than Boeheim, and the Wildcats aren't scummy St Johns.

 

[SixRings]

How is Pee Cee a rivalry? shouldn't there some sort of a minimum tournament wins in order to be rivals? They’re decent this year but rivals, nope.
Syracuse sure. But lately they’re as polluted as Lake Onondaga and not much fun to hate anymore. Almost feel as bad for them as I do for Pee Cee in March.
Nova i could dislike if they continue their winning ways at our expense but hard to “hate” classy jay. Now if he dropped a deuce on center court Gampel we’d speed things up.

 

[Watchdog]

for sure we are now.

always felt like we were the third wheel in the cuse v gtown thing based on their pre 1990s history, even though we were better than both programs from the mid 1990s to mid 2010s. this perception was confirmed during espn's atrocious "requiem for the big east" where calhoun had maybe 3 lines.

And don't forget the greatest BE Tournament run was Syracuse's four games in four nights!

I felt certain five games in five nights might be considered more difficult, especially considering the strength of the league that year (11 teams in the NCAA tournament), but NOOOOOOO, it was the four games run that got featured.

 

[Watchdog]

According to this from the VU hoops site............Seton Hall is THEIR biggest rival. Read and enjoy:

Ranking Villanova Basketball’s Best Rivalries

Which rivalries have been the best for Nova fans in recent history?

www.vuhoops.com

 

[Watchdog]

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.

Don't go overboard with this respect stuff. UConn's 7 Big East Championships were against the Old Big East. A loaded league compared to 2013 to 2020.

 

[Zissou]

According to this from the VU hoops site............Seton Hall is THEIR biggest rival. Read and enjoy:

Ranking Villanova Basketball’s Best Rivalries

Which rivalries have been the best for Nova fans in recent history?

www.vuhoops.com

Don’t believe everything that you read on the internet.

 

[BGesus4]

Hard to see how Nova doesn’t easily become our biggest rival after a few more years of BE basketball.

Have to think though that it won’t get too bitter due to 1) (as everyone has said) it’s tough to not have a lot of respect for Wright and how he runs the program and 2) Nova is the only other national brand in the conference. It is pretty undeniably better for both programs if the other can maintain a top level program, for the credibility of the league. A lot of us are itching for Georgetown to regain it’s status but that seems a very long way from happening. The rest of the conference has some solid programs but nothing close to an absolute top level program this century.

 

[huskymedic]