S16 Who to root for (guide)

[ConnHuskBask]

This thread baffles me. I am not so insecure as a UConn fan to have to root against teams that are peers in order for me to feel better about UConn or due to perverse logic of thinking losses by peers makes the public perception of UConn higher. To me this is almost BCU-esque thinking. Generally speaking once UConn has lost it matters exceptionally little for UConn what anyone else does.

Wow, lol you are really over thinking this. There's no "perverse logic" going on here or any basketball "insecurities" either.

Its quite simple: I don't want our rivals to win and if I'm looking at a list of the best programs of all time, I'd rather have UConn higher than lower.

Hope that explanation doesn't baffle you lol.

 

[HuskyFan16]

First off, Calhoun is already in the HOF... hes not going to be the all time win leader or championship winner so there is really no point in me careing what other coaches do (sans the Squid/Boeheim but that should be obvious, and if its not too bad, I just told you it is). Second, if we are to remain conference mates with Louisville/Cinci it helps us more than it hurts us to have an image of conference strength. If were not to remain conference mates, who the hell cares if they win it because that means we will be off in some better conference.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Wow, lol you are really over thinking this. There's no "perverse logic" going on here or any basketball "insecurities" either.

Its quite simple: I don't want our rivals to win and if I'm looking at a list of the best programs of all time, I'd rather have UConn higher than lower.

Hope that explanation doesn't baffle you lol.

The below is definitely over-thinking it, but I think you are both under-thinking it (haters gonna hate) and over-thinking it (again who wins doesn't effect UConn one iota).

By baffled what I mean is I truly don't feel the same as fans that seem to enjoy losses by other teams as much as wins by their own. I comprehend it, but I don't enjoy rooting against teams or outcomes that fun or compelling. I'm not totally immune to rooting against teams and I find Dook's players arrogant therefore easy to root against, but I am not rooting against them to keep a mental scorecard on how their NCAA performance over the past 10yrs stacks up against UConn's. Anyway, importantly you did suggest teams to root FOR so happily I am not entirely befuddled

Sports radio and fan debate have seemingly created an ongoing list of teams and players that are the best of all-time or elite or whatever but I don't find this compelling. There is no Sagarin or Pomeroy rating of top college basketball teams of all-time and even if there were it would be a meaningless fiction.

For example lots of people around Boston wanted the Patriots to win the 2012 Super Bowl because theoretically Tom Brady would vault into the hypothetical conversation with Joe Montana as best QB of all-time. Similarly they really didn't want to lose to Eli Manning because that would mean he is a legitimate 'elite QB'. I truly do not understand why either would possibly matter to people. Brady seems to be doing OK regardless of accolades and even doesn't seem to care about indvidual accomplishments much (ie he is not Ted Williams with goal of wanting people to say "there goes the greatest hitter that ever lived") . Point is that if the person involved cares less about it then the fans due this illustrates that its a totally superficial argument.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I believe there is no "winner"

If there no "winner," then wouldn't Connecticut enter the 2012-2013 season as most recent defending champion?

 

[HuskyHawk]

The below is definitely over-thinking it, but I think you are both under-thinking it (haters gonna hate) and over-thinking it (again who wins doesn't effect UConn one iota).

By baffled what I mean is I truly don't feel the same as fans that seem to enjoy losses by other teams as much as wins by their own. I comprehend it, but I don't enjoy rooting against teams or outcomes that fun or compelling. I'm not totally immune to rooting against teams and I find Dook's players arrogant therefore easy to root against, but I am not rooting against them to keep a mental scorecard on how their NCAA performance over the past 10yrs stacks up against UConn's. Anyway, importantly you did suggest teams to root FOR so happily I am not entirely befuddled

Sports radio and fan debate have seemingly created an ongoing list of teams and players that are the best of all-time or elite or whatever but I don't find this compelling. There is no Sagarin or Pomeroy rating of top college basketball teams of all-time and even if there were it would be a meaningless fiction.

For example lots of people around Boston wanted the Patriots to win the 2012 Super Bowl because theoretically Tom Brady would vault into the hypothetical conversation with Joe Montana as best QB of all-time. Similarly they really didn't want to lose to Eli Manning because that would mean he is a legitimate 'elite QB'. I truly do not understand why either would possibly matter to people. Brady seems to be doing OK regardless of accolades and even doesn't seem to care about indvidual accomplishments much (ie he is not Ted Williams with goal of wanting people to say "there goes the greatest hitter that ever lived") . Point is that if the person involved cares less about it then the fans due this illustrates that its a totally superficial argument.

In this case, if you think about what our coach wants, he probaby does not want Cal to win one, and is probably pulling for his good friend Boeheim in Syracuse. He gets along well with Roy Williams too from what I understand.

I think the more logical approach are worried about competition, is to want to keep the titles among those schools that won't benefit from them. UK, UNC, KU and Syracuse probably don't get much recruiting bounce from a title. Or Michigan State for that matter. IU, despite the great history, probably gets a decent bounce in recruiting since they've been in a down cycle for a decade. So would NC State and Marquette. For schools like Cincy or Baylor it would make a huge difference in reputation.

For me it's an easy call, as I've got a degree from one of the remaining schools, and was a student season ticket holder for 3 years.

 

[champs99and04]

Cincy and Louisville are the two teams that have my support. I've really gained a lot of respect for Mick Cronin this season, I think Yancy Gates is a good kid who made a mistake, and it seems like they're in the Big East for the time being. Louisville because it would be hilarious to read the reaction of UK fans if Pitino ended up with two titles to Calipari's zero. I don't love Pitino, but Louisville has never been a school that's really bothered them and they've kind of got the cute "little brother" thing going in their rivalry with UK.

Really, anybody but UK or Cuse. I'm not a huge fan of UNC but it's a heck of a lot better that they win it than Duke, Kentucky, or Cuse.

 

[Dogdeacon]

[I think the more logical approach are worried about competition, is to want to keep the titles among those schools that won't benefit from them. UK, UNC, KU and Syracuse probably don't get much recruiting bounce from a title. Or Michigan State for that matter. IU, despite the great history, probably gets a decent bounce in recruiting since they've been in a down cycle for a decade. So would NC State and Marquette. For schools like Cincy or Baylor it would make a huge difference in reputation.]

Good point, illustrates exactly why I think the analysis/historical ranking of team resumes is a fiction. Not many 17yrs olds are selecting Kansas because of Phog Allen's championships. Or Dook hasn't exactly received a talent bounce from their most recent title (to be fair maybe UConn hasn't either).

BE defenders may chaffe*, but I'd still rather root against Wisconsin than anyone else left under the dislike of 48-49 rock-fight precept.

* We gotta be past this at this point. Any and every school has been up for switching conferences and we all are pretty sure UConn would jump to the new ACC if offered. However, I reserve the right for residual BCU hatred for starting the conference realignment atrocities and for doing so under the fraidy scared to compete with UConn football reasoning. Otherwise I just hate the immutable fact of conference realignment and don't blame its participants.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Honestly, all the ancillary benefits don't mean much to me when it comes to this discussion. I just want to be able to look at this and see UConn the closest to the top as possible.


UCLA 11
Kentucky 7
Indiana 5
North Carolina 5
Duke 4
Connecticut 3
Kansas 3

Cincinnati 2
Florida 2
Louisville 2
Michigan State 2
North Carolina State 2
Oklahoma A&M 2
San Francisco 2

Same goes here for Calhoun.

Most National Championships

• 10 National Championships

John Wooden(1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975)

• 4 National Championships

Adolph Rupp(1948, 1949, 1951, 1958)
Mike Krzyzewski (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010)

• 3 National Championships

Jim Calhoun(1999, 2004, 2011)
Bob Knight (1976, 1981, 1987)