The Athletic: KO Article

[huskiesnyc]

I used to be 75% stick it out in the AAC.

Then I moved to 50/50.

Now I'm 75% thinking it's best to put basketball in the NBE. Football will figure itself out, somehow, someway.

I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone else, but that's how I feel.

I’ve moved from 100% stick it out to 100% NBE

 

[Penfield]

My line of thinking when we got stuck in the AAC was basically, if Gonzaga can succeed in the WCC why can't UConn (a school with even more resources) do just fine in the AAC? But I suppose at least one difference is that Gonzaga wasn't demoted from the PAC-10 to the WCC. They have just continued to be who they were.

 

[superjohn]

Maybe I under appreciated what the Big East could do for recruiting. I still see them as a lesser league compared to the ACC, but for recruits maybe its not that big a deal.

Either way we are in a crappy situation.

The ACC is the best basketball league in the country hands down but the Big East is still pretty damn good and they are still The City league. We may not have a ton in common school wise with some of these Catholic football-less schools but we still are culturally similar and we all have that city basketball mentality. We culturally, academically, and basketball wise have nothing in common with the schools we play now and we've lost The City. Our identity is basketball and NYC & MSG are a huge part of that identity.

I'm in the Midwest and every single person I've ever talked to about Uconn these days asks why we aren't in The Big East, nobody knows what conference we are in or why we are in it.

 

[superjohn]

My line of thinking when we got stuck in the AAC was basically, if Gonzaga can succeed in the WCC why can't UConn (a school with even more resources) do just fine in the AAC? But I suppose at least one difference is that Gonzaga wasn't demoted from the PAC-10 to the WCC. They have just continued to be who they were.

That's a big part of it. We are viewed as a program who went from the Yankees to the Wilkes-Barre Yankees.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I made the point you are making here among some friends last week who generally have more information than I do in terms of what’s going on inside the program and they say what they are hearing is that the conference is killing our recruiting. When I pointed to the successes of other AAC schools they said that the difference is that most kids won’t want to come to Storrs to play in that league; whereas they might be more willing to go elsewhere within the AAC. In other words, the perception is that it’s not a good fit for us in terms of culture and geography. Even though I think the AAC makes more sense than the NBE for us, I think the perception is the opposite.

And perception has a way of becoming reality.

I wonder about this. If you are trying to recruit a kid from Texas to play at SMU, then yeah, the league probably looks decent. Houston is near, and Tulsa, and Wichita State. If you are recruiting a NYC kid to UConn, it doesn't look as good. So I'll buy the premise that it hurts a little bit.

What I won't buy is the notion that our coach, and the culture he has cultivated, is not a much, much, much bigger factor at the moment. Looking just anecdotally, it appears that the HS kids who have the most knowledge of what is going on in Storrs want nothing to do with coming to UConn. Water is an example. Diallo another. So Ollie essentially is frozen out of what should be his primary recruiting market, and really, that's on him. 2018: Akinjo (CA), Mathhews (WA). Kisunas is local up in Brewster, but is a European kid and we have connections there.

Here's the rub. If UConn joins the NBE, we essentially become Xavier. That's it. We'd be good most of the time, and maybe make a final four run now and then. That's our new reality. I'd rather aim big. The only way to real prosperity, and to return to what we once thought we were, is to hope football can make a rapid improvement and help us go elsewhere. And start winning in the league we are in. I think the biggest problem we have with the American is that we aren't dominating it. We look extra bad by being only the 5th best team in a league people look down on. If we had SMU's results the last three years we'd be doing just fine.

 

[UCDaveD]

Moving to the NBE would be a godsend for the basketball program. You can say this and that about the AAC and the teams, and the rankings blah blah. You''re not wrong, but perception is everything. NBE > AAC in recruits eyes.

 

[8893]

I wonder about this. If you are trying to recruit a kid from Texas to play at SMU, then yeah, the league probably looks decent. Houston is near, and Tulsa, and Wichita State. If you are recruiting a NYC kid to UConn, it doesn't look as good. So I'll buy the premise that it hurts a little bit.

What I won't buy is the notion that our coach, and the culture he has cultivated, is not a much, much, much bigger factor at the moment. Looking just anecdotally, it appears that the HS kids who have the most knowledge of what is going on in Storrs want nothing to do with coming to UConn. Water is an example. Diallo another. So Ollie essentially is frozen out of what should be his primary recruiting market, and really, that's on him. 2018: Akinjo (CA), Mathhews (WA). Kisunas is local up in Brewster, but is a European kid and we have connections there.

Here's the rub. If UConn joins the NBE, we essentially become Xavier. That's it. We'd be good most of the time, and maybe make a final four run now and then. That's our new reality. I'd rather aim big. The only way to real prosperity, and to return to what we once thought we were, is to hope football can make a rapid improvement and help us go elsewhere. And start winning in the league we are in. I think the biggest problem we have with the American is that we aren't dominating it. We look extra bad by being only the 5th best team in a league people look down on. If we had SMU's results the last three years we'd be doing just fine.

I don’t know the logistics but I think being in the AAC is more of a slog for us than for any other team in it.

 

[UConnDan97]

My line of thinking when we got stuck in the AAC was basically, if Gonzaga can succeed in the WCC why can't UConn (a school with even more resources) do just fine in the AAC? But I suppose at least one difference is that Gonzaga wasn't demoted from the PAC-10 to the WCC. They have just continued to be who they were.

I think the more appropriate line of thinking is that they play in the West Coast Conference, which all but guarantees that they can put up ridiculous win totals. They're a guaranteed 25+ win team no matter what. Part of that is the fact that Mark Few is a very good coach, but the other part of that is being in a league that will never challenge them.

And when you put up 25+ wins every year and have a few big OOC games on tv, you can still stay in the national conversation the way they are...

 

[ZenConn]

are we stuck though? we seem to be moving backwards

"If you are standing still, you are also going backwards."

Essentially, the competition has caught up and there's further distance between you and the ones in front of you.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

"If you are standing still, you are also going backwards."

Essentially, the competition has caught up and there's further distance between you and the ones in front of you.

right, but we aren't standing still. we are moving backwards.

 

[superjohn]

I don’t know the logistics but I think being in the AAC is more of a slog for us than for any other team in it.

It is. I get on Ollie all the time but he isn't close to the whole problem. The league is dragging us down in many ways and I'm not sure how we survive going forward without changing it. I think so many people are looking to 15-20 years down the road when discussing moving back to the Big East. There won't be anything left in 10 years if we stand pat, let alone 15 or 20. The landscape is always changing and to be honest none of us really know what football will look like in 15 years or if the sport will even exist let alone be leading the charge.

 

[Guapo]

I wonder about this. If you are trying to recruit a kid from Texas to play at SMU, then yeah, the league probably looks decent. Houston is near, and Tulsa, and Wichita State. If you are recruiting a NYC kid to UConn, it doesn't look as good. So I'll buy the premise that it hurts a little bit.

What I won't buy is the notion that our coach, and the culture he has cultivated, is not a much, much, much bigger factor at the moment. Looking just anecdotally, it appears that the HS kids who have the most knowledge of what is going on in Storrs want nothing to do with coming to UConn. Water is an example. Diallo another. So Ollie essentially is frozen out of what should be his primary recruiting market, and really, that's on him. 2018: Akinjo (CA), Mathhews (WA). Kisunas is local up in Brewster, but is a European kid and we have connections there.

Here's the rub. If UConn joins the NBE, we essentially become Xavier. That's it. We'd be good most of the time, and maybe make a final four run now and then. That's our new reality. I'd rather aim big. The only way to real prosperity, and to return to what we once thought we were, is to hope football can make a rapid improvement and help us go elsewhere. And start winning in the league we are in. I think the biggest problem we have with the American is that we aren't dominating it. We look extra bad by being only the 5th best team in a league people look down on. If we had SMU's results the last three years we'd be doing just fine.

Saying "we'd be Xavier" is completely arbitrary though.

How could we possibly know that?

Someone could just as easily say "we'd be Villanova"

 

[Hurleyman216]

While I think having the men’s b-ball and football programs being in the top 25 every year SHOULD help our chances at getting into the BIG, history has shown just the opposite. The ACC took BC, Syracuse and Pitt all of whom sucked at football at the time they got the invite and the BIG took Rutgers. We know it’s more about the media markets and brand perception than winning every year. I know this isn’t a popular opinion on here, but I’d love to see UConn go independent for a couple of years. It does a couple of things to send a message: first it screws ESPN because the UConn brand is about 50% of the value of the AAC tv contract. We should take Notre Dame’s blueprint for football and their tv contract and apply it to our b-ball programs. This will inevitably lead to the BIG or ACC scooping us up due to our media market value.

 

[Penfield]

I think the more appropriate line of thinking is that they play in the West Coast Conference, which all but guarantees that they can put up ridiculous win totals. They're a guaranteed 25+ win team no matter what. Part of that is the fact that Mark Few is a very good coach, but the other part of that is being in a league that will never challenge them.

And when you put up 25+ wins every year and have a few big OOC games on tv, you can still stay in the national conversation the way they are...

Well I thought we would be winning 25+ games every year in the AAC.

I guess the good thing is the AAC is more competative than the WCC, but the bad part is it gets respected like the WCC

 

[UConnNick]

I used to be 75% stick it out in the AAC.

Then I moved to 50/50.

Now I'm 75% thinking it's best to put basketball in the NBE. Football will figure itself out, somehow, someway.

I'm not sure if that makes sense to anyone else, but that's how I feel.

Football dies as an independent, or in a lesser conference. Kill football and you kill the UCONN athletic program as we have known it.

 

[UConnNick]

I haaaaate when national writers mis-represent the truth of what happened during the Big East breakup.



This is just inaccurate. I'm sure she knows the truth, too.

Not necessarily. Some writers are lazy and don't do their homework before smacking their keyboards.

 

[Guapo]

Football dies as an independent, or in a lesser conference. Kill football and you kill the UCONN athletic program as we have known it.

I haven't exactly loved the recent iterations of our athletic department.

I'd hate to see the football program die but the basketball program is my #1 priority

 

[UConnNick]

I think the more appropriate line of thinking is that they play in the West Coast Conference, which all but guarantees that they can put up ridiculous win totals. They're a guaranteed 25+ win team no matter what. Part of that is the fact that Mark Few is a very good coach, but the other part of that is being in a league that will never challenge them.

And when you put up 25+ wins every year and have a few big OOC games on tv, you can still stay in the national conversation the way they are...

Exactly right, Dan. The Gonzaga men's BB team is like the UCONN women's BB team, except they're missing the 11 national championships. Gonzaga is the equivalent of us joining the America East Conference.

 

[UConnNick]

I haven't exactly loved the recent iterations of our athletic department.

I'd hate to see the football program die but the basketball program is my #1 priority

I wasn't talking about only the past three years.

 

[superjohn]

Exactly right, Dan. The Gonzaga men's BB team is like the UCONN women's BB team, except they're missing the 11 national championships. Gonzaga is the equivalent of us joining the America East Conference.

Except for the whole part where Gonzaga is really good at basketball lately and we're not.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Saying "we'd be Xavier" is completely arbitrary though.

How could we possibly know that?

Someone could just as easily say "we'd be Villanova"

Villanova is just Xavier with a slightly better coach. In a few years they will fall again. It’s still surrendering the dream that UConn can be considered a major public university alongside our peers. Joining up with small, private schools does great damage to our reputation in other ways.

This isn’t just about sports. This is about UConn looking at Michigan, Virginia, UNC, Penn State and Wisconsin and saying “We are with you. We are like you”. No other New England public can do that. We have a chance and we have to see it through. That’s what the move to D1 football was all about.

 

[Paesano]

I think the more appropriate line of thinking is that they play in the West Coast Conference, which all but guarantees that they can put up ridiculous win totals. They're a guaranteed 25+ win team no matter what. Part of that is the fact that Mark Few is a very good coach, but the other part of that is being in a league that will never challenge them.

And when you put up 25+ wins every year and have a few big OOC games on tv, you can still stay in the national conversation the way they are...

Nice mental gymnastics. If a team, from a better conference, does better than UConn, it is because they are in a better conference. If a team, from a worse conference, does better it is because they are in a worse conference. Brilliant!!!

So did Gonzaga's weak conference get them all the way to the national championship game last year or was that coaching?

 

[Paesano]

Exactly right, Dan. The Gonzaga men's BB team is like the UCONN women's BB team, except they're missing the 11 national championships. Gonzaga is the equivalent of us joining the America East Conference.

You are right. But the UConn women won championships from both a bad and a good conference. The key is coaching. Everything else is an excuse and noise.

 

[QDOG5]

There is no way that UConn football and basketball will be playing in different conferences. No way. No way. No way. Ain't gonna happen.

 

[olehead]

I made the point you are making here among some friends last week who generally have more information than I do in terms of what’s going on inside the program and they say what they are hearing is that the conference is killing our recruiting. When I pointed to the successes of other AAC schools they said that the difference is that most kids won’t want to come to Storrs to play in that league; whereas they might be more willing to go elsewhere within the AAC. In other words, the perception is that it’s not a good fit for us in terms of culture and geography. Even though I think the AAC makes more sense than the NBE for us, I think the perception is the opposite.

And perception has a way of becoming reality.

8893 is right on. If I'm a three to borderline four star from anywhere in the country and not really excited about the bottom dweller P5's pursuing me and I'm being recruited by UConn, Houston and UCF. I'm going w/ Houston or UCF. The UConn name in the eyes of kids is not that alluring. This is due to having too few playmakers, questionable strategy, the AAC and a lack of recent success in the last couple of years. So, if it's gotta to be the AAC for the above hypothetical recruit, I'm going to a school in an attractive location. Storrs or Orlando? It's a no-brainer to most recruits in this scenario.