The Big East says “How do you like me now?” | The Boneyard

The Big East says “How do you like me now?”

It’s a bad conference. That said it does give us the opportunity to play a lot of players and get them experience and real play development time, plus rest our starters a lot, so hopefully fresher in the postseason.
 
HuskyNan said:
I know it’s not the best conference but maybe it’s not quite the boat anchor people thought.
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Actually, it is. UCONN can say how do like me now. Possibly CREI can say the same in lowercase. But as a whole, not so much the Big East who are 3-39 against Top 25 teams. Guess who owns the 3 Ws.
 
Alas, for a while there things were looking up, but there has been substantial regression. Looking forward to the next round of rumors and hopefully news about the Huskies mushing over to the P something or other.
 
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Life is relative. The Big East is clearly the 5th best conference out of 31. There is no way that is terrible or pathetic. It would be a way above average conference even without Uconn. Having said that, the gap between the power 4 conferences and the Big East is large, as is the gap between Uconn and the rest of the conference.

Pretty much all of the true contenders come from the power 4 except for Uconn. Could this hurt us in television contracts, NIL money, or put us at a disadvantage in recruiting top talent? Maybe, but it is what it is, conferences are usually built based on football, and we don't stack up well there.

What I fear most is that the gap between the super conferences and the Big East will only get bigger, with the impact of NIL, and not having to wait a year in the portal. If another Big East coach develops a star in the conference, they may lose that player to a higher profile program because of greater monetary opportunities there. Think of Morrow and Olson as recent examples.
 
Vowelguy said:
The increase next year to 20 regular season games is AWFUL, and will hurt UConn as it will have even less flexibility to sked non-conf games.
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A league with 11 teams basically doesn’t work in scheduling. With 20 games they play everyone twice.

If the Big East adds a team and has two divisions of six would work great. Play each team in your division twice the other division once. That’s 16 games.

East: Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova.

West: Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Marquette, St. Louis and Xavier.
 
ConnMotors said:
A league with 11 teams basically doesn’t work in scheduling. With 20 games they play everyone twice.

If the Big East adds a team and has two divisions of six would work great. Play each team in your division twice the other division once. That’s 16 games.

East: Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova.

West: Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Marquette, St. Louis and Xavier.
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Nobody has divisions anymore.
All the other conferences manage to create skeds where you play some teams 1x and other teams 2x. They bge could too if it wanted.
 
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Vowelguy said:
The increase next year to 20 regular season games is AWFUL, and will hurt UConn as it will have even less flexibility to sked non-conf games.
Expand ...
This change has me wanting to bang my head. Who made this decision and what on god's green earth is the rationale? Just to have this empty boast of a "true" round robin?
 
ConnMotors said:
A league with 11 teams basically doesn’t work in scheduling. With 20 games they play everyone twice.

If the Big East adds a team and has two divisions of six would work great. Play each team in your division twice the other division once. That’s 16 games.

East: Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova.

West: Butler, Creighton, DePaul, Marquette, St. Louis and Xavier.
Expand ...
Instead of St. Louis, bring in USF to get the home & home with South Florida most years without divisions.
 
Sifaka said:
The Big East is a tad better than the AAC, or what passed for lunch on an Allegheny Airlines flight. Those who pretend it's a strong conference are welcome to their baseless opinions.
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Whoa! I’m pretty sure no one said it was a strong conference!
 
HuskyNan said:
I know it’s not the best conference but maybe it’s not quite the boat anchor people thought.
Expand ...
Well, respectfully, Nan, considering how much you seem to dislike our opining on the subject of The Big East and its relative weakness, I'm frankly surprised that you brought it up, to say nothing of the fact that, once again, respectfully, you, in my opinion, have missed the point:
Look, the conference is comprised of perfectly lovely institutions, and if a granddaughter of mine played for any one of them I'd be the first one in the stands, wearing all the silly home-team garb I could lay my hands on, screaming lustily on their behalf. But, inevitably, at some point, UConn, which, as a practical matter, has access to recruitment talent that my granddaughter's school couldnt' dream of, is going to come to town and beat my kid's school's brains out. Some will argue (I cannot agree) that such blowout games, by giving more UConn players more minutes on the floor, better prepare the teamfor the likes of a S. Carolina game. In my maybe ill-advised opinion, playing better competition week in and week out, does that best. I think that the outcome of the three marquis games UConn lost might have been different if the team had more experience running the gauntlet under the brighter lights. And, as for my granddaughter's hypothetical team, why should they be forced to "compete" under such inequitable circumstances? True, there's nothing we fans can do about any of this, but I cannot help but find the resultant mismatches truly lamentable.
 
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Bigpetunia said:
Well, respectfully, Nan, considering how much you seem to dislike our opining on the subject of The Big East and its relative weakness, I'm frankly surprised that you brought it up, to say nothing of the fact that, once again, respectfully, you, in my opinion, have missed the point:
Look, the conference is comprised of perfectly lovely institutions, and if a granddaughter of mine played for any one of them I'd be the first one in the stands, wearing all the silly home-team garb I could lay my hands on, screaming lustily on their behalf. But, inevitably, at some point, UConn, which, as a practical matter, has access to recruitment talent that my granddaughter's school couldnt' dream of, is going to come to town and beat my kid's school's brains out. Some will argue (I cannot agree) that such blowout games, by giving more UConn players more minutes on the floor, better prepare the teamfor the likes of a S. Carolina game. In my maybe ill-advised opinion, playing better competition week in and week out, does that best. I think that the outcome of the three marquis games UConn lost might have been different if the team had more experience running the gauntlet under the brighter lights. And, as for my granddaughter's hypothetical team, why should they be forced to "compete" under such inequitable circumstances? True, there's nothing we fans can do about any of this, but I cannot help but find the resultant mismatches truly lamentable.
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Seeing that I’m the that started the thread, I can say that the responders here are the ones missing the point. I never said the Big East is a good conference, my point is that all the people trashing the Big East for dragging the quality of UConn’s play don’t have that excuse any more. But I’m sure folks will continue complaining about something that can’t be changed. At least we can contain the complaints in one thread
 
SVCBeercats said:
Actually, it is. UCONN can say how do like me now. Possibly CREI can say the same in lowercase. But as a whole, not so much the Big East who are 3-39 against Top 25 teams. Guess who owns the 3 Ws.
Expand ...
Creighton did beat #21 Nebraska earlier in season. I, my opinion, think there are Pros and Cons to the Big East. It's good that Geno gets a canvas to try different things to really bring out the best in the team, but the con is not a lot of competition. Same old complaints I guess (to Nan's point.)
 
HuskyNan said:

The Big East says “How do you like me now?”​

I know it’s not the best conference but maybe it’s not quite the boat anchor people thought.
Expand ...
Unfortunately, it's still crap. Unlike Toby.

 
oldhusky said:
Life is relative. The Big East is clearly the 5th best conference out of 31. There is no way that is terrible or pathetic. It would be a way above average conference even without Uconn. Having said that, the gap between the power 4 conferences and the Big East is large, as is the gap between Uconn and the rest of the conference.

Pretty much all of the true contenders come from the power 4 except for Uconn. Could this hurt us in television contracts, NIL money, or put us at a disadvantage in recruiting top talent? Maybe, but it is what it is, conferences are usually built based on football, and we don't stack up well there.

What I fear most is that the gap between the super conferences and the Big East will only get bigger, with the impact of NIL, and not having to wait a year in the portal. If another Big East coach develops a star in the conference, they may lose that player to a higher profile program because of greater monetary opportunities there. Think of Morrow and Olson as recent examples.
Expand ...
We have to play the hand that is dealt to us. BTY... I do like Creighton... I
just wish that they had some height to go with that team chemistry and
H.C.
 
Unfortunately your conference is your conference. UConn is clearly several levels above the second best team this year and it hurts them in their preparation (theoretically) for big games. With that said I agree with Nan that the game Sunday shows you can prepare even when your in conference game aren't as daunting.

The thing to remember is UConn has been in a weak conference quite a while and they have won championships out of those leagues. Geno has always measured his teams against the best version of itself, not the competition and that is why they can compete when they play the other top programs.
 
Sunday showed that UConn is still UConn in that they are a talented team capable of playing great when all of their pieces come together. However, we still don't know if they can beat an elite team when it's a one or two possession game with 5 minutes or less left in the game. That's where the Big East competition (or lack thereof) comes in to play.
 
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If UCONN played like they did against South Carolina every game they would be undefeated and ranked #1. They need Jana to continue to improve to have a better chance to win an NC. Also Fudd needs to score like she did Sunday and Shade needs to be more consistent.
 
Zarathustra said:
We have to play the hand that is dealt to us. BTY... I do like Creighton... I
just wish that they had some height to go with that team chemistry and
H.C.
Expand ...
I was watching a game last night (I think it was tOSU vs. Iowa, might have been ND vs. Duke) and they showed a clip from Creighton's senior night ceremony at which seven players were graduating from the program and getting their framed jerseys.

Like you, I like the way Creighton plays. They'll look a lot different next year, but hopefully with their excellent coach and a good recruiting class they can help elevate the quality of the Big East.
 
Jonathan14 said:
I was watching a game last night (I think it was tOSU vs. Iowa, might have been ND vs. Duke) and they showed a clip from Creighton's senior night ceremony at which seven players were graduating from the program and getting their framed jerseys.

Like you, I like the way Creighton plays. They'll look a lot different next year, but hopefully with their excellent coach and a good recruiting class they can help elevate the quality of the Big East.
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Creighton has the #69, 82, 91 ranked players coming in 2025. Let's hope their success continues.

On edit - and yes, I know that HS rankings aren't necessarily a predictor of future performance at the college level, however the fact that they have 3 ranked players is still impressive iMHO.
 
Last edited:
The CDR-Ret said:
Instead of St. Louis, bring in USF to get the home & home with South Florida most years without divisions.
Expand ...
As much as I used to enjoy the USF games, the chances of USF joining the Big East are slim and none. USF has had a completive football team for a number of years. Other than club teams, St. Louis has not fielded a football team since 1949.
 
SVCBeercats said:
Actually, it is. UCONN can say how do like me now. Possibly CREI can say the same in lowercase. But as a whole, not so much the Big East who are 3-39 against Top 25 teams. Guess who owns the 3 Ws.
Expand ...
Just a wild thought. UConn basketball both men and women are now a national "brand" especially since 2-Fer and christening Storrs"The "Basketball Capital of the World". Why not "buy out" and split off from the BE and become independent? Sure, it will be difficult not belonging to a conference. How to schedule games when all of the other teams are tied down to conference schedules? Impossible? Teams would want to play UConn since we fill the venue no matter where we play. TV rights would surely be more lucrative than under the present arrangement assuming that UConn would be able to deal on a direct basis. Details. Details.

OK, let's hear all of the "you don't know how the BE Conference is set up", "totally impossible", " no way", "can't be done" "that would be dumb" "we'd be tied up in court" etc.
 
HuskyNan said:
I know it’s not the best conference but maybe it’s not quite the boat anchor people thought.
Expand ...
I am in the minority on this one, but I love the Big East. Always have and always will. I love that we are back in the Big East. Sure, it's not the best conference out there, but it is not the worst. The thing that people, young or old, forget or may remember, the Big East would only have 2 or 3 teams going to the NCAA Tournament each season. Heck some of us remember when Syracuse, Miami (FL), Villanova, Providence, and Seton Hall were the Alpha's of the conference. Heck even Georgetown had a run, although short, at the top of the conference. My point is, the Big East isn't all that bad as some people like to make it out to be.
 
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