Puerto Rican Tip Off 2014 - UConn in the field

[Penfield]

Andy Katz ‏@ESPNAndyKatz1m
2014 Puerto Rico field announced: New Mexico, UConn, Boston College, College of Charleston, West Virginia, Dayton, George Mason, Texas A&M.


Not a very exciting line up, but it's a good excuse to take a trip to Puerto Rico...

 

[rs2905]

And a good excuse to blow out BC, hopefully.

 

[HuskyFan16]

That field is gross. I don't know if we are playing in this because some sort of payout? But honestly, scheduling blueblood type OOC, especially with Louisville leaving the American, is more important than ever and these early season tournaments need to be a major part of that.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Curious why we don't get invited to any of the fancy tournaments with Duke/Kentucky/MSU anymore. Maybe they're tired of their glorious programs getting whipped by us early in the season?

 

[rs2905]

Curious why we don't get invited to any of the fancy tournaments with Duke/Kentucky/MSU anymore. Maybe they're tired of their glorious programs getting whipped by us early in the season?

Remember we are in that amazing Nike tournament in 2017 w/ Duke, UNC, Michigan St., Kentucky, Florida, Ohio St., Gonzaga, Georgetown and others. Also eligible for Maui again after next year.

 

[Gurleyman]

We might have been locked into this one a couple years ago. The same people run several different tournaments, so we might have signed on with one group to be in three of their tourneys in a four-year span or something.

Going forward, we should be in good ones every year that we are in the AAC, since they only take one from each conference. We're a blueblood that doesn't take a spot from another blueblood.

 

[Dynasty]

Need to avenge that loss to New Mexico.

 

[UChusky916]

This won't help our OOC scheduling.

Next year all we have is the away game at Florida as a quality OOC game. Besides that, who do we have lined up? Our OOC schedule could be very weak.
OOC games much more important next year with UL leaving the AAC.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Not the greatest field in the world, but there are no RPI killers either. We should get three decent games there, plus true road games at Florida and Stanford, and Texas at home.

If I had to guess, I'd say we're probably trying to start at least one more series with a major conference team next year and maybe even another neutral court game similar to Michigan State/Maryland. I think if we do those two things and at least one of them is against an upper echelon team, the schedule would be in pretty good shape.

 

[upstater]

Curious why we don't get invited to any of the fancy tournaments with Duke/Kentucky/MSU anymore. Maybe they're tired of their glorious programs getting whipped by us early in the season?

A lot of these tournaments have rules where a team can't appear again for 5 years.

That means UConn is out next year for EA Sports Maui, 2kSports, Paradise Jam, Armed Forces Classic, Battle for Atlantis, and the PreSeason NIT.

It is eligible for Coaches V. Cancer, Hall of Fame and several others.

 

[upstater]

This won't help our OOC scheduling.

Next year all we have is the away game at Florida as a quality OOC game. Besides that, who do we have lined up? Our OOC schedule could be very weak.
OOC games much more important next year with UL leaving the AAC.

Amore reported talks with Kansas. Stanford will have a return game too.

The PR tip-off is down next year. They have a lot of good teams this year. A shame.

 

[7774]

Man, there sure are a lot of smart people in this thread. This year is barely 10% over and already they have figured out exactly how good all these teams will be next year.

 

[husky99]

Yuke more bc and other 2nd /3rd tier teams

 

[Kitaman]

Great for the team. Hell they would probably play a Div 2 team to get to Puerto Rico.

 

[Santini35]

Well the wife went to College of Charleston for Grad School, so looks like I might be going to PR next year...

 

[Kitaman]

Well the wife went to College of Charleston for Grad School, so looks like I might be going to PR next year...

I or we..........................

 

[Santini35]

I or we..........................

Well she can tag along if she wants

 

[mauconnfan]

Well she can tag along if she wants

Wife or girlfriend?

 

[B1GEast]

we can complain all we want, but the team still has to win, which they should. I think it's great for the kids to get to travel and have a good chance to win.

 

[upstater]

There are only a handful of opportunities like this. Only 5 or 6 top exempt tournaments. And the NCAA has rules against scheduling these tournaments each year.

 

[UConn Dan]

Also, Texas series is likely to resume next year.

 

[UConnDad]

Believe I read we can only go to a particular tourney every 4 years. Also only 1 team per conference at a tourney. After this year we will be the AAC team everyone wants as long as we're in the conference. The Battle 4 Atlantis is well run and at a great destination. Can't wait for our next trip there. Have to settle for MSG for now.

 

[Tenspro2002]

No embarrassingly bad teams, but not many you'd brag about beating. With our conference situation deteriorating after the departure of Louisville, we need to get into higher-caliber preseason tournaments than this. We'll be eligible for Maui in 2015, but next year we need to step it up in the OOC, with multiple blue-blood opponents.

This wouldn't be a bad time to re-open a series with UNC or Arizona, or maybe even mend fences with someone like Syracuse. If we can get Kansas, that would help immensely. But playing teams like Texas, Stanford, and Washington, in addition to a ho-hum tournament, isn't enough.

 

[tzznandrew]

That field is gross. I don't know if we are playing in this because some sort of payout? But honestly, scheduling blueblood type OOC, especially with Louisville leaving the American, is more important than ever and these early season tournaments need to be a major part of that.

Hey, remember when we all mocked the Paradise Jam, and talked about how we were going to destroy that field...

 

[rs2905]

Hey, remember when we all mocked the Paradise Jam, and talked about how we were going to destroy that field...

Hey! That Quinnipiac game was a thriller!