Rick Pitino almost uconn coach and blast uconn forr thinking about the acc

[husky99]

“I almost went to Connecticut, it was Connecticut or UMass,” the Louisville coach told

http://www.zagsblog.com/2011/09/27/...-acc-dumbest-thing-hes-ever-heard/#more-58547

 

[alexd]

You'll have to excuse him, Pitino gets bored when he's not entertaining the ladies at his favorite restaurant.

 

[Santini35]

So what does he want to say about the rumors concerning Lville being courted by the Big 12?

 

[metsfan2323]

I wish Pitino were the Big East Commissioner, he at least seems to have a passion for the league.

We need a leader to rally the troops. Right now everyone is in full retreat. Who is going to stand up and say follow me? Who is this league's US Grant, George Patton, Makers Muppet?

 

[aceboon]

I love how he credits the Big East conference for taking the school to where it is now and not Calhoun.

 

[MattMang23]

Minor correction: The title of the thread is incorrect. Pitino is not talking about almost coaching UConn, he's saying he almost played there.

 

[caw]

http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/092611aaa.html

One reason I don't want to join the ACC, you end up doing silly things like the above and Duke raising #1 AP poll regular season banners. I hope UConn doesn't give rings out for winning a regular season, but I guess UConn doesn't need those two things, they get rings and banners for winning the NCAA tournament.

 

[eos91]

The biggest problem I see is that when you "save" the Big East, you are doing it by spreading the schools over a bigger area.
The cost for all sports will be high and the damage to the student athlete will be significant. To top it off, they need to change
the distribution of money from big contracts... UConn can't sit by and subsidize the schools that haven't been a factor in BE
sports for a very long time. Travel & better allocation of cash... as another note, they have been accepting schools that don't
have stellar academic reputations... As UConn rises among the academic ranks this factor has to be considered.

While I cringe at the thought of the ACC, what they have is as follows: better academic reputation (as a whole), more money
per school, an ACC north would significantly reduce travel for all sports, and it would allow us to keep our biggest rivalries
and always play SU and Pitt twice per year (and we would pound BC twice per year).

Tough decision overall... we can only hope that it turns out ok...

 

[ford82]

Pitino is just trying to save his own hide. He is giving UConn a ton of props by what he is saying, and sounds envious.

 

[babysheep]

As I said in my thread, he's just desperate for attention and jealous that UConn is in the position they're in where they can decide on a whim to change conferences, have a good shot at getting the move, and will have and instant impact on the conference. Louisville is simply nowhere near as attractive as UConn is right now, and Pitino, always with a bone to pick against UConn, is a little (or maybe a lot) butthurt about it.

 

[upstater]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Adios]

Pitino pretty much wishes he never left Kentucky to end up in Louisville??

 

[zls44]

UConn does give out rings for winning the conference.

 

[CL82]

Pitino pretty much wishes he never left Kentucky to end up in Louisville??

You caught that huh? I wonder how that statement is playing in Louisville -here's the quote:

With that being said, how can you want to leave? Why would you want to leave? My biggest mistake I made in my life is when I left Camelot [Kentucky]” to lead the Boston Celtics in 1997.

On behalf of all Celtic fans let me say that we thought it was a pretty big mistake as well.

 

[uconNYC]

Pitinos point is that UConn is already winning everything in the Big East, why move? Meanwhile Syracuse and Pitt are pretty mediocre programs. Below is a list of Big East championships won in the last decade. Massive drop-off after UConn. Pitt only has 3 titles. So he is saying they suk anyway and can't blame them for leaving as they will continue to suk in the ACC but at least get some money out of it. What the table below also shows me is that Notre Dame desperately wants UConn and Louisville to stay in the Big East. If they leave they basically will have ZERO competition.

School Total
1. Notre Dame 56
2. Louisville 40
3. Connecticut 34
4. Syracuse 17
5. Georgetown 12
6. West Virginia 11
7. St. John’s 11
8. Villanova 6
9. Cincinnati 5
DePaul 5
USF 5
12. Marquette 3
Pittsburgh 3
Providence 3
Rutgers 3
16. Seton Hall 1

 

[mets1090]

So should Boise State, TCU, Utah etc. be content in their subpar conferences just because they are already winning them and getting some national respect? Well they've all changed conferences to seek better competition. If UConn has similar performance in the ACC across all sports as they have in the Big East they will receive more respect than they do currently. Whether or not the ACC is actually better is irrelevant. This is how it is perceived and that is all that matters. I was fine with trying to get the Big East some respect but once everyone starts jumping ship that novelty goes with them.

 

[EricLA]

So what does he want to say about the rumors concerning Lville being courted by the Big 12?

I wish Pitino were the Big East Commissioner, he at least seems to have a passion for the league.

We need a leader to rally the troops. Right now everyone is in full retreat. Who is going to stand up and say follow me? Who is this league's US Grant, George Patton, Makers Muppet?

good comments. curious he has nothing to say about L'ville possibly leaving for the Big 12 but i have to imagine he'd be strongly against it. still, i don't blame him for the comments, but if anyone really thinks the BE will still have UCONN, RU, L'ville, etc etc. in 3 years, i think they are crazy...