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The Athletic: KO Article

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shizzle787 said:
A comparison of ranking for Big East and AAC:
AAC:
Tulane (private)-40
SMU (private)-61
Tulsa (private)-87
Temple-115
Cincy-133
USF-140
UCF-171
Houston-192
ECU-207
Navy- 21 (Liberal Arts)
Memphis-231-300
Wichita State-231-300

Big East:
Georgetown-20
Villanova-46
Marquette-90
DePaul-120
Seton Hall-124
St. John's-165
Creighton-1 (Midwest Region)
Providence-1 (North Region)
Butler-2 (Midwest Region)
Xavier-5 (Midwest Region)

The regional schools can't be compared to the national schools because they don't offer many Ph.D.s and research. However, if they could be compared, I would bet most of them would be ahead of the middle-tier AAC schools. Keep in my for those who say we should be with like minded public flagships, there are no other flaghips in this conference, and the only schools academically in the AAC we would want to be associated with are all private.
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As a reference, Nova was the #1 regional school for decades before reclassifying to National. Navy would be highly ranked on a national scale. Here is my estimate of the rankings if you put them on the same scale. Also, "Flagship" gets referenced a lot - I included the Flagship Universities of New England.

AAC:
Tulane (private)-40
UConn-56
Navy- 21 (Liberal Arts/Service) [Top 50 on National scale]
SMU (private)-61
Tulsa (private)-87
Temple-115
Cincy-133
USF-140
UCF-171
Houston-192
ECU-207
Memphis-231-300 [Tier 2 University]
Wichita State-231-300 [Tier 2 University]

Big East:
Georgetown-20
Villanova-46
Creighton-1 (Midwest Region) [~50-75 on National scale]
Providence-1 (North Region) [~50-75 on National scale]
Marquette-90
Butler-2 (Midwest Region) [~75-100 on National scale]
DePaul-120
Seton Hall-124
Xavier-5 (Midwest Region) [~100-150 on National scale]
St. John's-165

New England Flagship Universities:
UConn-56
UMass Amherst-75
Vermont-97
UNH-103
Rhode Island-156
Maine-181
 
Mid Atlantic Flagship Universities
Penn State-52
Maryland-61
Delaware-81
Buffalo-97
Rutgers-133
 
While interesting, I think academics mean very little anymore when it comes to athletic alliances, with some exceptions like Ivy and Patriot.

Proof: Rutgers to Big10, and Ville to ACC.

Also, "Flagship" really means nothing to the alliances either.
 
Huskybass said:
I would guess that one of the assistant coaches becomes head coach when Geno decides to retire. Chris Dailey will be the logical successor and she has been with Geno for so long that it might not be a massive drop off in success.
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If and when Geno retires, UCONN's women basketball may never win another Championship. I hope I am wrong but the top recruits don't come to Storrs Connecticut because of the location or the University. They come to UCONN to play for Geno.
 
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freescooter said:
Bunch of crap. It’s the coaching stupid. Ollie can’t recruit and can’t develop players. Based on who he has brought in I doubt he can evaluate them either. Bring a solid guy in here and UConn is relevant again.
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Your absolutes are as stupid now as they were in 2012.
 
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Well I'm standing in coach KO's corner. The UConn brand has stumbled of late and coach is doing the best he can while recruiting players that fit his standards and the program's standards. Last time I checked we were ranked in the top 40 of recruiting. That's still solid recruiting.

We all love and respect coach Calhoun. Dude is a legend. He put our program on the map and will always be apart of the UConn family. But let's not act like he didn't recruit some players that didn't pan out even though those players were highly ranked and called blue chippers. He whiffed on some recruits too. Coach KO is gonna have some hits and some misses. Like any other coach out there. How is that crown jewel in Indiana working out, Archie Miller? Not that good. But of course folks will say "He doesn't have his players. Give him time" Sure.

I also see some people talking about our conference and how it's weak and none of the power 5 conferences wanted us. I like our conference. I like the fact that we can build a new legacy within this new conference. Some of our conference friends decent programs with a long & rich history of great basketball. If other Conferences don't want us because of our football program or basketball programs are weak. Fine. We got a solid conference and we can redefine our own legacy.

New era and new beginning.
 
Hoophound said:
PC is/was a good school. Most people over 3o would consider PC a tier below BC, but still a very good school.

The AAC has good schools with the exception of ECU, Houston and Memphis. SMU, UConn, Tulane, Tulsa and Navy are top notch. USF, UCF, Cincy and Temple are considered pretty good these days. In fact, UCF and USF are way harder to get into these days than most notherners probably think. With the growth in Florida, state schools have become very competitive.
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Guessing that UCF and USF have 100k undergrads between them. Not that selective.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Nova? Tulane, UConn, Cinci and SMU. But it’s beside the point, which is that we want to associate with large, flagship public universities. There are none in the Big East. We are the only one in the AAC.
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We want to associate with flagship publics... the Yankee Conference is calling...
 
JellyBean said:
Well I'm standing in coach KO's corner. The UConn brand has stumbled of late and coach is doing the best he can while recruiting players that fit his standards and the program's standards. Last time I checked we were ranked in the top 40 of recruiting. That's still solid recruiting.
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Add Wilson to the 2018 class (which is how it is, really), and it's a top 20 recruiting class. Last year's was top 10, and this year's would've been top 20 if MAL hadn't peaced out. 2015 was a good two-man class (Jalen & Enoch) bolstered by two of the top three available postgrads.

Recruiting can/should get better, but it hasn't really been the problem. The problem has been player development and retention – which is much, much more concerning.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Dude, we swept UCF last year with half a roster. That argument is nonsense. We won a national championship 3 years ago. Houston never has and hasn't been to final four since before these kids were born. UCF has, quite literally, never done anything at all in the sport of basketball, except suck at it. We went to the tournament two years ago. Houston and UCF didn't. UConn still has a better name and more allure than any other school in the league, and it isn't close. There are other things that are to blame here, things that would not be fixed by being in the Big East.
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HuskyHawk my point is that kids today don't really know and have the respect for the UConn brand that you and I have. Other than the bluebloods, kids go where they can play immediately, gain exposure, and in many cases have a nice time. You go on recruiting trip to UConn, its cold and there's not much to do. Compare that to Orlando or Houston, plenty to do in both cities and the weather is good. I made no mention of head to head competition or historical success. But since you are bringing it up, how have we performed against Houston in the last three years. You cherry-picked with UCF and you literally mentioned all those things that are meaningful to UConn fans but not so much to the 16, 17 or 18-year-old recruit, which was my point. Our championship was four seasons ago (2013-14), many of the recruits we are targeting were middle-schoolers at that time. Too young to know of the'14 chip and clueless about our history of success over the course of the last twenty-five years. Lastly, compare our athletes to those Houston boys, or Natti's or UCF's. They are bigger, stronger, faster. These are the kids that have been kicking us in the pants w/in the AAC the last three seasons.
 
superjohn said:
Houston hasn't been alluring to recruits since Guy Lewis and UCF has never been alluring to anyone. Those schools don't get anyone for hoops.[/QUOTE

Well, we've done well against UCF but we are 2-4 against Houston while in the AAC. A recruit looks at Houston's head to head against us while in the AAC and thinks what?
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Louisville to the ACC is an outlier and shows just how ethically fraught that conference is.

However, there is general academic and cultural cohesiveness to conferences.

It would be, obviously, naive to say "academics are the most important thing" to conferences but it would be wrong to say they're meaningless too.
 
olehead said:
HuskyHawk my point is that kids today don't really know and have the respect for the UConn brand that you and I have. Other than the bluebloods, kids go where they can play immediately, gain exposure, and in many cases have a nice time. You go on recruiting trip to UConn, its cold and there's not much to do. Compare that to Orlando or Houston, plenty to do in both cities and the weather is good. I made no mention of head to head competition or historical success. But since you are bringing it up, how have we performed against Houston in the last three years. You cherry-picked with UCF and you literally mentioned all those things that are meaningful to UConn fans but not so much to the 16, 17 or 18-year-old recruit, which was my point. Our championship was four seasons ago (2013-14), many of the recruits we are targeting were middle-schoolers at that time. Too young to know of the'14 chip and clueless about our history of success over the course of the last twenty-five years. Lastly, compare our athletes to those Houston boys, or Natti's or UCF's. They are bigger, stronger, faster. These are the kids that have been kicking us in the pants w/in the AAC the last three seasons.
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Not that greatest year for Houston to be talking up their weather but I get the point.
 
During the Cincy / UCLA game yesterday they mentioned that Cincy has been to the NCAA tournament 7 straight years. I don't think UCONN ever did that under Calhoun and the old Big East. Chalk one up for the AAC.

If the AAC were smart they would add UMASS and VCU both basketball only and suddenly UCONN feels a little more cozy in this conference with great basketball potential.
 
8893 said:
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.
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I was going to touch on this. Can this contribute to slow starts and some fatigue? I would hope that youth is on there side.
 
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Conventional wisdom is rarely wise, just another author picking the low hanging fruit when the timing seems right to them

The starting point? Our recruiting hasn't been bad in terms of kids' rankings, prior to this year it's been bad in terms of fit. Our recruiting this year was salvaged late, and out recruiting for next year is off to a good start. Since one very critical premise for all those arguments that are predicting the end is recruiting and conference affiliation, that nonsense is crumbling under it's own weight.

We're certainly going through growing pains after a legend retires, but that's only going to make us appreciate success even more when it returns.

I'm not impressed by simpleton arguments against entities when they're down, that's just too damn easy and idiots think it makes them look smart. In case anyone doesn't know this yet, I disrespect the media has much as I disrespect career politicians. Under the guise of objectivity, they peddle their inherently biased personal opinions. Often times mistakenly identifying their opinions as "facts"

We'll be fine, that's my opinion, and nothing I've seen in the past few months alters that
 
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metsfan2323 said:
During the Cincy / UCLA game yesterday they mentioned that Cincy has been to the NCAA tournament 7 straight years. I don't think UCONN ever did that under Calhoun and the old Big East. Chalk one up for the AAC.

If the AAC were smart they would add UMASS and VCU both basketball only and suddenly UCONN feels a little more cozy in this conference with great basketball potential.
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We went to the NIT every 4th or 5th year, that is until the lights went on for the next group of kids
 
UConnJim said:
I reject the premise. The problem is that our men's basketball and football teams are underperforming and are both are cyclical lows. No matter what conference you are in, you need to have coaches that win. Winning begets more winning. It's that simple. If you look at the "G5", they have averaged ~ 3 teams in the AP Top 25 football and 5 teams in the AP Top 25 basketball polls over the past 4 years. If other schools are doing it, UConn should be able to as UConn is spending at the top of the G5.

I would agree that attendance is negatively impacted by the teams we are playing, but nobody is preventing the UConn home basketball schedule to be filled with old Big East rivals and attractive match ups instead of this year's Colgate, Stony Brook, BU, Columbia, Monmouth, and Coppin St.

The only way UConn is going to get a chance to move up during the next round of conference shakeups (and it will happen again) is to stay in the AAC and win at football.
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It can be argued the AAC football conference is better than the old Big East. I think the next TV contract is going to be significantly better.

Although efforts to raid the Big East really took an uptick once they were about to land a significant TV package
 
Javjudah said:
If and when Geno retires, UCONN's women basketball may never win another Championship. I hope I am wrong but the top recruits don't come to Storrs Connecticut because of the location or the University. They come to UCONN to play for Geno.
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That is complete bs. One of Geno's assistants will take over and they will still be one of the top teams in the country. You think Chris Dailey and Shea Ralph don't understand Geno's style and standards after decades with him? The women will still be a powerhouse after Geno leaves.
 
uconnfan68 said:
We want to associate with flagship publics... the Yankee Conference is calling...
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The New England flagship publics are poorly regarded. They have low enrollment and minimal research or endowment. Football was a way for UConn to leave them behind and elevate to the next level. We’ve made a ton of progress. I believe Austin mentioned UVA and Michigan by name in describing the vision for UConn.
 
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20130109.0.jpg
willie99 said:
Conventional wisdom is rarely wise, just another author picking the low hanging fruit when the timing seems right to them

The starting point? Our recruiting hasn't been bad in terms of kids' rankings, prior to this year it's been bad in terms of fit. Our recruiting this year was salvaged late, and out recruiting for next year is off to a good start. Since one very critical premise for all those arguments that are predicting the end is recruiting and conference affiliation, that nonsense is crumbling under it's own weight.

We're certainly going through growing pains after a legend retires, but that's only going to make us appreciate success even more when it returns.

I'm not impressed by simpleton arguments against entities when they're down, that's just too damn easy and idiots think it makes them look smart. In case anyone doesn't know this yet, I disrespect the media has much as I disrespect career politicians. Under the guise of objectivity, they peddle their inherently biased personal opinions. Often times mistakenly identifying their opinions as "facts"

We'll be fine, that's my opinion, and nothing I've seen in the past few months alters that
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View attachment 27007
 
Olliewood216 said:
If you think they are working on a KO replacement right now, you are wrong, they aren’t. Much to the dismay of many here I’m sure.
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I didn't say there is a search for a new coach going on. I said they are working on solutions. They are. There are shortcomings in the program. Addressing them is a work in progress.

At this point, KO is part of the solution. If we look awful over the next month and get embarrassed multiple times, that may change. We are literally a few yards from a cliff. If we fall off, your view of the situation will quickly change. This team needs to show effort, passion and fundamental aptitude for the game pretty soon or the losses are going to pile up like firewood. At that point AD David Benedict will be ready to take a match to it.

If you think UConn is afraid to dismiss him, you are mistaken. They want him to succeed and they want him to be the coach. However, that's today, if things go south, look out. They are keenly aware there is no time to waste.
 
8893 said:
Your absolutes are as stupid now as they were in 2012.
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Good coaches succeed in bad leagues. Ask Wichita State. Ask Gonzaga. Ask Brad Stevens about his college career. Two straight championship games, and not from the New Big East. Ollie would struggle in any conference. Name a stud he recruited. His specialty is landing lower level recruits and 5th year guys. And there is a reason that 5th year guys are still playing college basketball.
 
I like the idea of AAC adding UMass and VCU as basketball only. I think Rhode Island and Dayton would be good adds as well as I see those programs getting stronger in the future.

It would be nice to get some geographic rivalries going as well.
 
freescooter said:
Good coaches succeed in bad leagues. Ask Wichita State. Ask Gonzaga. Ask Brad Stevens about his college career. Two straight championship games, and not from the New Big East. Ollie would struggle in any conference. Name a stud he recruited. His specialty is landing lower level recruits and 5th year guys. And there is a reason that 5th year guys are still playing college basketball.
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tomorrow, one of your dumpster fire allies will be telling us how bad a coach Ollie is because he can't win with great classes. Actually, they've already made that argument

hard to keep up with all the moving targets
 
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