Should UCONN be in B1G?

[mikedog10]

Anyone that thinks Rutgers is better than Uconn isn't smart enough to be admitted to Uconn. Also, Rutgers sucks at every sport.

 

[hamster]

In all seriousness, I can end this rooster.measuring contest right now.

FB: it's a wash NJ recruiting, vs. CT commitment to winning and actuall on-field accomplishments 2>1 and 1>0 for lurking fans from the University of Southern Canada.

BB: seriously?


TV viewer's: 9M > 4M, you win. Congrats.

Academics: I'm not a news magazine or a fancy academic think tank, so I'll just use my insights as an employer who was given a resume from a graduate of each.

They're both State U's, and they're both fine, if unspectacular. A candidate who succeeded there is worth interviewing. One who struggled probably isn't. It's not like either are Stockton State or ECSU.

Better fit for the B1G: they really need both to reach their stated goals. It would mean most teams play in this area every year. Which is what turns the NE into BIG Ten country more than anything else.

Watch it with the ECSU Cracks.

 

[buggsy]

Anyone that thinks Rutgers is better than Uconn isn't smart enough to be admitted to Uconn. Also, Rutgers sucks at every sport.

Really? Three out of 4 publications that rank academics have Rutgers ahead of UCONN, and you're going to make such an asinine statement?

Plus you suck at football better than anyone else sucks at football. COnference alignment is about football. Thart is why your school is up shitt's creak.

 

[HuskyPete]

Really? Three out of 4 publications that rank academics have Rutgers ahead of UCONN, and you're going to make such an asinine statement?

Plus you suck at football better than anyone else sucks at football. COnference alignment is about football. Thart is why your school is up t's creak.

If UConn sucks then Rutgers really sucks,when was the last time Rutgers won a conference title? Last time we played...read below,

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/uconn-...lYwNzcgRwb3MDMgRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1ZJUDQwM18x

 

[FDNY99]

COnference alignment is about football. Thart is why your school is up t's creak.

Talk about asinine statements! Rutgers and Maryland were admitted to the B1G because the amount of tv sets they bring = HUGE cash in BTN suscriber fees! Get over yourselves on the football field...you are like us..not that good. It's no secret Pernetti was able to save a recruiting class AND a TON of money by hiring Flood! Mike Rice caused you serious waves with the B1G...same with first hiring Herman over the choice offered by Delany (Asst. AD from Wisconsin) and now her continuing dumpster fire issues from the Tennessee issues to her open mouth insert foot comment in front of a class full of journalism students. Don't think for a second your football program got you into the B1G! As for NYC being a Rutgers town...NYC is a basketball town (as for college football...alumni from a BUNCH of schools will gather together to watch games at certain bars that are dedicated to a specific team). College football is a secondary sport to college hoops..a FAR second! But then again if you are such an expert on the NYC sports scene you would know that!

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Rutgers was admitted to the B1G solely due to the fact UNC, UVA said no first and then due to cable tv subscribers.

That's it. 100% it.

 

[Gfunk]

Rutgers was admitted to the B1G solely due to the fact UNC, UVA said no first and then due to cable tv subscribers.

That's it. 100% it.

Rutgers was long ago on the BIG radar, before the UNC & UVa myth. They were suggested by Paterno in the late 90s and early 2000s. Also don't forget that Delany is a Jersey native. Rutgers is clearly a member based on population, potential, the sole flagship of NJ & and overall great academic institution, esp graduate schools. And recruiting history, basketball and football, clearly demonstrates that Jersey has the most talent in both these sports amongst the Northeast and sometimes even the Mid-Atlantic - this talent just doesn't go to Rutgers often enough.

It's just not factual to claim UNC or UVa were invited to the BIG. Were they officially discussed behind closed doors, sure.

I think UVa alum and fans like to stroke their egos and claim the BIG was gushing over them. I think BIG officials knew early on that UNC fans would not be happy with a BIG membership.

It's pretty crazy to think Delany, a UNC alum, was willing to break up the ACC - an understated point rarely brought up on these boards. But Delany was quite aware of Md's up and down relationship with the ACC.

90 % of expansion talk is rumor, then the ever non-scientific world of the Internet takes over & it's funny how someone like this Dude character in the sticks of WVa is utterly slammed for his conjecture and bs, yet so many of the same bashers cite his info when the dust settles.

Let's stay grounded in this discussion & hope for UConn to the BIG, my wish as a BIG fan. I think UConn is a great institution and fits the now Midwestern-Eastern based cultures of the BIG.

Don't mind counterarguments against such a move, esp out of Ohio sources or some barely read Wisconsin blogger. The Buckeye faithful have a tendency to act like they are in charge of the BIG & feel threatened by schools that can kick their ass in one of the big two: basketball and football. We'll they need to focus more on current members because schools like Wisconsin and MSU have more than held their own against the Bucks in football & their basketball maybe wins the BIG, convincingly, once every four years. Moreover, the return of PSU is imminent and Neb is starting to figure things out in the BIG - remember they left the Big12 having played in two consecutive CCGs and they nearly won both of them - the Big12 is slightly stronger than the BIG in football, and typically the second best football conference. Neb has a veteran team this year and like their bowl opponents Georgia, they played with injuries and still won that game. Moreover, Neb has an easier road to the BIG title game.

 

[Vuce]

YouTube Video Some even better ones here.

Boy it sucks in the Internet age when you can't just make stuff up like "there were 37k fans" in our house blah blah blah. What a bunch of horse manure. Maybe he meant there were 37k EMPTY SEATS??!!!

 

[Gfunk]

http://www.landgrantholyland.com/20...ig-ten-shouldnt-have-added-uconn-over-rutgers

UConn just won a pair of basketball titles, and that's awesome. But that doesn't mean they should have been added to the Big Ten.

 TWEET (29) SHARE (2)  SHARE 27 COMMENTS
In case you haven't heard, the Connecticut Huskies won two basketball championships last week. This revelation, along with the fact that the school is reasonably close to New York, and currently resides in what's considered to be a secondary conference, has lead some to question if maybe the Big Ten picked the wrong school. Why grab Rutgers to deliver the proverbial NYC market, particularly when UConn is right there?

These concerns left the message boards and Twittersphere and jumped to a major newspaper, with the Toledo Blade posing the same question here. Are they right? Should the Big Ten have gone Maryland and UConn instead?

Let me go ahead and answer that: No.

Before I explain why, let me first say that I am not on Team Rutgers. Nothing against the fine people of the Garden State personally. After all, these guys gave us Saint Bruce Springsteen. But like most fans, I was against the idea of expanding the Big Ten outside of the Midwest unless it was adding a dynamite school, like a Texas or something, and even a fan looking at the situation with the most Scarlet-hued glasses would have to admit that Rutgers isn't such a case.

If I had my way, the Big Ten would still be at 12 teams next season, and if that meant Purdue got a little less TV money, well, I'm comfortable sleeping at night with that sacrifice. However, that's not the world we live in.

If we're going to look at this from Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany's eyes, we need to look exactly what each school brings to the table. What do they have facilities wise? What can their football program, by far the most significant property for TV, deliver? Can they deliver the proverbial NYC market? Are they even any good?

Let's break it down:

UConn Stadium Capacity: 40,000, which is nearly 10,000 smaller than the smallest field in the Big Ten (Ryan Field, at Northwestern High School, er, University).

Rutgers Stadium Capacity: 52,454. That's also on the low end of the conference honestly, but it's comparable to Indiana, Illinois and Maryland.

UConn Football W/L over last five years: 29-33. In the interest of fairness, this time period did include a BCS bowl bid (though in one of the most down BCS leagues ever). In the interest of fairness, this time period also included a loss to Towson.

Rutgers Football W/L over last five years: 37-27

UConn's proximity to football recruits: Poor. The state of Connecticut failed to produce a single consensus four-star or better football recruit last season, and only produced seven three-star kids. In fact, Connecticut has only produced three four-star recruits since 2010, and none more recently than 2011. The mythical NYC media market may be important, but nobody really cares about getting access to Connecticut.

Rutgers proximity to football recruits: Strong. The State of New Jersey produced twice as many elite (four-star and above) athletes in 2014 (10) than Connecticut did in four years. Big Ten schools have also made it a priority to recruit New Jersey. In just 2014, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, Maryland, Northwestern, Michigan State and Iowa (and of course, Rutgers) all signed at least one three-star or above prospect from New Jersey. Establishing recruiting footholds in new territories is critical for the success of the league, and there is plenty of talent in the Garden State.

From New York City, could you get to UConn's stadium without a car (Per Google Maps)?: Not easily. Using trains and a little bit of driving, I am told this trip would take about five-to-six hours.

From New York City, could you get to Rutgers' stadium without a car (Per Google Maps)?: Yes. Assuming everything lines up, the trip would take two-to-three hours. UPDATE: several Rutgers fans have told me that you can now get from Midtown to Rutgers in about an hour via train. Even better.

UConn's Men's Basketball record over last five years: 122-57. That span includes two national titles, five winning records and one postseason ban (for some very un-B1G APR scores).

Rutgers Men's Basketball record over last five years: 71-89. That span includes zero postseason runs, zero winning records, three coaches, and one embarrassing coaching scandal.

# of UConn College Football Fans in NYC, per Nate Silver's Geography of College Football, 2011: 150,150, or roughly 5.1% of the market.

# of Rutgers College Football Fans in NYC, per the same study: 607,151. or roughly 20.9% of the market.

UConn average attendance, 2013 season: 30,931. This would have easily been last in the league, but again, UConn also has the smallest stadium.

Rutgers average attendance, 2013 season: 46,549. This would have been 10th in the league, ahead of Indiana, Illinois and Northwestern.

UConn enrollment: 30,474

Rutgers enrollment: 58,788

If you are a league determined to add a school in the Northeast, and you're deciding between Rutgers and UConn, the only advantage the Huskies could claim is a vastly superior basketball team. And even so, if UConn had lost in the Elite Eight this season instead of winning the title, is this still considered enough of an advantage to push for their inclusion? Did two weeks of basketball games provide enough data to demand a referendum on this decision?

In terms of pure, New York City, ahem, footprint, if the Nate Silver study is to be believed, there are four times as many Rutgers fans in the area, and given the terrible performance of UConn on the football field as of late, there is little reason to suggest that has dramatically changed. Given that football revenue vastly outpaces that of basketball, the Huskies' domination in basketball wouldn't be enough to justify a bump up in league. By virtually every other metric, the Huskies lag behind.

Does that mean that Rutgers to the Big Ten will be some smashing success? Not necessarily. In fact, I kind of doubt it, mostly out of skepticism that the great New York football market can really be delivered at all. If it can though, it certainly wouldn't be because of UConn.

You can blame Jim Delany for a lot of things, but if the choice was Rutgers or Connecticut, he didn't screw up here.

Well hopefully you guys get into the BIG. You'll get use to the noisy bs that comes out of Buckeye nation. We just turn it off here in Minnesota, western BIG states in general. There's not a worse public fan base. But I've been amazed by the knowledgeable, easy going types on their Scout boards. But do know, a lot of old school BIG types would prefer to be back at 10. In fairness, the conference was more successful during those years - in terms of actual competition. The true schedule format in all sports better prepared the BIG for most NCAA tournaments. There was a time when BIG football fans were very excited by PSU, but JoPa and the pre-BIG Nitany Lion Machine did not exactly floor the BIG competition after Kerry Collins left Happy Valley. But, PSU has won the conference some years and certainly brings talent, esp next level talent to every game & an awesome, yet twisted fan base.

 

[upstater]

Look at the shots of the crowd!

There are not 37k in the crowd. This should be shown to one of the trolls banned this week because we've discussed this a number of times. Some schools count tickets sold, not fannies in the seats. I am not sure what Uconn does but when you have 17k as attendance one game, well that's lower than the season ticket base, which means Uconn is not counting tickets sold.

 

[SAMCRO]

Plus you suck at football better than anyone else sucks at football. COnference alignment is about football. Thart is why your school is up t's creak.

Do we have to do this again? UConn is .500 v Rutgers since committing to upgrading. UConn has more BE FB titles than RU in a SIGNIFICANTLY shorter time in the conference, UConn has more BCS appearances than RU. So again, every time you say UConn sucks in FB, you're admitting that RU is whatever is worse than sucks is in FB.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

@Gfunk I'm sorry, but the fact that Rutgers is in the B1G with an ACC team in Maryland is proof enough that either UNC and or UVA turned them down.

Just look at the facts. NC, VA, NJ have similar populations and similar talent pools. UVA and UNC are more prestigious institutions.

Oh, and while UVA doesn't have much to write home about, it certainly is no where near the ineptitude of Rutgers athletics.

So given all those facts, I'd like to hear how you can say UNC/UVA weren't asked first?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

There are not 37k in the crowd. This should be shown to one of the trolls banned this week because we've discussed this a number of times. Some schools count tickets sold, not fannies in the seats. I am not sure what Uconn does but when you have 17k as attendance one game, well that's lower than the season ticket base, which means Uconn is not counting tickets sold.

I hear a lot of posters say that Jay is one of the fair minded RU posters on this board. If that's true, he will come back here and admit that he posted utter and complete nonsense. If he doesn't, he's just another RU troll .

 

[Adios]

Really? Three out of 4 publications that rank academics have Rutgers ahead of UCONN, and you're going to make such an asinine statement?

Plus you suck at football better than anyone else sucks at football. COnference alignment is about football. Thart is why your school is up t's creak.

How many asinine statements have you already made here?

 

[rich1122]

Need 28K Season's Tickets sold and no empty seats. Otherwise we are just treading water. Records, academics, the rest of that crap DO NOT MATTER>

 

[Gfunk]

@Gfunk I'm sorry, but the fact that Rutgers is in the B1G with an ACC team in Maryland is proof enough that either UNC and or UVA turned them down.

Just look at the facts. NC, VA, NJ have similar populations and similar talent pools. UVA and UNC are more prestigious institutions.

Oh, and while UVA doesn't have much to write home about, it certainly is no where near the ineptitude of Rutgers athletics.

So given all those facts, I'd like to hear how you can say UNC/UVA weren't asked first?

Because I'm one of those ultra stubborn types who needs absolute written proof that invitations were extended and then subsequently rejected The facts you mention, aren't exactly "facts" but more opinions based on perception, which is always filled with a bit truth and a bit myth - it's what we choose to believe. As I've said in previous posts, Md absolutely measures up to UVa - they have more NCAA titles, they've beaten them, head-to-head, in sports like men's basketball and football & by substantial all-time margins, including victories this season. Md also has a noticeably stronger and more prestigious graduate school than UVa. But at the end of the day, both these universities are high quality and they certainly fulfill their ongoing missions.

I don't think we'll ever truly know the extent of UVa and UNC to the BIG & while a "black box" on expansion politics and discussion will be nice to see someday, released to the public, it likely won't happen.

For the very reasons you mention, the "prestige" of UVa and UNC" serve as a cautionary reminder that the BIG would ultimately put themselves in a public, documented context, seeking their membership. It's one thing to put feelers out there, even formal ones, but to go full scale with such desires-intents is a whole different level. I can't imagine any institution-organization spending the necessary resources, part of which are economic in nature, to only get a rejection. The BIG learned their lesson with ND. I also think the BIG recognizes the overall strengths of UNC and UVa, the power they collectively share to ensure the ACC's relevance on the college athletics landscape - sometimes a conference as a whole exceeds it's individual members, more specifically a folded ACC as opposed to a viable one, would ultimately be bad for college athletics & also suggest that history & tradition don't matter. I don't think these conference administrators want to go down this road so much anymore - the death of the Classic Big East produced a lot of negative, permanent damage, thus punitive exit fees and GOR's somewhat make sense to me. If the BIG were to add UConn tomorrow, no doubt major criticisms and public dislike towards the BIG would unfold, esp by AAC members and fans who have plenty to cheer about in terms of the AAC's accomplishments in just less than a year. Would most UConn fans be happy, sure, but that doesn't mean SMU, Memphis, or Cincy fans would be happy.

Speculation then entertaining Internet reaction, at best - that's how I feel about expansion & such will be the way it works from this point on - there's a lot at stake in these expansions, much of it quite sensitive in nature. I won't deny my participation, including right now. But I'm more interested in practical expansion at this point, as I'd really like to see UConn in the BIG & feel such a move would be rather beneficial to both parties. Breaking up the ACC is not a good move by the BIG at this point, anyone for that matter, yes even the mighty SEC who has much stronger cultural ties to the ACC. Such moves will only be met with tremendous negative reaction. I mean Md's move to the BIG, originally, was exceptionally negative on both fronts: all things Md & then the reactions of typical BIG fans, esp the regionalist types.

 

[BlueMAB]

The only proof necessary to show that UVA and UNC weren't invited to the B1G is the fact that UVA and UNC aren't in the B1G.

 

[Sportsman5]

Need 28K Season's Tickets sold and no empty seats. Otherwise we are just treading water. Records, academics, the rest of that crap DO NOT MATTER>

I just got season tickets for the first time and will be driving 2 hours each way to every game. No excuses!!

 

[HuskyHawk]

Isn't this whole thread just a rehash of the same posts and ideas from 50 other threads?

 

[SubbaBub]

Rutgers was long ago on the BIG radar, before the UNC & UVa myth.

Competent football has also been on RU's radar for a long time. It just never gets any closer.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The only proof necessary to show that UVA and UNC weren't invited to the B1G is the fact that UVA and UNC aren't in the B1G.

That's proof that UNC/UVA said no!

You really think the B1G said, hmm Rutgers or UNC? And they took Rutgers?

 

[SubbaBub]

There was a wish list, a likely list, and a would definitely say yes list.

UNC, was on the first.
UVA and MD were on the second.
And RU was on the third. At the top of the third, but on the third.

 

[RioDog]

Isn't this whole thread just a rehash of the same posts and ideasto from 50 other threads?

Ummm...are you trying to get yourself disappeared...?

 

[HuskyHawk]

That's proof that UNC/UVA said no!

You really think the B1G said, hmm Rutgers or UNC? And they took Rutgers?

You guys are too literal. I am sure the B1G did not say: "North Carolina you are invited to the Big Ten". No. I'm sure somebody from the B1G (or a B1G school) had a nice lunch with somebody from UNC and they danced around the subject, until the point was clear that UNC wasn't moving. So no invitation would be extended. I have no doubt that UNC had the same conversations with the SEC. Same with Virginia.

The conferences likely know exactly where they stand with these schools and vice versa. This is a pretty small club. These ADs and Presidents and conference commissioners know each other. I have no doubt that the B1G, ACC and Big XII have already had these conversations with UConn, to know the lay of the land.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

@HuskyHawk I agree that there may not have been actual documentation that said UNC sign here if you want to join the B1G. To say that that Rutgers was chosen without knowing for certain that UNC was out is wrong.

NC has almost 1M more people than NJ.
Both have talent rich areas for football recruiting.
UNC is one of the premier academic and athletic brands in America.
Rutgers has won literally nothing in athletics except for a Final 4 in the 70s and co BE Title in which they lost the defacto conference title game at home.

Look Rutgers is in, how they got in or what backup plan they were is inconsequential.

I'm just not going to tolerate the national narrative that they have this superior football brand because they had one big year in 2006 and expanded the stadium, so therefore that's why they were chosen.