OT: Arizona Blueblood? | The Boneyard

OT: Arizona Blueblood?

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Interesting. I'm actually surprised at the lack of love Uconn is getting. The fact people think Texas ranks higher than us is silly.
 
UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Duke, and Kansas are the only bluebloods and the only bluebloods that will ever exist. At least that is how I view it.
 
Absolutely not. Arizona<Michigan St., UConn, Florida, Syracuse, Louisville, Ohio State+6 so-called Bluebloods; Arizona=Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, NC State, Maryland
 
tier 1-bluebloods
tier 2-uconn zona mich st
tier 3-lville cuse fl tosu etc...texas is not top 12.
 
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So this guy says UConn and Cuse are a notch below because, despite their program accomplishments, their coacehs will retire soon and they're one coach successes at the school. Yet Duke and UCLA are (rightfully) in the guy's top tier, despite their accomplishments almost entirely coming under one coach. But Texas and Ohio State are both above UConn and SU, despite having continued success under.....no coach?

????
 
So Zona is no longer a program that has excelled under a single coach because Sean Miller made the Elite 8 one time?

Zona is like a slightly less successful Uconn of the east. Both programs have relatively recent success, were built up by single coaches, have had numerous excellent teams but have probably less final fours than they should, but Uconn has capitalized more often in 4 to the tune of 3 titles. Both programs also are NBA factories without raking in multiple Micky D guys a year.
 
walker11 said:
So Zona is no longer a program that has excelled under a single coach because Sean Miller made the Elite 8 one time?

Zona is like a slightly less successful Uconn of the east. Both programs have relatively recent success, were built up by single coaches, have had numerous excellent teams but have probably less final fours than they should, but Uconn has capitalized more often in 4 to the tune of 3 titles. Both programs also are NBA factories without raking in multiple Micky D guys a year.
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Only thing I'll quibble with is slightly less successful. Big difference between one title and three titles.
 
Keep in mind that since the tournament expanded to 65 its a lot harder to make the final four and win a NC. Since it went to 65 i think only Duke, Florida, UNC, Kansas and Uconn have won multiple titles. The playing field has leveled out over the past 10 yrs and we see that every year come tournament time. Who would have thought that after we won in 04 that we would see G Mason, Butler (two times), and vcu reach the final four over the next 7 years.
 
If anyone is going to be the next blueblood, it's us. Kevin Ollie will step in when JC retires and cement our status as a program that has national success that spans multiple coaches (as if we haven't have enough success to be in consideration as a blue blood yet).
 
Bluebloods are irrelevant today as long as there is a program as irrelevant as IU is.

There's no benefit of being a blueblood because clearly kids aren't going to IU because it's IU. And kids weren't going to Kentucky because it was Kentucky pre-squid.

So WHO THE duck CARES?!
 
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UConn is the top program in the country over the last 15 years. I don't care what Kansas or Kentucky fans think about the definition of a "blue blood". I care that UConn has one of the best reputations in the country to recruits. Arizona appears to be in the same situation as UConn with recruits. The advantage of being a nationally desirable program like UConn is that it gets to pick and choose recruits from all over the country that best match the playing style of the team. Teams like OSU, Texas and Florida get lots of good recruits, but many of them are just whoever happens to be the top in state talent. As we have seen with the 2011 championship, it is not the team that assembles the most talent, but the team that plays the best together.
I agree that Ollie is the key piece to the puzzle for continued success. He's an overachieving player that came to UConn from across the country and transformed himself into a 13 year NBA player. He can step in and be a father figure to many recruits (something that both recruits and recruits' families will like) and he's young. If Ollie can continue recruiting and developing players the program will be top 5 in the country within 15-20 years. A practice facility wouldn't hurt either.
 
babysheep said:
Doesn't IU have a top-5 recruiting class either this year or next?
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Does it matter? They've been so incompetent for so long, I really can't remember when they last made the playoffs.

Ok...so it was 08. But let's take them from near the end of Bob Knight's program: Since the 94-95 season, they've made the playoffs 12 times. Not bad...ok.

Here's how they finished:

1st round exit: 6 times
2nd round exit: 5 times
NCAA finals: once

Oh, and there's an NIT season in there too. That just screams mediocrity to me.
 
Indiana may have been irrelevant for the past five years but their status as a "blue blood" program allowed them to lure Tom Crean even though they had just been punished for what happened under Sampson and he was able get a great recruiting class for next year (so yea it did take awhile).

UConn has the best argument to be regarded as one of the blue blooded programs outside of the traditionally discussed programs. Arizona has only one title, MSU has 2, Florida has two but with the same players.

The kids who are now coming to college are some of the first kids that grew up with UConn as a national power and I think it will continue to have benefits in recruiting.
 
UConn5 said:
Indiana may have been irrelevant for the past five years but their status as a "blue blood" program allowed them to lure Tom Crean even though they had just been punished for what happened under Sampson and he was able get a great recruiting class for next year (so yea it did take awhile).

UConn has the best argument to be regarded as one of the blue blooded programs outside of the traditionally discussed programs. Arizona has only one title, MSU has 2, Florida has two but with the same players.

The kids who are now coming to college are some of the first kids that grew up with UConn as a national power and I think it will continue to have benefits in recruiting.
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Ask Notre Dame football how their "blue blood" status has worked with their coach's recruiting in the past 20 years... :D
 
UConn5 said:
The kids who are now coming to college are some of the first kids that grew up with UConn as a national power and I think it will continue to have benefits in recruiting.
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Very, very solid point.
 
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NHUConnfan said:
Does it matter?
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Yes it matters, because you said kids don't go to IU because they suck while they have an elite recruiting class coming in, which makes your comment completely false. Whether or not this recruiting class brings a trend of winning back to IU is one thing, but you can't say that kids don't go to IU anymore.
 
babysheep said:
Yes it matters, because you said kids don't go to IU because they suck while they have an elite recruiting class coming in, which makes your comment completely false. Whether or not this recruiting class brings a trend of winning back to IU is one thing, but you can't say that kids don't go to IU anymore.
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FWIW, Rivals has Indiana at #27 this year, mainly because of Cody Zeller. They've got 2 recruits in the top 50 next year and another in the top 150. But...it's early and there are still a lot of kids uncommitted. They're high right now, but their class could drop into the 20s. It's not a "top" class yet.
 
Once upon a time Egypt was the blue blood of civilization. I'm sure this is foremost on the mind of the peasant who forages for scraps from the garbage heap near one of the pyramids.
 
Can I just say that I'm surprised by the general maturity of the posters in that thread? Even when you guys jumped in, there's a bunch of 'good point', 'point taken', and 'word ups' in there. Now just imagine if it was on the Aztecmesa?!

To answer the question, I really don't think you can consider Arizona a blueblood and if you can't consider UConn one at this point, they're damn close to getting in the room.
 
I could care less about the blue blood distinction. If we win 2-3 NC over the next 10-12 years we can talk about it again.
 
Scot-e said:
I could care less about the blue blood distinction. If we win 2-3 NC over the next 10-12 years we can talk about it again.
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It's kind of a dumb debate. Who would you rather be? Us or Indiana? Cool title back in 1987, guys.
 
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NHUConnfan said:
FWIW, Rivals has Indiana at #27 this year, mainly because of Cody Zeller. They've got 2 recruits in the top 50 next year and another in the top 150. But...it's early and there are still a lot of kids uncommitted. They're high right now, but their class could drop into the 20s. It's not a "top" class yet.
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The 2012 class they have is ranked #1 right now. I'd consider that a "top" class.
 
NHUConnfan said:
And kids weren't going to Kentucky because it was Kentucky pre-squid.
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The thing is, Kentucky still was getting tons of talent - they just didn't have a coach good enough to do anything with it.

Being a "blue blood" certainly helps attract talent (IU excluded...not sure why they're considered to be at that level anyway), but you still need a good coach to be able to win something (see Roy Williams taking Matt Doherty's roster and turning them into champions).
 
UConn990411 said:
The thing is, Kentucky still was getting tons of talent - they just didn't have a coach good enough to do anything with it.

Being a "blue blood" certainly helps attract talent (IU excluded...not sure why they're considered to be at that level anyway), but you still need a good coach to be able to win something (see Roy Williams taking Matt Doherty's roster and turning them into champions).
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Tubby Smith wasn't a good coach?
 
NHUConnfan said:
Ask Notre Dame football how their "blue blood" status has worked with their coach's recruiting in the past 20 years... :D
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ND still gets recruits even though they have sucked for years. I'm not saying that being considered a blue blood guarantees success. What I am saying is that being regarded as one of the traditional powers in a sport makes the job a destination job and makes the school one that is considered by lots of kids. I think UConn is really, really close, but I don't think they are quite there yet. I do think that there is a decent chance that they get there by the time Calhoun retires. UConn has been a great program and had a ton of success and put a ton of kids in the NBA for awhile now. I think they're in good shape.
 
UConn5 said:
ND still gets recruits even though they have sucked for years. I'm not saying that being considered a blue blood guarantees success. What I am saying is that being regarded as one of the traditional powers in a sport makes the job a destination job and makes the school one that is considered by lots of kids. I think UConn is really, really close, but I don't think they are quite there yet. I do think that there is a decent chance that they get there by the time Calhoun retires. UConn has been a great program and had a ton of success and put a ton of kids in the NBA for awhile now. I think they're in good shape.
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I don't know if I'd say though that a blue blood program weighs more than a coach does. It doesn't explain how great recruits go to mediocre programs - like Memphis when Cal was there and Texas with Rick Barnes.
 
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