We're not the ones who killed the Big East. Boeheim is on record as saying we never would have gone to the ACC had the BE taken the espn deal in early 2011 that Pitt and ND rejected. As a cuse fan I'm sad to the BE collapse, and I know our long term future is far from totally secure given the fault lines in the ACC between the southern football schools, the Carolina schools, and the old BE schools. Everyone knows ND joining fulltime is a real longshot. A healthy BE if Miami and BC (and even, gulp, WV) hadn't left would have been preferable to road games at Clemson and Wake.
That said, all the anti-Cuse posts here over the top. Uconn being a major NYC player is just not true. If you've ever been to a BE tourney game, you know the 10 blocks around MSG are a sea of orange...not navy nor red. Our alum in the media, football and b-ball history (one of the only schools in D1 to have won both football and b-ball NC's), and recent success in all sports ensure our relevance. If you've been to a bar in the city on a fall Saturday, you know the NYC teams are Michigan, Penn St, Cuse, UVA, ND. Lots of Duke alum too but not for football games. Not UConn. (Nor Rutgers.) Connecticut is a decently populated, wealthy state that's an attractive tv market on its own merits. That said, i think some of the posters on this board overrate the tv $ aspect to CR. As ND's said, they would have been in the B1G years ago if it were all about the money. Same could be said for UNC and UVA. Yes, it's a factor...but not the only one. A program's tradition and geography matter too, along with their relative power within a conference, with academics, lacrosse (rising in popularity), and olympic sports lesser but still relevant factors.
I'm posting this in the hopes that the UConn fans don't tip over into rabid WVU style ACC-hating zombies. You could be in the ACC one day, or we could both be in some new northeastern conference one day. Nothing's impossible. I hope our administrations stay in touch, and we schedule some b-ball games soon.
That said, all the anti-Cuse posts here over the top. Uconn being a major NYC player is just not true. If you've ever been to a BE tourney game, you know the 10 blocks around MSG are a sea of orange...not navy nor red. Our alum in the media, football and b-ball history (one of the only schools in D1 to have won both football and b-ball NC's), and recent success in all sports ensure our relevance. If you've been to a bar in the city on a fall Saturday, you know the NYC teams are Michigan, Penn St, Cuse, UVA, ND. Lots of Duke alum too but not for football games. Not UConn. (Nor Rutgers.) Connecticut is a decently populated, wealthy state that's an attractive tv market on its own merits. That said, i think some of the posters on this board overrate the tv $ aspect to CR. As ND's said, they would have been in the B1G years ago if it were all about the money. Same could be said for UNC and UVA. Yes, it's a factor...but not the only one. A program's tradition and geography matter too, along with their relative power within a conference, with academics, lacrosse (rising in popularity), and olympic sports lesser but still relevant factors.
I'm posting this in the hopes that the UConn fans don't tip over into rabid WVU style ACC-hating zombies. You could be in the ACC one day, or we could both be in some new northeastern conference one day. Nothing's impossible. I hope our administrations stay in touch, and we schedule some b-ball games soon.
