The Improbability of UConn

[FfldCntyFan]

One major problem back in the Perno days was that for a very large part of the fan base, every time they saw him they thought of him stealing the ball from Bill Bradley, putting us in the elite eight, which until the NIT win was the high point of UConn basketball.

I was done with him long before he was fired. He had sufficient talent (albeit not well enough conditioned and his guards were tiny) to do more in the BE than they did during Corny Thompson's time there and I was furious when we blew what should have been an insurmountable lead against St John's in the BET in Hartford my senior year in college. I believe it was 17 points at halftime with no shot clock. The lead kept melting away and Mullin hit a 20 ft shot at the buzzer with the game tied.

A few weeks later, reading the sports section of one of the publications from the middle of the state, I read an article announcing Earl Kelly signing with UConn. The author added "the best part is now Perno will have job security for four more years". I was ready to beat the #$#@ out of him for writing that.

 

[#1 PA Husky Fan]

Come on. He grew up in CT and rooted against UConn. That says a lot. Go PC and SJU!

 

[WrenchFan69]

Come on. He grew up in CT and rooted against UConn. That says a lot. Go PC and SJU!

Didn't he grow up in Martha's Vineyard?

 

[QDOG5]

 

[QDOG5]

 

[QDOG5]

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Didn't he grow up in Martha's Vineyard?

Yeah. It’s why he understands the characters in The Town so well. You don’t listen to The Rewatchables?

 

[Palatine]

You could do that with any program. How improbable any outcome is. Kansas is way more in the middle of nowhere than Storrs.

 

[CL82]

Alot of truth here.

Jim Calhoun is THE best.

Well, that was a big bag and nothing. Other than hearing how his dad would make him sit as a nine-year-old out in the lobby after games while he and his buddy drank, I kind of felt for the guy. His nine-year-old recollection of Connecticut basketball missed a lot. I guess that’s understandable I think in the 8182 season Connecticut was ranked with Courtney Thompson, Mike McKay, and Chuck Aleksinas all on the team. His big knack against the Storrs campus is it can’t be seen from the highway? Did that make sense to anyone else? Yeah, he does and very tiny portion indicate Calhoun did a great job, moving the program from Regional to national success, but that’s hardly brain surgery to figure that out.

 

[SubbaBub]

I could listen to a 1979-1989 Big East non Uconn fan wax poetic about their glory days, and how Uconn passed them by...all day long.

Passed them by 1996 and never looked back. That was the last time the GTown was relevant. Them StJ and Cuse are who they pine after. The 'early" BE was a 5 year stretch from '84-'89 if you coun't Seton Hall's one good year. By the time Mr. Allen showed up in Storrs, it was mostly UConn with a smattering of other rotating contenders.

 

[CL82]

The improbability is further defined by the fact that there is no analogy. As you say football doesn't work, I was thinking Quinnipiac in hockey going from close to a commuter school to hockey powerhouse, but the attention on hockey is so much less and it is a northern sport so some degree of natural advantage. Actually the only apt analog is what the women's team has done.

We can't discount the effect that Geno and the women's program has on the UConn brand and men's basketball. To have unquestionably the best EVER women's college basketball program provides ballast, legitimacy, peers and winning experiences that cannot be over-stated.

Yeah, it was pretty much the opposite. Chris Daly said in an interview that a big part of what got people into the women’s games in 1999 was the fact that the men’s games were all sold out and people wanted to go see games in Gampel Pavilion. Her words, not mine.

 

[Palatine]

UConn was a big state school in a conference of tiny Catholic schools. Passing them was not only probable it was inevitable.

 

[Mr. Hand]

Courtney Thompson

Corny Thompson (short for Cornelius)

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Well, that was a big bag and nothing. Other than hearing how his dad would make him sit as a nine-year-old out in the lobby after games while he and his buddy drank, I kind of felt for the guy. His nine-year-old recollection of Connecticut basketball missed a lot. I guess that’s understandable I think in the 8182 season Connecticut was ranked with Courtney Thompson, Mike McKay, and Chuck Aleksinas all on the team. His big knack against the Storrs campus is it can’t be seen from the highway? Did that make sense to anyone else? Yeah, he does and very tiny portion indicate Calhoun did a great job, moving the program from Regional to national success, but that’s hardly brain surgery to figure that out.

His monologue was intended as a compliment.

 

[CL82]

The improbability is further defined by the fact that there is no analogy. As you say football doesn't work, I was thinking Quinnipiac in hockey going from close to a commuter school to hockey powerhouse, but the attention on hockey is so much less and it is a northern sport so some degree of natural advantage. Actually the only apt analog is what the women's team has done.

We can't discount the effect that Geno and the women's program has on the UConn brand and men's basketball. To have unquestionably the best EVER women's college basketball program provides ballast, legitimacy, peers and winning experiences that cannot be over-stated.

Yeah, it was pretty much the opposite. Chris Daly said in an interview that a big part of what got people into the women’s games in 1999 was the fact that the men’s games were all sold out and people wanted to go see games in Gampel Pavilion. Her words, not mine.

 

[CL82]

Corny Thompson (short for Cornelius)

Auto correct….

 

[Dogdeacon]

Yeah, it was pretty much the opposite. Chris Daly said in an interview that a big part of what got people into the women’s games in 1999 was the fact that the men’s games were all sold out and people wanted to go see games in Gampel Pavilion. Her words, not mine.

That doesn’t capture the point unless you also contend that Geno and the players and championships only exist because more fans came circa 1999. The team’s sustained excellence is what I’m talking about helping all things UConn basketball. Of course it is not directly transitory, but can’t help but think The women having near perfect seasons or beating everyone by 30 opens the possibility for the men to then win & run thru the ncaa tournament like they just did.

And if at times, like maybe this year, the men & women switch back and forth motivating & raising each others games, creating spillover fans, then that sustains the excellence of both. For example of course the $ from the men’s game essentially built Gampel.

 

[Sick Puppy]

Massive props and respect to JC. With that said...a little history for the pups and a question. Who holds the UConn scoring record?

I enrolled at UConn in '66. Tuition was 60 bucks a semester and I got 10 bucks a week from dad for spending money. Long long time ago right? Well, guess what the coolest thing to do was? Basketball in the Field House.

We were crazy for it. Packed for every game. And we were good. It was more fun than seeing the Football team reamed at the Yale Bowl every year. Even back then Wes Bialosuknia, RIP, was vying for the national scoring title. He still holds the University of Connecticut season and career scoring average records: his 1966–67 average of 28.0 PPG ranked 5th in the nation (most of those would've been 3's). The year before we put Toby Kimball, RIP, in the pros for 10 years. UConn's always been a BBall school.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

It was funny hearing him talk about going to the Civic Center for last four years of the Perno era rooting for the other team knowing that UConn would never win. He cites the fact that Perno only won 19 league games in the last four years he was there. How the hell did he last for 4 years? Or 3? Or 2?

It was a tough conference in his last years and JC first .
The straw that broke the camels back was Perno last team started out 9-0 . and was supposed to be decent . However his best player got involved in a gun incident and was suspended that sealed his demise . The folks at Storrs could take losing but not guns . Remember Perno was a local kid and Huskies Hero snd the folks at Storrs weren’t exactly the most adventurous group.
This might shock you but Perno had one more conference win in his three worse seasons than Calhoun had in his first three seasons .However Dom was trending down while Calhoun we trending. up and we were optimistic of eventually making the tournament. That was our first goal
We came close in 1988-89 but a couple of heartbreakers away . The conference was brutal and a difficult place for a bottom team to move up
That’s why the dream team was so special. Coming from winning 6 conference games to Champs and missing the FF on a OT buzzer beater .

 

[CL82]

That doesn’t capture the point unless you also contend that Geno and the players and championships only exist because more fans came circa 1999. The team’s sustained excellence is what I’m talking about helping all things UConn basketball. Of course it is not directly transitory, but can’t help but think The women having near perfect seasons or beating everyone by 30 opens the possibility for the men to then win & run thru the ncaa tournament like they just did.

And if at times, like maybe this year, the men & women switch back and forth motivating & raising each others games, creating spillover fans, then that sustains the excellence of both. For example of course the $ from the men’s game essentially built Gampel.

Disagree that the men’s program is somehow derivative of the women’s program and given the history of both. The men’s program was selling out well before Jim Calhoun got there. At the same time the woman’s program was playing before crowds of, maybe, 100 people.

On the other hand, the 1995 women’s team generated a ton of goodwill for the University and arguably spurred the UConn 2000 funding, which was a big jumpstart for the University and its current form.

There’s definitely synergy though of having to outstanding basketball programs at the same school.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Disagree that the men’s program is somehow derivative of the women’s program and given the history of both. The men’s program was selling out well before Jim Calhoun got there. At the same time the woman’s program was playing before crowds of, maybe, 100 people.

On the other hand, the 1995 women’s team generated a ton of goodwill for the University and arguably spurred the UConn 2000 funding, which was a big jumpstart for the University and its current form.

There’s definitely synergy though of having to outstanding basketball programs at the same school.

Yes, the definite synergy is what I'm talking about. And I agree that neither program is derivative of the other. Minor quibble that Perno's late tenure teams did not sell out regularly - and I remember a particularly frustrating game in New Haven where there were more Syracuse than UConn fans present.

Let me frame it a different way. Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma clearly didn't get along & essentially operated independent parallel programs, two lines to greatness that did not meet. There is NO doubt that either of them would have had the same success on their own. Full stop. And because of their prickly relationship we (fans) grew accustomed to thinking about the teams as separate silos of excellence. I think especially true for UConn alums that were there when Calhoun & Geno were so fiercely independent.

Now an improved relationship between the coaches & the school sprung from pride amongst the players and students to make it abundantly clear that there can be a synergistic relationship at UConn that raises the ceiling for both basketball programs. The lines eventually met and headed ever upwards together. You can feel that difference on campus now (I was at UConn this past Saturday with my son for accepted students day), students, faculty, everyone takes pride in the basketball programs as a whole.

 

[HCCForever]

Good comments. I would add that events such as the Coaches Road Shows have been very popular and help improve partnerships among all the teams. Jim Penders, Jim Mora and Mike Cavanaugh seem to embrace this as well.

Anyone involved with UConn should take pride. I saw pictures of President Maric and former President Herbst at the championship game and they seemed to be enjoying the success.

 

[nomar]

I always thought UConn could build a program that competed with the best schools in the country. And I thought it pre-Calhoun.

Here's why. First basketball always mattered in Connecticut. It was born 10 minutes north of Enfield. Baseball in the summer and basketball in the winter. That was what kids cared about. And the summers were short. Basketball, we played it and watched it.

Connecticut was growing then. Fortune 500 companies were leaving NYC and coming into the state with their HQs. We were an economic power.

UConn beat mighty Bill Bradley and consistently played in the post season through the 60s and 70s. There were flashes of what we could be.

North Carolina was this big power because Frank McGuire built an power school by recruiting New York and UConn was a heck of lot closer to New York than Carolina. Providence and Syracuse started getting those guys and they carried northeastern basketball. They were no more probable than us. All these powers had Connecticut kids on their rosters Johnny Egan, Marvin Barnes, Tom Roy, Sly Williams, Soup Campbell and John Williamson, Pinone and Jensen. It goes on, it's a really long list.

As soon as they opened the Civic Center, they sold it out 1974. I think the fans knew before the school, UConn could be great. That was a decade before Calhoun.

Or maybe I was just a kid who saw Toby and the Huskies in 1962 and didn't know any better. But I think it a vision. Five. Amazing. Five. Improbable. Five. The ingredients were there for a long time before they were realized.

The fact that your pipe dream came true doesn't mean it wasn't a pipe dream

 

[nomar]

Come on. He grew up in CT and rooted against UConn. That says a lot. Go PC and SJU!

I had a lot of friends growing up who were Johnnies or Cuse or Hoyas fans.

As to each of them, I say:

 

[nomar]

You could do that with any program. How improbable any outcome is. Kansas is way more in the middle of nowhere than Storrs.

The inventor of the sport founded KU's basketball program.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Perno had an NBA talent in Corny, An athletic wing who could shoot in Mike McKay and 2 NBA bigs in Chuck Aleksinas and Bruce Kuczenski. We had 2 pint sized guards in Vern Giscombe and Karl Hobbs. But Perno never pushed anyone to be better and that was his biggest downfall. Not the X and O's per se. Practices were too easy and thus no one improved more than they did.

I remember recruiting those days where the pipe dream was you recruited Patrick Ewing's high school point guard so maybe he would come here. We did that with a few guys. Never worked, ha ha.

Also, we were very competitive in the ECAC's. Us BC, URI, Fairfield, Providence were really strong regional programs pre Big East.

 

[Waquoit]

The year Ewing would have beaten Jordan except for Freddie Brown; UConn beat that team in the G'town gym by 12. It was the Hoya's biggest loss of the season but they went on to the final. UConn lost 7 out of their last 8, all their best players left and the coach got 4 more years.

 

[HCCForever]

Perno had an NBA talent in Corny, An athletic wing who could shoot in Mike McKay and 2 NBA bigs in Chuck Aleksinas and Bruce Kuczenski. We had 2 pint sized guards in Vern Giscombe and Karl Hobbs. But Perno never pushed anyone to be better and that was his biggest downfall. Not the X and O's per se. Practices were too easy and thus no one improved more than they did.

I remember recruiting those days where the pipe dream was you recruited Patrick Ewing's high school point guard so maybe he would come here. We did that with a few guys. Never worked, ha ha.

Also, we were very competitive in the ECAC's. Us BC, URI, Fairfield, Providence were really strong regional programs pre Big East.

You forget the late Norm Bailey (RIP). Man he could sky.

 

[Palatine]

The Inevitability of UConn

By the way wer made the NIT 13 times. All after 1974.

 

[Palatine]

The fact that your pipe dream came true doesn't mean it wasn't a pipe dream

No, that is exactly what it means. As Robert Kennedy said, “Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.”