Should UConn Accept Tennessee's Scheduling Request (If Made)?

[Carnac]

View attachment 21056

It's been said many times that a picture is worth a thousand words. A brief glance at this picture (given the topic of this thread), and you immediately understand the thought behind it.

 

[Carnac]

I believe that Vanderbilt is the school that tried to get the NCAA to sanction UConn because Geno congratulated a grammar school athlete ( I don't remember her name but I think she played baseball), on her success and her love of UConn women's basketball. I would tell Vandy to go screw itself.

Mo'ne Davis - during her world famous run/achievements in the Boy's little league world series several years ago.

 

[SallyH]

I don't see Geno scheduling a game with Tennessee, because he felt they falsely accused Maya's mother and Maya herself of violations.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I'd like to see Geno prioritize his OOC games with programs that have coaches that can grow and improve the women's college basketball game. Hopefully he can find the next Vanderveer, Walz,Staley etc who through a UCONN series can elevate their program. I don't think Warlick /Tennessee meet that test.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Come on UCONN, come out to the state of Oregon, and play both OSU & UO? Maybe you could do a little recruiting while you are in our beautiful state.

Oh, I don't know. I don't think you have our best interests in mind. But I sure do enjoy the way you folks in Oregon are getting better at BBall.

 

[j66kicker]

Sure- if Geno thinks the game can help UCONN and if his conditions are met.

IMO Geno has earned the right to set the conditions for any game.

Suggested conditions (ALL of which must be met):
- Pat comes back from the dead and apologizes personally
- Hell freezes over
- Etc.

 

[1-of-the-6]

Mo'ne Davis - during her world famous run/achievements in the Boy's little league world series several years ago.

View attachment 21068

I saw her pitch in the LLWS against the team from Chicago. Great kid, and her dream is to play point guard at UCONN. I hope she makes it.

 

[Bestiarius]

Abolutely yes. The rest of the arguments have been rehashed here and elsewhere.

The short answer is no. The long answer is nope.

 

[LesMis89]

No.

Playing Tennessee in their current configuration serves no positive benefit for WCBB. Playing them right now is akin to the clamor for the Beatles to reunite. Even if they had reunited it wouldn't have been the same.

FWIW, most VolNation posters don't want to play us either. Many think it would be a UConn blow out. One pointed out the Lady Vols needed to figure out how to beat Alabama first which I thought was an amusing way of putting it.

 

[toadfoot]

If the school offers an apology for their atrocious, unwarranted claims, then yes. (I don't see that happening.)

Total agreement. The apology should be from the current coaching staff, the AD's office, the UT administration and it should be made publicly fully acknowledging that the complaints were completely groundless. Until then, UT can go to hell.

 

[Fishy]

Tennessee doesn't want to schedule UConn. Even if they wanted to schedule UConn, they really, really do not want to schedule UConn.

Nothing would put a spotlight on how far they've faded than having UConn hang a 100-55 beating on them.

But from my perspective, sure, sign 'em up. Schedule it for November with the rest of the preseason cannon fodder.

 

[ConnPepper]

Let bygones be bygones! Let's schedule the game.

 

[JavaMan]

...Java, man you are brave.

I didn't write the article. Nor did I propose that we should or shouldn't do something. I'm just the messenger. VolNation also has a thread going regarding the article. Kinda interesting reading both.

​

 

[mdakota]

Uconn should REFUSE to play them ---if they refuse in the regular season--it should always be true---no scheduling of Tenn
at any time for any reason---even the NC.

No... they shouldn't refuse to play them if they meet in the NCAA Tourney... They just need to play Uconn ball and that'll be the end of it... Nothing a good butt whooping can't fix.... or several of them lol

 

[Plebe]

Not while Holly is the coach, UCONN would demolish them in a game. If they replace Holly with a outsider then I would bet Geno would give that new coach a chance.

UConn demolishing Tennessee would be a reason TO renew the series, IMO. My absolute favorite UConn-Tennessee games of all time were the 2000 final and the 2002 semifinal, magnificent beatdowns the both of them.

 

[UConnNick]

I don't see Geno scheduling a game with Tennessee, because he felt they falsely accused Maya's mother and Maya herself of violations.

It's really pretty amazing that a school that's commited so many NCAA violations, leaving a trail of manure behind them big enough to fertilize the Sahara Desert, tried to cast stones at anybody else. Let's also not forget the deplorable way their athletic dept. responded to the Peyton Manning "teabagging" locker room incident. That one cost them a six figure settlement. The entire athletic dept. had zero respect for women and promoted that culture for many years. Good grief.

 

[Jimbo]

Let's not forget that Tennessee and ESPN were both reportedly on board with reviving the rivalry a couple years ago. Then somebody asked Geno about it, and he said this:

"I haven’t gotten any phone calls from anyone about it. I don’t go to bed every night wondering when we are going to play Tennessee again. I don’t care whether we ever play them again. That game means nothing to me. It might mean something to them and a lot of others, but those people are decreasing every year. We’ve moved on. Our rivalry with Notre Dame is just as good, if not better than any rivalry we’ve had with anyone. If someone is out there actively trying to put that [Tennessee] game back together, I wish them all the luck in the world. Me personally? I could care less if it never happens again. I could care less and I won’t bend over backwards to make it happen, either."

To which Holly replied, "It's no big deal. If he doesn't want to play, it's perfectly fine with me. I will not beg someone to play, especially not UConn."

Whereupon, the cold war apparently resumed.

Tennessee-UConn? Auriemma Says Forget It
UConn Women's Insider: Tennessee Coach Won't 'Beg' Huskies To Play

I'm on record on this board as being among those who don't particularly care whether we ever play Tennessee again. I especially don't see how playing them again helps us at this point. As I posted recently on another thread, we'd stand to gain very little if we blew them out, and any other result would only help Tennessee. It is telling that Mr. Adams came right out and said, "UT needs UConn now." That may be right, but we don't need them. I do understand and respect the argument that a resumption of the rivalry would be good for the sport. To me, though, that rings hollow in this particular circumstance; I seriously doubt Tennessee was thinking about the good of the sport when they smeared innocent people and tried their best to torpedo our program with a barrage of falsehoods, conjecture, innuendo, and other miscellaneous nonsense. As far as I'm concerned, their program can rot, wither, and die.

Despite all that, I'm not in the "hell no" camp. I'm perfectly content to stand with Geno on this issue. If, at some future point, he deems it appropriate to put Tennessee on the schedule, I'll be on board. I expect that would entail some sort of apology from Tennessee, at least to Maya and her family, and so I'm not exactly holding my breath for it to happen anytime soon. Still, if and when Geno's fine with scheduling them again, so am I. But not a minute sooner.

 

[UcMiami]

Playing TN anytime in the foreseeable future just makes no sense to me - if it happens in an NCAA fine, but otherwise ... cannot drink from the same river twice. It was a great rivalry when it was happening because from 1995 - 2008 while it was happening both teams were permanent residence of the top ten and usually the top 3. 11 of 14 championships during that period were won by one or the other team and most of the games were 1 vs. 2.

Uconn has maintained that status, TN has fallen off. Uconn vs. ND comes closest to that standard, with Uconn vs SC, and Uconn vs. Baylor pretty close. A Uconn vs. TN game would be a pale shadow of what it once was, and would be a serious anti-climax.

As to the premise put forth in the article that it would help TN by exposing the team and coaches to a higher standard. Hogwash. The only way it would help is if it was the expected beat down, and the write-ups afterwords were brutal - it might force the ADs hand to get a new coach in.

 

[pacific 44]

I would make a deal with them.They have to sign Holly to a 15 year contract and we will play them all 15 years on campus.Also they would have to do two other things.
1.They would have to purchase at least 100 handbags and
2.They would have to leave campus dressed in UCONN paraphernalia.

 

[Bayareahusky]

This question keeps coming up pretty regularly.... and I always think and say..... Tennessee tried to dismantle our program.... kill it..... that is not an overstatement....

and then they have hidden behind the "Geno knows why" from Pat.... which Geno happily addressed.....

No violation came from it, aside from secondary thing on setting up tour at ESPN....

Tennessee unloaded the guns at us.... and we expect an apology... failing that, the issue seems dead

 

[DaddyChoc]

They should only play if they meet post season.

 

[jdubct]

This comes up year after year particularly at tournament time. Geno has indicated more than a few times that this will not likely ever happen while he is coaching.

 

[meyers7]

 

[jdubct]

The newspaper makes a strong case for why Tennessee should schedule Uconn. Uconn's ongoing rivalries include Notre Dame, Baylor and South Carolina and strong teams such as Texas. There is nothing to be gained on the basketball court or other benchmarks such as strength of schedule to warrant even considering playing Tennessee.

 

[meyers7]

As far as I'm concerned, their program can rot, wither, and die.