The Athletic: KO Article

[Walker11]

True, but it's better than UConn. I got into UConn pretty easily but wouldn't have been able to sniff Nova.

I got into (and went) to Nova and didn't get into Clemson which isn't an amazing school. I think UConn is better than Clemson. This stuff doesn't make sense. I think it's overrated as an undergrad school. Mediocre education and quality of student. I think it's probably a decent bit better at Georgetown but IMO it's pretty much all the same unless you are going to an elite school and then you really have a different experience.

 

[Marty Jackson]

do people really think getting beat up badly in the NBE is some magic pill that will save the program while FB basically rots somewhere in the MAC or Patriot league? I just don't see taking this team and placing it in the NBE and suddenly challenging for another title. If anything, Uconn would be lucky to finish in the top half or even top 2/3's. Yeah!

 

[FDNY99]

do people really think getting beat up badly in the NBE is some magic pill that will save the program while FB basically rots somewhere in the MAC or Patriot league? I just don't see taking this team and placing it in the NBE and suddenly challenging for another title. If anything, Uconn would be lucky to finish in the top half or even top 2/3's. Yeah!

That is a HUGE reach! Let's all face facts...Ollie has done to the Men's Hoops program what Hathaway did to the Athletic Department...ran it square into a tree at 120 mph! They both were handed something by their predecessors that was high functioning...they both did a number on what they were handed!

 

[Paesano]

For sure. To be clear, I don’t think that scenario plays out. But it’s there. Let’s just call it the nuclear option.

If a person is self-destructive, they are the only one to blame.

 

[Waquoit]

At the end of the day, I still support notion that a championship gets you 5 more years. We should know for sure by this time next year if he can right the ship.

 

[Zissou]

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.

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

 

[Zissou]

Mid Atlantic Flagship Universities
Penn State-52
Maryland-61
Delaware-81
Buffalo-97
Rutgers-133

 

[Zissou]

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.

 

[Javjudah]

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.

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.

 

[freescooter]

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.

 

[8893]

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.

Your absolutes are as stupid now as they were in 2012.

 

[JellyBean]

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.

 

[uconnfan68]

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.

Guessing that UCF and USF have 100k undergrads between them. Not that selective.

 

[uconnfan68]

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.

We want to associate with flagship publics... the Yankee Conference is calling...

 

[Matrim55]

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.

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.

 

[olehead]

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.

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.

 

[olehead]

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?

 

[djct1999]

If a person is self-destructive, they are the only one to blame.

So true. Case in point, look at me. I continue to watch UConn basketball.

 

[Guapo]

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.

 

[Robertelamin]

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.

Not that greatest year for Houston to be talking up their weather but I get the point.

 

[KingAG]

This conversation is so old, repetitive, and tired. Nobody knows scaltio. Give it a rest

 

[metsfan2323]

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.

 

[huskyhaven]

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.

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.

 

[willie99]

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

 

[willie99]

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.

We went to the NIT every 4th or 5th year, that is until the lights went on for the next group of kids