The Top 10 best colleges for sports fans (No. 1: University of Connecticut - Storrs, Connecticut)

[HooperScooper]

UConn #1 in the country according to USA Today. The Big 12 and ACC obviously weren't aware of this.

No. 1: University of Connecticut - Storrs, Connecticut​

The women's basketball team at UConn has been one of the most successful teams in the nation, with 11 national championships and a record-breaking 111-game winning streak. The men's program has also enjoyed success, landing two tournament titles in the last decade.

Best College for Sports Fans (2023) - USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards

Experience the ultimate college sports atmosphere at these 10 universities, voted as the best for sports fans.

10best.usatoday.com

 

[Incursio007]

Let’s just keep scheduling big games & winning championships. Couldn’t care less what conference we’re in at this point lol.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Said this in the other thread

I love UConn but in my opinion you can’t be the best school for sports fans if 100% of your football games and 50% of your basketball games are 30 minutes from campus, when you think of the experience of a student living on a college campus and loving their sports teams. It’s about way more than banners.

While we have hope for Jim Mora, you can’t have a chronically bad football program and be the best school for sports fans overall.

But mainly, there’s no real tradition or pageantry with the AD like we see at all the real big programs in the B1G and SEC that elevates the student experience. The FSU paragraph (I can’t believe these were limited to single paragraphs lmao) puts it perfectly: “Sports are a way of life on campus” and that is so different from my experience as a student during the UConn AD’s by-far best 4-year run, from 2008-2012. Unless the school does a white-out night and literally leaves shirts on the chairs in Gampel for kids to put on, you can’t even get kids (let alone fans) to wear our colors consistently. It’s always an ugly mosaic of blue, gray, white, red, whatever. Then you look at consistent seas of orange at a school like Clemson; or purple at LSU; or red at OSU.

Best school for basketball fans? Sure, we’re in the argument with the other blue bloods, based on our undeniable success. Best overall experience for the student sports fan? I think top 10 would be generous.

 

[MTBingNinja]

UConn wins USA Today Reader’s Choice award for ‘Best College for Sports Fans’

UConn is already known as the ‘College Basketball Capital of the World,’ but after the results of USA Today’s Reader’s Choice awards were announced over the weekend, the sch…

www.courant.com

 

[SteelCT]

Most spoiled and arrogant fan base in the country

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Most spoiled and arrogant fan base in the country

Proudly the most spoiled and arrogant fanbase in the country.

 

[cohenzone]

Proudly the most spoiled and arrogant fanbase in the country.

Apparently too proud and arrogant for major conferences. Their fan bases are afraid of. us. A little bit of proud arrogance here.

 

[dennismenace]

"Better get us now"

 

[MTBingNinja]

Most spoiled and arrogant fan base in the country

Someone is eating a bowl of jelly

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Most spoiled and arrogant fan base in the country

This may be the only measure that Providence does not have as good a shot as anybody in

 

[Waquoit]

I love UConn but in my opinion you can’t be the best school for sports fans if 100% of your football games and 50% of your basketball games are 30 minutes from campus,

I'm glad you didn't get a vote.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Most spoiled and arrogant fan base in the country

And we're even more spoiled now than we were when we earned that label.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Said this in the other thread

I love UConn but in my opinion you can’t be the best school for sports fans if 100% of your football games and 50% of your basketball games are 30 minutes from campus, when you think of the experience of a student living on a college campus and loving their sports teams. It’s about way more than banners.

While we have hope for Jim Mora, you can’t have a chronically bad football program and be the best school for sports fans overall.

But mainly, there’s no real tradition or pageantry with the AD like we see at all the real big programs in the B1G and SEC that elevates the student experience. The FSU paragraph (I can’t believe these were limited to single paragraphs lmao) puts it perfectly: “Sports are a way of life on campus” and that is so different from my experience as a student during the UConn AD’s by-far best 4-year run, from 2008-2012. Unless the school does a white-out night and literally leaves shirts on the chairs in Gampel for kids to put on, you can’t even get kids (let alone fans) to wear our colors consistently. It’s always an ugly mosaic of blue, gray, white, red, whatever. Then you look at consistent seas of orange at a school like Clemson; or purple at LSU; or red at OSU.

Best school for basketball fans? Sure, we’re in the argument with the other blue bloods, based on our undeniable success. Best overall experience for the student sports fan? I think top 10 would be generous.

Thanks, Debbie Downer.

 

[giddyup]

Haters gonna hate. Apparently we suffer from excessive winning. P5 country clubs sell exclusivity because it’s the best way to protect themselves from having to face reality - there’s nothing special beyond the gobs of cash they have to exclusion of others who could do the same.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Thanks, Debbie Downer.

Facts > Feelings

 

[HuskyHawk]

Facts > Feelings

It's hard to argue with what you said. Once upon a time Soccer was a big event on campus. Both men's and women's were contenders. In my day, football was on campus, and basketball was at the Field House (one semester with Gampel). Football was not a big event, but some people went because it was something to do and free. Matt DeGenero was good. Intramurals were pretty big.

But we definitely don't have the pageantry they have in the south and Midwest. Basketball at Gampel is an event.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Basketball at Gampel is an event.

And yet still nothing compared to KU, UK, Duke, UNC, and several B1G schools

 

[superjohn]

And yet still nothing compared to KU, UK, Duke, UNC, and several B1G schools

What Big 10 schools have you watched games at? Basketball at Gampel blows them all away.

 

[Rocktheworld]

What Big 10 schools have you watched games at? Basketball at Gampel blows them all away.

Sometimes I imagine myself as a neutral observer and I see the crowds at Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Indiana; and they look much better on TV than Gampel. Sure, it gets loud in Gampel; but everyone wears their maize/white/red in those student sections.

And when the teams are good, the student sections at Purdue, Wisconsin, and Iowa are at least as good

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Facts > Feelings

What exactly is the fact? The only fact that I can ascertain from this is that it is your opinion that we cannot be the best because of the off campus home games played in football and basketball.

A quick recap:

• Fact - We won a poll (more of a popularity contest that very likely had less than universal interest and probably allowed over voting) on being the best college for sports fanes
• Fact - It is rocktheworld's opinion that we should not have won because we play multiple home basketball games in Hartford and all home football games in East Hartford .
• Fact - Regardless of how passionately he feels about it, rocktheworld's opinion on this is still an opinion, not a fact.

 

[HuskyHawk]

And yet still nothing compared to KU, UK, Duke, UNC, and several B1G schools

Sometimes I imagine myself as a neutral observer and I see the crowds at Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Indiana; and they look much better on TV than Gampel. Sure, it gets loud in Gampel; but everyone wears their maize/white/red in those student sections.

And when the teams are good, the student sections at Purdue, Wisconsin, and Iowa are at least as good

I don't think it's about atmosphere in the arena mostly. It's the hoopla around it. UConn has some of that for basketball and the Gampel experience is good, even if the arena doesn't emphasize it. I can only speak to one school on your list, and KU has more of that plus the in arena atmosphere is amazing. The whole town is different on game day. Certainly has a lot more happening on football game days.

UConn belongs on the list, because a fairly high percentage of the student body cares. More than you'd find at many universities. But 1st is a stretch when schools like Tennessee and Alabama exist.

This is UT (Knoxville) before a game against...Akron. About like UConn vs Stony Brook.

 

[Rocktheworld]

What exactly is the fact? The only fact that I can ascertain from this is that it is your opinion that we cannot be the best because of the off campus home games played in football and basketball.

A quick recap:

• Fact - We won a poll (more of a popularity contest that very likely had less than universal interest and probably allowed over voting) on being the best college for sports fanes
• Fact - It is rocktheworld's opinion that we should not have won because we play multiple home basketball games in Hartford and all home football games in East Hartford .
• Fact - Regardless of how passionately he feels about it, rocktheworld's opinion on this is still an opinion, not a fact.

Okay nerd

Substantiated opinion (which anyone can try to refute when they feel they can) > feelings

 

[superjohn]

Sometimes I imagine myself as a neutral observer and I see the crowds at Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Indiana; and they look much better on TV than Gampel. Sure, it gets loud in Gampel; but everyone wears their maize/white/red in those student sections.

And when the teams are good, the student sections at Purdue, Wisconsin, and Iowa are at least as good

You seem to be really into clothing/color coordinated clothing. Gampel is packed and as loud as it gets, I don't care what people are wearing.

 

[husky429]

You seem to be really into clothing/color coordinated clothing. Gampel is packed and as loud as it gets, I don't care what people are wearing.

National flag blue/white arent really conducive for coordinated clothes. At our best, Gampel doesn't really look that good compared to other schools. Reds and oranges always look better.

 

[HuskyHawk]

National flag blue/white arent really conducive for coordinated clothes. At our best, Gampel doesn't really look that good compared to other schools. Reds and oranges always look better.

The colors are fine. The challenge is winter. People have to wear coats during most of the season. Warm weather places are always more color coordinated. No different in the NFL.