Rutgers got the B1G invite for what?!?

[CTGoonie]

According this this article http://www.onthebanks.com/2014/3/27/5554602/your-welcome-rutgers it was for an NIT game at MSG ten years ago. If that is all it takes we should be in by Tuesday.

 

[husky210]

Mother of god. Points to rutgers chants echoing through msg and penn station for a NIT game as being, at that moment, on par with the Knicks as new yorks team.

Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor

 

[UConn9604]

That's kind of like our 1988 run, but without the 31-6 year two years later, or the seven Big East Tournament titles, or the four Final Fours, or the three national championships...

So, yeah.

 

[uconndogs]

Rutgers is in NJ and UCONN is in CT. That is the reason Rutgers is in the B1G and UCONN the AAC. If performance and fan support (let alone basketball attendance) mattered all that much, my guess is the university that stacks national championships like cord wood and gets 10,000 at women's hoops games would be in the B1G or ACC.

 

[JayRU09]

Um.............no.

If the names 'Schiano, Mulachy, Pernetti, and Ray Rice [maybeeee Brian Leonard]' are not mentioned as the reasons we're in the B1G it's wrong.

Yeah, location is the prime factor, but without the stadium expansion and showing a glimpse of our potential we wouldn't be where we are.

 

[UConn9604]

Rutgers is in NJ and UCONN is in CT. That is the reason Rutgers is in the B1G and UCONN the AAC. If performance and fan support (let alone basketball attendance) mattered all that much, my guess is the university that stacks national championships like cord wood and gets 10,000 at women's hoops games would be in the B1G or ACC.

This is true, but it's not just that Rutgers in New Jersey -- it's that Rutgers is in the NYC DMA.

If Storrs were in Stamford and not Mansfield, we wouldn't be having this discussion today.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Um...no.

If the names 'Schiano, Mulachy, Pernetti, and Ray Rice [maybeeee Brian Leonard]' are not mentioned as the reasons we're in the B1G it's wrong.

Yeah, location is the prime factor, but without the stadium expansion and showing a glimpse of our potential we wouldn't be where we are.

Agreed, lots of mileage out of one season.

 

[JayRU09]

This is true, but it's not just that Rutgers in New Jersey -- it's that Rutgers is in the NYC DMA.

If Storrs were in Stamford and not Mansfield, we wouldn't be having this discussion today.

Which is the thing with UCONN. It's not close enough to NYC to really claim NYC as its home (though Syracuse tries and fails at it), and while close to Boston, Boston won't ever claim UCONN.

So, and please don't hate me for this, I feel a lot of higher ups that pull the strings in conference realignment want to see if UCONN will die on the vine in not just football, but basketball as well.

 

[UConn9604]

Which is the thing with UCONN. It's not close enough to NYC to really claim NYC as its home (though Syracuse tries and fails at it), and while close to Boston, Boston won't ever claim UCONN.

So, and please don't hate me for this, I feel a lot of higher ups that pull the strings in conference realignment want to see if UCONN will die on the vine in not just football, but basketball as well.

Maybe, maybe not. In this fan's opinion, I thing the single strike against us is the hiring of Paul Pasqualoni. We tried and he failed, miserably. That's it. Everything else we do, and have done for the last 25 years, has been at a level on par with (or above) any other school in the nation. Diaco, Ollie, hockey, soccer, baseball, the practice facility, are epitomes of all that we've done, and proof that we're not going anywhere anytime soon.

To wit, and this is another of this fan's opinions: if you put these same four teams in an East Regional at the Fleet Center, I think we'd blow the roof off of that place, too. It's just what we do.

 

[UkonCornelius]

The only reason they chose Rutgers over UConn to gain the New York market is because New Jersey produces a lot more division 1 football prospects every year. It's that simple

 

[pj]

Um...no.

If the names 'Schiano, Mulachy, Pernetti, and Ray Rice [maybeeee Brian Leonard]' are not mentioned as the reasons we're in the B1G it's wrong.

Yeah, location is the prime factor, but without the stadium expansion and showing a glimpse of our potential we wouldn't be where we are.

Come on. Rutgers has been talking to the B1G for 20 years and knew what they wanted. Rutgers grew the stadium to 50,000 because the B1G wanted that as a condition of the invite. It's easy to make those investments when you know they'll pay off. It may be true that if Rutgers had thumbed its nose at the B1G and done nothing to meet their standards, they might not have gotten the invite. But it wasn't those investments that attracted the B1G. It was the New Jersey market and the proximity to NYC.

 

[JayRU09]

Actually the condition of the invite was to make a whole new stadium but Pernetti negotiated out of that.

We have been in talks with the B1G for a long time, but there is no way the Presidents vote us in unanimously without having that big season that showed that with the right opponents and a good enough team we could spark the interest of the area.

 

[UConn9604]

We have been in talks with the B1G for a long time, but there is no way the Presidents vote us in unanimously without having that big season that showed that with the right opponents and a good enough team we could spark the interest of the area.

It was six full seasons earlier (that epic third-place finish of yours). I doubt that it had much, if anything, to do with it. Also, I'd be interested in seeing proof of that "condition."

For example, what do you think got the Big Ten really fired up about Maryland? Their 2002 national championship in hoops, or their relevance in the Baltimore and D.C. television markets? The answer to that question is the same as the answer to why Rutgers got an invite.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Which is the thing with UCONN. It's not close enough to NYC to really claim NYC as its home.

Pay attention this weekend Jay.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Pay attention this weekend Jay.

Jay won't notice. Rutgers fans ignore all the thing they aren't any good at - so sports.

 

[JayRU09]

Ok? UCONN travels to the Garden, everyone knows that. I'm sure they pull in a good NYC metro rating as well.

But football drives the bus.

And 9604, of course we got in for markets. But if you really think that showing some glimpses of potential on delivering that market didn't play into the decision then you're just fooling yourself. I don't know why people keep arguing against that. We're in because of our market, but it's a much easier sell when there's some sort of proof of delivering that market. Why is that such a contentious point among UCONN fans and especially Sadexcuse fans?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The Rutgirls fan is right about one thing. ESPN is trying to destroy our athletic program.

 

[JayRU09]

Hey now, trying to be civil here :-P

Only want to feed the hate on Cuse.

 

[UConn9604]

Ok? UCONN travels to the Garden, everyone knows that. I'm sure they pull in a good NYC metro rating as well.

But football drives the bus.

And 9604, of course we got in for markets. But if you really think that showing some glimpses of potential on delivering that market didn't play into the decision then you're just fooling yourself. I don't know why people keep arguing against that. We're in because of our market, but it's a much easier sell when there's some sort of proof of delivering that market. Why is that such a contentious point among UCONN fans and especially Sadexcuse fans?

I'm not arguing against it. Of course it was a sweet story when Rutgers rose up from a century of stinking to a third-place finish. It was very, very cute.

I'm just saying that if your century of stinking had continued, you still would have very likely received an invite. The Big Ten likes AAU status and New York eyeballs. Rutgers has the former and some of the latter. Congratulations. You made it out of the deadly game of Big East Musical Chairs alive.

 

[JayRU09]

2nd place finish....

 

[BlueHen]

Two of the things that the B1G supposedly value are geography and AAU status, based on that Rutgers is a good fit. Certainly better than UConn which is an outlier and doesn't have AAU status at the moment.

Rutgers addition to the B1G makes UConn less of an outlier and may improve UConn's chances for an invite once UConn has AAU status. Who knows, maybe the B1G will invite UConn without AAU status someday.

Either way I think Rutgers to the B1G is good for UConn. I hope it works out well enough that the B1G considers more eastern expansion.

 

[Vuce]

Jay - dont take this the wrong way - but you keeping talking about "glimpses" which is another way of saying RU never really wins anything. It's market, market, market. Most pundits who dont pay attention to the nuances of conference realignment heard Rutgers was going to the Big Ten and their reaction was "Really?! Seriously?! As in Rutgers in NJ?! Is it April Fools Day?!" It's about location and that's pretty much it.

And if we are talking about "glimpses" look at what Uconn has done in football in about TEN years of existence at this level! We have WON TWO league titles! Been to numerous bowl games when EVERYONE said it would take YEARS to even sniff one. Add that to ridiculous nationwide hoops domination as well as recent national championships in soccer, field hockey, etc as cherries on top. It's all about where Rutgers is located.

 

[JayRU09]

I want more Eastern expansion. Even if it's just one team in UCONN and the west gets another member it'd be worth it for me. Really solidify the hold on NYC, it give the northeast four B1G teams to the ACC's 3, and it'd make for some good rivalries in football and basketball.

Hell imagine a six game ticket package stretching from E. Hartford to Yankee Stadium to Metlife to Piscataway to State College to College Park featuring 6 B1G teams vs. 6 Pac 12 teams, and having a similar setup on the west coast in AZ, CA, and WA.

That would be an awesome thing to do for college football on the East coast.

 

[JayRU09]

Jay - dont take this the wrong way - but you keeping talking about "glimpses" which is another way of saying RU never really wins anything. It's market, market, market. Most pundits who dont pay attention to the nuances of conference realignment heard Rutgers was going to the Big Ten and their reaction was "Really?! Seriously?! As in Rutgers in NJ?! Is it April Fools Day?!" It's about location and that's pretty much it.

Or it's saying when we play big opponents we pull in some big ratings in the NYC metro. And by 'glimpse' I mean Ohio State/PSU/Michigan should pull in monster ratings vs. a competitive Rutgers team if we have one because we pulled in fantastic ratings against Louisville, West Virginia, and USF.

Good ratings against those teams were a 'glimpse' into what could and should feasibly happen against teams that are ten times the draw of those three teams.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I do look forward to a season of Maryland and Rutgers football and basketball in the Big 10. I can't think of two expansion decisions that will look worse on the field/court than those two.