Providence offer

[djct1999]

I agree this should be a higher priority, but if we cannot make that happen we should schedule PC. No real reason not too.

If you are scared of them well then I do not know what to say, I certainly am not.

It has absolutely nothing to do with fear. Seriously? Why would any UConn fan fear Providence? Its about brand preservation. Something this administration has done a very poor job of. Its for the same reason why Syracuse would never schedule us. Since they are in the ACC and we are in the Big Suck, there is no real benefit for them to play us. Same situation here. Why schedule Providence? So Ed Cooley can go to recruits we are fighting for and say we offer MSG and we play UConn. It would be a fun game on the court(which is why I would do this in a second if we join a better conference) but for now, it only helps Providence and does very little for UConn.

 

[Palatine]

Absolutely, would be a game of interest for both sides. An away game that is only a bus ride. Makes good dollars and sense.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Absolutely, would be a game of interest for both sides. An away game that is only a bus ride. Makes good dollars and sense.

You need to explain yourself Pal.

If we were to schedule a football home and home with a PC comparable program, you would spend three pages complaining about how that is beneath us yet in a sport where we legitimately have equity, recent success at the highest level and name recognition (at superstar level) this move would make good sense? How?

 

[Waquoit]

I would want to hear back from Maryland-Eastern Shore before we jump into this deal.

 

[UConn76]

There is no upside for UConn. We should however try to schedule St. Johns or Rutgers in MSG or at the Barclays.

I see no reason to play Rutgers. They may be a rival in football but never on the basketball court. St. John's absolutely if it gets us a continued presence in MSG.
PC brings a lot of history to the equation...

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I see no reason to play Rutgers. They may be a rival in football but never on the basketball court. St. John's absolutely if it gets us a continued presence in MSG.
PC brings a lot of history to the equation...

I could be wrong but I believe we can schedule a one off game in the Garden against almost anyone.

I could be wrong on this as well but I don't believe our history with PC pre Big East was anything different than with any of the other original (basically, up to the Pitt addition) BE schools. I don't see how they would be more important than any of the other seven. More convenient perhaps but if convenience is important we'd be better off with Central and Q.

 

[RS9999X]

Ed Cooley was quoted last night as offering KO a home and home deal similar to what Providence has with BC. He is not optimistic that it will happen because as he said, there record here hasn't been the best lately... It would be a local game that always draws well for both teams... Thoughts?

I think we should book home and away against all the C-7 except DePaul. And SU and LU and Notre Dame. 9 games a year. Plus a Tourney, plus 3 other decent OOC teams. Fill out the rest with regional cupcakes

 

[WestHartHusk]

I see no reason to play Rutgers. They may be a rival in football but never on the basketball court. St. John's absolutely if it gets us a continued presence in MSG.
PC brings a lot of history to the equation...

Get on the B1G TV sets, keep our brand in front of their face. This would be especially a good idea if we can package it with a football series.

 

[Durks07]

Play PC OOC?

Upside: Every schedule needs some low-quality mid-major "fodder"
Downside: PC is a low-quality mid-major

 

[UCweCONN]

I say no. A series with UCONN benefits Providence WAY more than it does us. Do we need this game for exposure in the huge Providence market?? No. If they want a game, play us in Gampel. Otherwise, I have no problem with us never playing them again.

 

[Waquoit]

Ed Cooley was quoted last night as offering KO a home and home deal

Why is he lobbying for this in the media? Is he trying to be Squid Jr? FWIW, before the Big East came along and Providence had a bit of heat, they would never play UConn.

 

[UConnSwag11]

we need to strengthen our ooc schedule as much as possible, this will not help

 

[Fishy]

I'd schedule it.

Why not?

It's an easy road game for both sets of fans - this isn't rocket science.

 

[UCDaveD]

I'd schedule them right after Fr. Shanley gets down on his knees and kisses Calhoun's championship rings.

 

[tzznandrew]

we need to strengthen our ooc schedule as much as possible, this will not help

I looked at KenPom, and going back to 2003, PC was only outside the Top 100 once--and even then, they were in the top 150.

They aren't a powerhouse, but they're way better than Maryland Eastern-Shore.

We need to schedule some teams like that to make sure we keep basketball afloat (RPI-wise). Also, it would keep up fan interest.

 

[alexd]

Nice. He wins a couple post season games for the first time in D1 coaching career (does the NIT really count?) and he's offering a home and home to the school that was the face of the conference for 2 decades and has as many national championships in the past 15 years as his school has NCAA tourney victories. He must think he's doing UConn a favor.

 

[TRest]

Why is he lobbying for this in the media? Is he trying to be Squid Jr? FWIW, before the Big East came along and Providence had a bit of heat, they would never play UConn.

If he is already posturing about how we might not want to play in the Dunk because of some past success they have had there, then screw him in the pants. Like UMass it's a game their fanbase desperately needs.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I looked at KenPom, and going back to 2003, PC was only outside the Top 100 once--and even then, they were in the top 150.

They aren't a powerhouse, but they're way better than Maryland Eastern-Shore.

We need to schedule some teams like that to make sure we keep basketball afloat (RPI-wise). Also, it would keep up fan interest.

agreed better than MES, i guess so but i would want to make sure we schedule as many top ooc opponents so pc doesnt take up a game, if that makes sense? hope im saying it right

 

[upstater]

I think we should book home and away against all the C-7 except DePaul. And SU and LU and Notre Dame. 9 games a year. Plus a Tourney, plus 3 other decent OOC teams. Fill out the rest with regional cupcakes

This would doom UConn to irrelevancy. The C& is locked in with Fox. CBS can't double dip under your formula (i.e. show UConn against one of its national teams). This would mean the BEST OOC games would be against the Catholics. No thanx. That would suck. Even worse, the program would be revenue deprived with all these home and homes.

You've basically outlined the worst of both worlds. Crappier competition AND less money.

 

[upstater]

agreed better than MES, i guess so but i would want to make sure we schedule as many top ooc opponents so pc doesnt take up a game, if that makes sense? hope im saying it right

You are. I agree with you. I don't see it. There are only so many OOC home-and-homes that UConn can afford to schedule. I'm thinking 4, or 5 max. Esp. when you count the holiday tourneys. 7 or 8 OOCs against top comp. + 18 conference games leaves you with only 3 or 4 cupcakes. That's not enough for the bottom line: $$$.

UConn should definitely call some others ahead of Providence though: G'town and St. John's. They might not want to play however.

 

[upstater]

CBS wants to show 6 network TV conference OOC games.

Who plays?

Memphis v. Tennessee is one.
Cincy v. Xavier? Or is that ESPN. That's ESPN.
Temple and?

Uh?

You better believe this means UConn plays 2 CBS network games.

Against whom?

There's the kicker. Very likely, UConn will have to schedule 3 or 4 home-and-homes against top competition a year in order to give CBS its 2 needed home games.

I'm sorry, Providence is not going to cut it, especially when you add 2 or 3 holiday tourney games.

7 OOC games against top comp is more than anyone else outside of maybe MSU schedules.

 

[tzznandrew]

CBS wants to show 6 network TV conference OOC games.

Who plays?

Memphis v. Tennessee is one.
Cincy v. Xavier? Or is that ESPN. That's ESPN.
Temple and?

Uh?

You better believe this means UConn plays 2 CBS network games.

Against whom?

There's the kicker. Very likely, UConn will have to schedule 3 or 4 home-and-homes against top competition a year in order to give CBS its 2 needed home games.

I'm sorry, Providence is not going to cut it, especially when you add 2 or 3 holiday tourney games.

7 OOC games against top comp is more than anyone else outside of maybe MSU schedules.

If we have a series of games against good teams, then fine. If we're playing Kansas or UNC or UK or others, fine. I know your points, and largely agree. For money reasons, you do need to have some cupcakes. And I certainly don't think we should fill up our schedule with former BE teams.

But if there's an opportunity to schedule PC, I don't think it should be avoided unless there's a compelling reason.

 

[upstater]

If we have a series of games against good teams, then fine. If we're playing Kansas or UNC or UK or others, fine. I certainly don't think we should fill up our schedule with former BE teams.

But if there's an opportunity to schedule PC, I don't think it should be avoided unless there's a compelling reason.

My problem is that there are only so many OOC games you can schedule. If I'm reading the CBS deal right, UConn might have the chance for 2 network games--which means 4 OOC against top competition (i.e. home and home). Providence would not qualify. Not good enough. And then you have 2 or 3 holiday games, if not more. UConn would have very little space for the smaller teams that make so much money.

If the CBS deal isn't what's been described in the news, UConn might actually be hurting for OOC competition and may NEED to schedule Providence. But if CBS wants UConn on network, they have to play someone, don't they?

 

[djct1999]

I see no reason to play Rutgers. They may be a rival in football but never on the basketball court. St. John's absolutely if it gets us a continued presence in MSG.
PC brings a lot of history to the equation...

If we could schedule Rutgers at the Barclays Center it would help maintain a presence in NYC versus. UConn needs to continously feed the NYC pipeline.

 

[Yonick]

Curious to the supposed timing of Cooley's offer and subsequent prediction. It's less than 24 hours after his last game of the season. And before he gets an answer he predicts this series won't happen because of our lack of success at the dunk.
I do believe we won this years game there. I also think he's trying to shame us into playing there.
It's a damned if you don't, or damned if you do situation.
If we don't play them they'll say we're ducking them. If we do play them we give up the chance to play a Kansas, or even Georgetown or St. Johns at the Garden.
My guess is we'll play them on a rotating basis every 2-3 years along with Nova, G'town & St. Johns. Anything is better than New Hampshire in Dec. at the XL in front of 5,000 fans.