Top 50 Rivalries in Men’s College Basketball | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Top 50 Rivalries in Men’s College Basketball

I feel as if it's Duke. It happens just enough to mean something almost every time. I am sure they would barely agree from their point of view. Watching UConn v. Duke is always nutso for me and a lot of us here.

They would have to acknowledge that Husky blood is as blue as it gets. It is.

Give me 4 years of a home 'n home starting next season. Let it manifest into a football USC v. Notre Dame; basketball version. National game. Must watch TV.

There is no denying the sex appeal here.
 
Ewekon said:
I feel as if it's Duke. It happens just enough to mean something almost every time. I am sure they would barely agree from their point of view. Watching UConn v. Duke is always nutso for me and a lot of us here.

They would have to acknowledge that Husky blood is as blue as it gets. It is.

Give me 4 years of a home 'n home starting next season. Let it manifest into a football USC v. Notre Dame; basketball version. National game. Must watch TV.

There is no denying the sex appeal here.
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Last time they played us was 2014 at the Izod center so not sure it’s can be considered a rivalry. Anyone else at the game?
 
Kolumbo said:
No animosity? I thought there was plenty, especially on the part of the creighton fans. And losing to them this year was especially awful given our struggles with them and the fact that they aren't great this year. I loathe creighton. and I couldn't stand Kalk.
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Remember the time Kalk laughed at and mocked Sanogo in the preseason?
 
huskdogs said:
Article in the Athletic today.

UConn’s only entry is #35 with Syracuse.

Other Big East entries:
PC-URI #47
Seton Hall-Rutgers #42
Villanova-Georgetown #30
Creighton-Nebraska #18 (this high after one season lmao)
Wisconsin-Marquette #15
Big 5 #10
Cincy-Xavier #8
Syracuse-Georgetown #5

Suprised we only show up on this list once and at 35. How is UConn-St. John’s not there if they are going to include Creighton/Nebraska. Also no UConn-Nova or UConn-PC.

www.nytimes.com

Ranking the top 50 rivalries in men’s college basketball, from Duke-Carolina to Wofford-Furman

From feuding neighbors to powerhouses who annually stand in each other's way of championships, college hoops has a rich rivalry landscape.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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St John’s has been a nothing burger for 20 years. Maybe if they survive Ricks retirement it becomes something. But even back in the real Big East days, St John’s was below Syracuse, Georgetown , BC then Louisville in the big game list. Wanting to beat a team because they are currently good isn’t the same as a rivalry. If the Jonnies fall to 8-22 next year they will not be a big deal. If we played the Orange it would be even this year
 
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huskdogs said:
Last time they played us was 2014 at the Izod center so not sure it’s can be considered a rivalry. Anyone else at the game?
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Yep I was there too. Too bad it was basically a one man show as Boatright didnt get any help .
 
I think they are just creating rivalries. Seton Hall-Rutgers? I'm sure PC considers UConn a bigger rival than URI. I think cuse was our biggest rival year in and year out in the Big East. There were stretches where UConn had different rivals. SJU during the Rip Hamilton-Ron Artest years. Villanova during the Ray Allen-Kerry Kittles years. Georgetown during Ray Allen-Alan Iverson.

Are there any A-10 programs on the list? Perhaps UMass-Temple.
 
HW611 said:
Speaking of Cuse, I can’t think of a better hire when their next search eventually happens.

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I think the fans and boosters would revolt if, after the stretch they’ve had, they gave it to another program guy with minimal head coaching experience. Maybe down the road, but if they actually move on from Autry in the next year or two, I think McNamara would be a tough sell.
 
Syracuse is dead
UConn never had rivals
It's about titles.
 
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We no longer have any true rivalries in the Big East - it requires someone that beats you, that you've played for more than a decade and that you truly despise. No team fits that - though St John's could make it soon. PC has a long road to hoe. Don't say Seton Hall - we really consider them a little, poor brother. Creighton isn't there either; we respect them more than hate them. Nova - maybe if Willard gets them back on a higher track. Our most bitter rivals are in the ACC. Kinda crazy.
 
Marat said:
I feel like Pitt is a forgotten program but they were UConn's top rivalry from 2002 to 2004 with those Dixon teams.

The bottom line is our rivals have not remained consistent which would hurt these rankings.
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They should come back. Them and the other schools that sold their souls and aside from one lucky orange run have become nonexistent on the national stage. I’m talking to you too West Virginia. I know football drives the bus but hey stink at that too
 
Ironically, I think UConn's rivalry with Cincinnati eclipses most of its original Big East rivalries in terms of sustained relevance and dislike. Obviously you had the mutual feelings of misery once both were relegated to the AAC, but even in the years leading up to the split, they played a lot of intense, physical games that came down to the final possessions. Cronin being one of the biggest and arguably least likable personalities in the sport helped a lot.

And if it seemed like the Cincy rivalry replaced the Pitt rivalry, it's because I'm pretty sure it was Cronin's explicit goal to build a carbon copy of Dixon's program. He started recruiting a lot of the same rough and rugged NYC kids and coached his teams accordingly. Seriously, go look at how many NYC area kids he brought in in that era - Rashad Bishop, Lance Stephenson, Sean Kilpatrick, Shaq Thomas just to name a few.

His rosters were Big East personified, and that continued for a few years even after the Big East left them behind. For my money, that rivalry from ~2010-17 is right up there with the best stretches in any other rivalry we've had.
 
SubbaBub said:
Syracuse is dead
UConn never had rivals
It's about titles.
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I see what you did
And somewhat agree with you
But must add one extra

To refine your post,
I'd say the biggest rivals are history's blue bloods

During post season
Yes, you root for the Huskies
But who do you root against?
 
AdamaNation said:
They should come back. Them and the other schools that sold their souls and aside from one lucky orange run have become nonexistent on the national stage. I’m talking to you too West Virginia. I know football drives the bus but hey stink at that too
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Let's remember that we would've sold our soul to join the ACC back then.

Back when Lyke was AD, she made it a priority to bring competitive in non-revenue sports, whi,ch she accomplished while remaining competitive in football. Her downfall was running a large deficit while also trying to build a new Olympic sports facility without having secured necessary outside funding. She was also the AD who hired Capel.

While Capel was a second choice to Hurley, generally he was being hailed as a solid hire, especially in light of the Stallings fiasco. Shortly before she was fired, Lyke gave Capel a six-year extension with significant buyouts. Up until now, the cost of those buyouts made dumping Capel a non-starter. At the end of this year, the buyout is down to $12 million, still a ton of money, but a significant drop from where it's been. There is serious conversation on spending that money to get rid of him, despite the fact that he has a good recruiting class coming in next year.

There's still a fan base here who will turn out if the product is worth seeing. And it's not that big a reach to see them back in the NCAAs fairly quickly. But if Pitt blows this next hire, they could be looking at a DePaul-length stay in basketball Siberia.
 
storrsroars said:
Let's remember that we would've sold our soul to join the ACC back then.

Back when Lyke was AD, she made it a priority to bring competitive in non-revenue sports, whi,ch she accomplished while remaining competitive in football. Her downfall was running a large deficit while also trying to build a new Olympic sports facility without having secured necessary outside funding. She was also the AD who hired Capel.

While Capel was a second choice to Hurley, generally he was being hailed as a solid hire, especially in light of the Stallings fiasco. Shortly before she was fired, Lyke gave Capel a six-year extension with significant buyouts. Up until now, the cost of those buyouts made dumping Capel a non-starter. At the end of this year, the buyout is down to $12 million, still a ton of money, but a significant drop from where it's been. There is serious conversation on spending that money to get rid of him, despite the fact that he has a good recruiting class coming in next year.

There's still a fan base here who will turn out if the product is worth seeing. And it's not that big a reach to see them back in the NCAAs fairly quickly. But if Pitt blows this next hire, they could be looking at a DePaul-length stay in basketball Siberia.
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One thing I remember Mark Cuban saying about running an NBA team is that if you find the right coach a team can have a chance in getting turned around. The desk anchor responded by say "that's not too bad". And then Cuban responded by saying, "that is harder than you think". What he says applies to college basketball and other sports, too. Just look at Villanova Basketball or UConn Football.
 
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huskdogs said:
Article in the Athletic today.

UConn’s only entry is #35 with Syracuse.

Other Big East entries:
PC-URI #47
Seton Hall-Rutgers #42
Villanova-Georgetown #30
Creighton-Nebraska #18 (this high after one season lmao)
Wisconsin-Marquette #15
Big 5 #10
Cincy-Xavier #8
Syracuse-Georgetown #5

Suprised we only show up on this list once and at 35. How is UConn-St. John’s not there if they are going to include Creighton/Nebraska. Also no UConn-Nova or UConn-PC.

www.nytimes.com

Ranking the top 50 rivalries in men’s college basketball, from Duke-Carolina to Wofford-Furman

From feuding neighbors to powerhouses who annually stand in each other's way of championships, college hoops has a rich rivalry landscape.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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The issue is when the league was strong early, with Syracuse, Georgetown, and St. John's at the top we were nowhere. Our rivals were the other bottom feeders.

Then, suddenly, we became the league's standard bearer and it went from lop-sided one way to the other way for two decades and then the league fell apart.

To have real rivals you need several teams fighting it out for the top every year, like us and St. John's this year and maybe Villanova in the mix and it has to be great teams every year with hard fought and sometimes bitter losses in the mix. It's going to take a few more years.
 
The term 'rivalry' conjures up deep emotional ties and I'd imagine none of the teams folks have listed would list us as their biggest rival.
We were too late to the championship party in the OBE to matter to the early domineers. Being a non-Catholic didn't help.

The only true 'biggest' rival we've had is UMass from the YC days. Yes, I remember and it was filthy fun.
 
Scrutineer said:
The issue is when the league was strong early, with Syracuse, Georgetown, and St. John's at the top we were nowhere. Our rivals were the other bottom feeders.
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in those early Big East days we still had one foot in the Yankee Conference rooting-wise as we transitioned. I remember those days well.
 
I know this is a basketball list but no discussion of rivalries is complete without the infamous "Civil Conflict" between UConn and South Florida football. 😝
 
UConn is a bit like Penn State football in that they have heated matchups with certain programs for awhile but, especially since conference realignment, no real rival (PSU has the vestiges of one w/ Pitt but that's waning) (before I get jumped for the comparison that's the only similarity I'd point out re: programs).

On one hand you miss out a bit on focusing scorn on one team in particular. On the other hand, I think it really opens things up for true haters as there are so many teams to dislike for so many reasons that you don't really ever have to worry about finding inner peace.
 
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PAHusky said:
UConn is a bit like Penn State football in that they have heated matchups with certain programs for awhile but, especially since conference realignment, no real rival (PSU has the vestiges of one w/ Pitt but that's waning) (before I get jumped for the comparison that's the only similarity I'd point out re: programs).

On one hand you miss out a bit on focusing scorn on one team in particular. On the other hand, I think it really opens things up for true haters as there are so many teams to dislike for so many reasons that you don't really ever have to worry about finding inner peace.
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To your point, the ACC has UNC-Duke every year with a rotating wild card or two. The rest of the conference is meh. The 16 team Big East was brutal and was much more competitive top to bottom. Sot it wasn't just one rival, it was always a few programs battling for the top. That made Big East Basketball awesome.
 
Prior to 1990, none of the Big East programs considered us rivals. From 1994-1996 is was Gtown, Nova, and Cuse. GTown and Nova went south quickly after that and were replaced by Pitt. BC became a rival solely due to CR, they were never a rival on the court.

From 1999-2004 is was Duke, they know it, we know it.

From 2006-2011, Jay Wright brought Nova back, Jamie Dixon, had Pitt at its peak, add West Virginia and Louisville taking over the rival space from the original C7.

Post the C7 exit, Cincy was as close to a rival, but let's be honest after 2014 we stunk up the AAC.

After Hurley made his get us now statement, we've been the class of the new Big East and our only rivals have multiple championships.

If Wright were still at Nova, this would be the call but they need a rebuild that lasts more than a season.
 
huskdogs said:
Agree on cuse but idk nova doesn’t really do it for me. I hate St. John’s way more than I do Nova
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It's because Villanova is the Team we all rooted for when our program was in the dumps. Lol
It is definitely Syracuse from an historical perspective. We're down 56-39 all-time, and down 8-6 in Big East Tournament play.

en.wikipedia.org

Syracuse–UConn rivalry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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