Purdue banner hanging

[CTBasketball]

We’ve become so entitled

 

[Tenspro2002]

UNC has been to 21 Final Fours and won it all only 6 times? Duke 17 times and only 5 championships? Chumps.

I guess that's not awful. By definition, you'd expect a team making the Final Four to win the championship 1/4 of the time. They're slightly ahead of pace.

We're just ridiculously, ridiculously ahead of pace.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I would like a few more Final4's.

If you want people to stop questioning Blue Blood status, it would be help not to be in double digits here.

Teams with Most Final4's Appearances
1 North Carolina 21
2 UCLA 19
3 Kentucky 17
3 Duke 17
5 Kansas 16
6 Michigan State 10
6 Louisville 10
6 Ohio State 10
9 Indiana 8
9 Michigan 8
11 Villanova 7
11 UConn 7

Before March 2024 we were tied with 5 other teams with 6.

Nobody is better than UConn once we get there. It really is remarkable. That said, getting there often is a good thing.

 

[ctchamps]

"Arrogant and spoiled' in a nutshell

And Obnoxious.

 

[Kitaman]

Be classy, we were in a 'drought' not that long ago. Imagine a lifetime drought like Purdue and others are enduring. Champions can show compassion and pity to those less fortunate.

Plus there is only one Championship trophy/banner awarded which is ours, but we needed Purdue to achieve it. So, congrats to Purdue!

 

[6in25]

Maybe the Purdue coaching staff will look at it as motivation for the returning players and the teams that come after them - not so much as an achievement. Shove it in their faces how close they were to a natty to motivate them to be better and work harder. I feel like that's what DH would do.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I have zero problem with programs hanging a national runner-up banner. For FF's? You get one banner and can keep adding years to it. You don't get a separate banner each time you make the FF.

These are the rules of the bar.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

"Arrogant and spoiled' in a nutshell

I always wondered if the Bacon Jalapeno Mac and Cheese kid was on the boneyard!

 

[Storrs South]

UConn has a 2009 FF Plaque on the wall. Don’t be that guy.

Not anymore! That along with all the years outside of Championships have been removed as part of the reno.

 

[CL82]

Final Fours are big. I want to be getting one of those every couple of years mixed in with natties. We need them to cement ourselves as the best in history.

Pretty sure you do that by winning and not by being the most successful "also ran."

 

[CL82]

I always wondered if the Bacon Jalapeno Mac and Cheese kid was on the boneyard!

Hmmm, Which Boneyard poster is most likely to be "Bacon Jalapeno Mac and Cheese Kid?" would be an excellent off-season thread/poll.

 

[CL82]

So, congrats to Purdue

To our boilermaker friends, I say:

 

[willie99]

UConn has a 2009 FF Plaque on the wall. Don’t be that guy.

A plaque and a banner raising ceremony are not the same

Having said that, I think Purdue should be proud of their achievement

Hey, the Whalers had a parade for winning one series

 

[Palatine]

Call the Olympic committee. Tell them that silver and bronze medal winners are just losers who deserve participation ribbons.

 

[DogMania]

Did they hang it next to the 2023 second 1 seed to lose to a 16 seed banner? . (Okay, that was a cheepshot that I'm not very proud of.)

On a serious note, I don't see anything wrong with them hanging that banner. I don't want us UConn fans to come across as arrogant poor winners. When we first started showing success throughout the 90s, albeit continually falling short of the Final Four (sans 99), I'm sure we had Elite 8 and Sweet 16 banners and/or trophies displayed prominently somewhere. Now that we've won a half dozen national championships, the bar is much higher for our program. Something we should celebrate but not put down other programs that haven't had nearly the same success, unless they're Syracuse, Boston College or other programs that have thrown mud at us in the past.

 

[Dogstar]

Should we remove the bowl banners at the Rent if we didn't win the game?

Good Point

 

[DogMania]

Maybe the Purdue coaching staff will look at it as motivation for the returning players and the teams that come after them - not so much as an achievement. Shove it in their faces how close they were to a natty to motivate them to be better and work harder. I feel like that's what DH would do.

I see it as an achievement. Think about what all the programs last year, including 2 of the other F4 teams weren't able to achieve.

It's also a great recruiting tool, showing them how close they got to winning it all, and how they can be part of their future that puts them over the top. They just have to hope their recruits don't remember 2023.

 

[CL82]

Call the Olympic committee. Tell them that silver and bronze medal winners are just losers who deserve participation ribbons.

No need to, they're already giving them out.

 

[CL82]

Good Point

It is, if his point is that Purdue basketball is essentially equivalent to Connecticut football.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I'm curious as to how many of those poking fun ar Purdue hanging that banner were fully invested in the program during the decades leading up to our first title.

I still vividly remember wondering (after the loss to Miss St) if we'd ever make it to a final four. I still vividly remember the anxiety I felt a few years later, down the stretch in the regional finals against a Gonzaga team (when they were only known for Bibg Crosby and John Stockton) that wouldn't go away. Wondering what we did to the powers of the universe to continually punish us.

Yes, we have reached a point where quite a few of the ultimate banners fly over our home courts but that doesn't mean that for nearly every school in the country making it as far as Purdue did last year isn't an accomplishment worth praising.

 

[UC0NN]

Of course Purdue should celebrate this. #2 is amazing. They might not win a chip in the rest of this century. Uconn fans are so entitled.

I am a fan since forever. After 1990 Dream season and all those great teams we had, a single final 4 banner in Gampel would have meant the world to me at that time. Especially from where the program has come from. I still get nightmares of Laetner.

 

[UC0NN]

Our 2009 team was phenomenal, as were many other Uconn teams that never won a title. They should be recognized for sure.

 

[JerseyAlum]

I would like a few more Final4's.

If you want people to stop questioning Blue Blood status, it would be help not to be in double digits here.

Teams with Most Final4's Appearances
1 North Carolina 21
2 UCLA 19
3 Kentucky 17
3 Duke 17
5 Kansas 16
6 Michigan State 10
6 Louisville 10
6 Ohio State 10
9 Indiana 8
9 Michigan 8
11 Villanova 7
11 UConn 7

Before March 2024 we were tied with 5 other teams with 6.

All I read is UConn: 6/7 in Final Fours to Natty!

 

[JerseyAlum]

Call the Olympic committee. Tell them that silver and bronze medal winners are just losers who deserve participation ribbons.

Well, I wouldn't go that far: IMHO Final Fours are made-up construct of the tourney and shouldn't be all that amazing - basically it says you are one of the top 4 teams is all.

Natty's #1 (e.g., winner)
Natty participant #2 (e.g., loser)
Conference post season champ
Conference reg season champ

Else why not celebrate making it to the Elite 8 - another tournament construct