The Nordlander perspective ...

[Pudge]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...n-leaping-into-the-acc-but-all-hope-isnt-lost

I think this is provocative ... and timely.

We are a YOUNG Bigtime Program. I disagree on demographics. But, he is right on in that we are not likely to be a candidate for the B12 or SEC. Louisville has some attributes that made them a more urgent pick & the preference of the FSU/Clemson clique.

 

[businesslawyer]

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...n-leaping-into-the-acc-but-all-hope-isnt-lost

I think this is provocative ... and timely.

We are a YOUNG Bigtime Program. I disagree on demographics. But, he is right on in that we are not likely to be a candidate for the B12 or SEC. Louisville has some attributes that made them a more urgent pick & the preference of the FSU/Clemson clique.

I'm sorry Pudge, and I'm not dumping on you, but maybe this country is just too dumb to take anything seriously. He actually wrote that UConn and Maryland are on the same level in basketball. How many championships have they won in the past 15 years? How many Final fours? How many conference titles? How many NBA players do they have at the moment?

Seriously, if the whole world is this duck*ing stupid at what point do you throw your hands up and give up?

 

[ZooCougar]

Maryland has a better Lax program than UConn. Thats about it.

 

[Pudge]

OK ... they aren't letting me sell my POV.

I agree: Mark Turgeon's Maryland Program is NOT near what we have attained. HOWEVER ... you must admit that the Kevin Ollie ascension is still an unknown. Easy to pick a Moment in time & say ... Maryland = UConn. Cripes - we won the NC two years ago & some of those kids are still playing.

And Football? Pete Thamel said Louisville was dramatically better in Football. Then we won last weekend. AND ... our record versus Pitt & SU & Louisville is a solid 15-11. What is correct ... if you were buying stock in these two programs ... is Louisville is on solid ground with their Stadium & Coach & upwardly trending. I am not so high on us.

 

[Carl Spackler]

the truth of the matter is simple. Football drives the bus. Always has, and always will. Like the sport or not, doesn't change it.

Our basketball programs, as feared would be the case 20 years ago, are taking hits becuase of football, but not because of our lack of a successful program at the highest level - we fixed that problem, and built a successful 1-A program in record time.....we are where we are now, because of our leadership's lack of proactively searching for a conference that would prioritize our needs properly. I'm not sure the ACC is the answer either. The way that conference is looking - been there, done that for 20 years, do I really want another? I've got my eyes on other conferences if it's to be a move.

This was all foretold in the document that was presented to the BOT in 1996 about the upgrade feasibility. Authored by Roy Kramer.

 

[tzznandrew]

At this point, I just want to be admitted into the B1G mostly for spite.

I'm a very spiteful person, and it would make me feel very good to give the middle finger to the ACC and all these people minimizing our accomplishments.

I hope UConn feels the same way, and works to prove them wrong.

 

[tzznandrew]

This was all foretold in the document that was presented to the BOT in 1996 about the upgrade feasibility. Authored by Roy Kramer.

There's the Carl we all know and have minimally lukewarm feelings for.

 

[benjordan]

Louisville doesn't actually have to be better at football, they just have to have the perception that they are better in football.. which for some reason they do.

 

[Brochacho]

Probably because they have had years the average fan can remember, and not for a bad reason such as being the worst team to go to a BCS Bowl.

 

[Inyatkin]

At this point, I just want to be admitted into the B1G mostly for spite.

I'm a very spiteful person, and it would make me feel very good to give the middle finger to the ACC and all these people minimizing our accomplishments.

I hope UConn feels the same way, and works to prove them wrong.

Seriously. Also, to shut people up who say we have some sort of cloud over us because of APR or laptops or whatever. Have these people taken a look around the college sports landscape? Please.

 

[fortebleedsblue]

I'm sorry Pudge, and I'm not dumping on you, but maybe this country is just too dumb to take anything seriously. He actually wrote that UConn and Maryland are on the same level in basketball. How many championships have they won in the past 15 years? How many Final fours? How many conference titles? How many NBA players do they have at the moment?

Seriously, if the whole world is this duck*ing stupid at what point do you throw your hands up and give up?

Here is the problem... Jim Calhoun was Uconn... With out him Uconn doesn't have a future and it's past was sooooo long ago. That is how the media has been playing it ... Its not going to change unless fb or bball steps up and proves it is greater than 1 man.

 

[UConn9604]

Louisville doesn't actually have to be better at football, they just have to have the perception that they are better in football.. which for some reason they do.

The same goes for BC, Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers, Maryland and everyone else who jumped off a Crazy Train into someone else's arms. It's not that they're better than us per se, because most of them aren't, it's the perception that they are.

 

[whaler11]

There's the Carl we all know and have minimally lukewarm feelings for.

You mean the one who has 50 posts in the last six months talking about how great the Big East is now because the leadership is taking football seriously?

 

[businesslawyer]

Here is the problem... Jim Calhoun was Uconn... With out him Uconn doesn't have a future and it's past was sooooo long ago. That is how the media has been playing it ... Its not going to change unless fb or bball steps up and proves it is greater than 1 man.

But that's my point. At some point, perception so departs from reality that it becomes fiction and then you can't even have an intelligent argument about it. Like Fox News. (And I could say MSNBC but that's just entertainment -- I don't think it actually pretends to be reporting hard news but forgive me if I'm wrong).

There are six schools in the entire duck*ing country who have won as many or more basketball championships as UConn. Six out of about 350. And Maryland isn't near being one of them.

 

[businesslawyer]

You mean the one who has 50 posts in the last six months talking about how great the Big East is now because the leadership is taking football seriously?

Or the one who starts a thread entitled "Focus" on the football board and two pages later is talking about boats driving around in water?

 

[FrostyNuggets]

Here is the problem... Jim Calhoun was Uconn... With out him Uconn doesn't have a future and it's past was sooooo long ago. That is how the media has been playing it ... Its not going to change unless fb or bball steps up and proves it is greater than 1 man.

You have no idea how much hatred there is for Jim Calhoun outside of the state of CT. I love the guy (in a non-gay way) for what he did for the university, but him moving to the shadows at this point in time is a net positive when it comes to conference realignment.

 

[FrostyNuggets]

I don't know man. I found that article to be rather patronizing and really indicative of all the reasons to not like college sports (old boys networks, arbitrary barriers to protect institutions, faux amateurism, etc), and a reason to opt for the purity of pro sports.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

I'm sorry Pudge, and I'm not dumping on you, but maybe this country is just too dumb to take anything seriously. He actually wrote that UConn and Maryland are on the same level in basketball. How many championships have they won in the past 15 years? How many Final fours? How many conference titles? How many NBA players do they have at the moment?

Seriously, if the whole world is this duck*ing stupid at what point do you throw your hands up and give up?

I think the concern isn't what the programs have done, but what the programs will do. There is some (understandable) concern that UConn of the post-Calhoun era may not continue its torrid pace of National Championships.

It may not be fair, but when you're trying to choose conference members, you have to think about that.

 

[businesslawyer]

I think the concern isn't what the programs have done, but what the programs will do. There is some (understandable) concern that UConn of the post-Calhoun era may not continue its torrid pace of National Championships.

It may not be fair, but when you're trying to choose conference members, you have to think about that.

Of course you do. Except that once you go beyond past success, you're just guessing. Given that we've beaten LV 4 out of 8 in basically an expansion team stage, you would think that we will improve year to year in football more than LV and be better than them. See how easy that is.

Having said this, by the way, LV is to be commended for the amount of money they can raise for what is not, at the end of the day, a state university. Nothing in any of this is meant to minimize how well they run their athletic programs. (Other than hiring Kragthorpe and having their hoops coach doing psychos in Italian restaurants.)

 

[RMoore1999]

I'm sorry Pudge, and I'm not dumping on you, but maybe this country is just too dumb to take anything seriously. He actually wrote that UConn and Maryland are on the same level in basketball. How many championships have they won in the past 15 years? How many Final fours? How many conference titles? How many NBA players do they have at the moment?

Seriously, if the whole world is this duck*ing stupid at what point do you throw your hands up and give up?

NEVER. NEVER give up.

Illegitimi non carborundum!

 

[freescooter]

Probably because they have had years the average fan can remember, and not for a bad reason such as being the worst team to go to a BCS Bowl.

Another example of perception vs reality...Stanford blew the ACC Champ VaTech out of the Orange Bowl 40-12, but nobody remembers that. Oh and VaTech was ranked 11th, Stanford 5th going into the game and VT fell to 13th (lol). UConn was unranked while Oklahoma was 9th. But nobody says the Hokies were the worst team to go tot a BCS Bowl. Nor do they say that about Clemson last year despite giving up 70 to West Virginia.

 

[IthacaMatt]

OK ... they aren't letting me sell my POV.

I agree: Mark Turgeon's Maryland Program is NOT near what we have attained. HOWEVER ... you must admit that the Kevin Ollie ascension is still an unknown. Easy to pick a Moment in time & say ... Maryland = UConn. Cripes - we won the NC two years ago & some of those kids are still playing.

And Football? Pete Thamel said Louisville was dramatically better in Football. Then we won last weekend. AND ... our record versus Pitt & SU & Louisville is a solid 15-11. What is correct ... if you were buying stock in these two programs ... is Louisville is on solid ground with their Stadium & Coach & upwardly trending. I am not so high on us.

Do you guys still not understand that "better program" does not mean "who would win if we played today"? You need to get that. Football is about bowl game appearances, and star players in the NFL, hall of famers, and big games won against big time opponents that you will talk to your grandkids about. Your hoops success has been outstanding, but even then, we're talking about a limited sample size, and an athletic department facing big questions about its future now that your one successful coach has gone. (Yes, I know about Gino, but nobody cares about women's hoops. Nobody.)

 

[UConn990411]

Do you guys still not understand that "better program" does not mean "who would win if we played today"? You need to get that. Football is about bowl game appearances, and star players in the NFL, hall of famers, and big games won against big time opponents that you will talk to your grandkids about. Your hoops success has been outstanding, but even then, we're talking about a limited sample size, and an athletic department facing big questions about its future now that your one successful coach has gone. (Yes, I know about Gino, but nobody cares about women's hoops. Nobody.)

You know what people - especially recruits - don't care about anymore? Bowls wins and Hall of Famers who played in the '60s.

duck* off already with that stuff.

 

[businesslawyer]

Do you guys still not understand that "better program" does not mean "who would win if we played today"? You need to get that. Football is about bowl game appearances, and star players in the NFL, hall of famers, and big games won against big time opponents that you will talk to your grandkids about. Your hoops success has been outstanding, but even then, we're talking about a limited sample size, and an athletic department facing big questions about its future now that your one successful coach has gone. (Yes, I know about Gino, but nobody cares about women's hoops. Nobody.)

Pompous jerk. Of course we get that. But that doesn't mean we have to like it. And it doesn't mean we can't wonder why we shouldn't prefer pro sports where you get to fight your battles on the field or court instead of on message boards.

 

[8893]

Do you guys still not understand that "better program" does not mean "who would win if we played today"? You need to get that. Football is about bowl game appearances, and star players in the NFL, hall of famers, and big games won against big time opponents that you will talk to your grandkids about. Your hoops success has been outstanding, but even then, we're talking about a limited sample size, and an athletic department facing big questions about its future now that your one successful coach has gone. (Yes, I know about Gino, but nobody cares about women's hoops. Nobody.)

Do you not understand that your first three sentences described why we have a "better program" than Syracuse in basketball, and put the lie to your fourth sentence?