Nova is UConn’s biggest rival | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Nova is UConn’s biggest rival

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

6215b8f73d0b5.image.jpg
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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@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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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