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Message: [QUOTE="uconnbaseball, post: 2706898, member: 412"] I'd like to address several points made in this thread regarding Connecticut baseball. 1. [B]UConn is at a natural disadvantage in recruiting compared to southern schools [/B] UConn recruits MUCH better than you guys think. There has always been talent in Connecticut, Mass, Rhode Island, New York, etc. Just look at George Springer, Tim Cate, Anthony Kay, etc. Also, Penders isn't Edsall; he is consistently able to land recruits that big time programs want. He has two All Americans (Pat Winkel, Michael Burrows) coming in and some other very touted players as well. I would be surprised if next year's class wasn't rated in the Top 25, much like the 2013 class was. The two biggest disadvantages to recruiting here are J.O. Christian Field (mercifully getting a big upgrade, so this will no longer be an issue soon), and fan apathy. If the 2nd problem holds the program back long term, fine: but it isn't a UConn baseball problem, it's a UConn fan problem. I just wanted to make that clear. 2. [B]The bad weather is a huge disadvantage!!! [/B] Why? If anything, it's a [I]good[/I] thing for UConn. Southern schools in conference play respond very poorly to bad weather when they play in Storrs, and all those early season road games boosts our RPI and make the team battle tested for conference play. UConn and other Northern schools are typically rusty to start the year, but that effect only lasts for 1-2 weeks...not exactly a big deal. Also, in regards to Southern schools rigging the sport...yea, the season should start and end later on in the year, but I don't think Florida and Texas are preoccupied trying to keep us down. In addition, we did host a regional as a 2 seed several years back! UConn, Indiana, and St. John's have all had Omaha caliber clubs over the past decade, and it is a combination of bad luck and close losses that have kept any from reaching Omaha. 3. [B]I don't want to watch games in cold weather [/B] I get skipping a midweek game vs. Fairfield due to weather, but really? 50 degree weather is gonna stop people from coming out to Hartford to watch a ranked UConn team take on the traditional baseball powerhouses in this conference? I went to the Friday game vs. Tulane and the crowd was depressing. There were some people at the game, sure (although there were much more for Saturday's game) but half the crowd took shelter from sprinkles in the terrace, killing whatever atmosphere we could have had. I see the weather excuse all the time for underwhelming home attendance, and I hate it more than anything. In summary, UConn has some mild and overstated limitations that it has easily been able to overcome, and the last, and easily most difficult hurdle is getting apathetic UConn fans to actually care about this traditionally strong and currently ranked ballclub. End rant. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach