August_West
Conscience do cost
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LOL
Top Dogs Podcast
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August_West
Conscience do cost
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He did . Goodman chimed in too. I dont mention that asshat though, even when hes on my side (and he was here!) . Thats deliberate on my part.
August_West
Conscience do cost
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No Its not. Like TO said "Every AD runs at a deficit its just how you position it"
And Ive said here before why does anyone here care about money? Its so stupid. As long as there is High D1 NCAA tourney UConn will be included.
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The AAC was a horrible league. Hurley is the man and will be wildly successful in the Big East or the Big 12. Will you stipulate that the Big 12 isn’t in the same universe as the AAC?
August_West
Conscience do cost
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I mean if you are talking what is the better KenPom league sure. Stipulated, counselor. It's not only about that, is it?
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Nope, it’s about whether UConn can be an amazing championship winning program - and they can because Hurley is great and the Big 12 wouldn’t drag the program down in power ratings or lack of top talent like the AAC did counselor
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Perhaps I missed it, but I don't think they made the claim that we owe the Big East. They did say that the BE saved UConn instead of vice versa, but their reasons for not liking the move to the Big 12 were not about that.
Their main argument was that we're chasing a football dream that will never amount to anything. And that just about every program operates with a deficit and the key to success is managing that deficit rather than chasing a bag that doesn't guarantee anything.
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The AAC was a reason for UConn's demise under Ollie, but certainly not the sole reason or even the biggest one. KO clearly had some personal issues that started to spiral after the title, and he was never the same leader after that. That, in addition to him being inexperienced and no longer coaching Calhoun's players, was the main reason the program bombed.
Being relegated to the AAC was obviously awful, but the league is the difference between being a perennial powerhouse and merely a top 25 type program. Not losing to Wagner.
Being relegated to the AAC was obviously awful, but the league is the difference between being a perennial powerhouse and merely a top 25 type program. Not losing to Wagner.
Agree to disagree I guess. I understand some of that to an extent but it seems very risky to me to assume that continuing to run the largest AD deficit will not ultimately endanger the competitiveness of our AD. Lest we forget, pursuit of more money is what started this whole thing in the first place and continues to drive it, so I'm going to say there must be a lot of stupid people like me who think money is important in all this.
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Rant incoming..not directed at Dauster or anybody specific but just my 2 cents on a topic I've heard way too often recently
Regarding who saved who between UConn and the BE, I don't think anybody saved anybody else. It was a mutually beneficial business decision. There's a lot of history and emotion behind that decision, but at the end of the day it was just good business.
The AAC was consistently sending 2-4 teams to the tournament while we were there. Sure they were mostly getting bounced in the 2nd round, but it's not like the AAC was a low major only getting 1 autobid. Teams were winning games and making the tournament, and with 2 exceptions we weren't one of them. Being in the AAC didn't help, and it did limit our potential imo, but it's not like we were cruising through the conference.. We were struggling, badly. Regardless of anybody's thoughts on the man, a lot of that is attributed to Kevin Ollie.
In comes Dan Hurley. After a couple of seasons of building, a few 4 star recruits for the future (including a future NBA lottery pick), and UConn is on track to win 20 games for the first time since 2016, with 3 star and 229th ranked recruit Christian Vital leading the charge. I don't think Dan Hurley goes on the recruiting spree he's on now if we stay in the AAC, but I do think UConn returns to the tournament and returns to being a winning program.
Fast forward to the Big East where there is immediate success, building on our AAC momentum. Last year the conference generally had a really bad OOC stretch, the BE anchor Villanova was struggling, and UConn kept it afloat. Let's face it, a few BE teams really bolstered their tournament resume last season by beating us down. I don't have the numbers in front of me but I'd bet that BE average attendance has also been on an upwards trend. The games just all mean a little bit more now, they're a little bit more nationally relevant, and UConn has a part to play in that. Certainly not all of it is because of UConn, because there's some really great coaches and players in the BE, but UConn played an important part.
If it was as easy as just being in the Big East, somebody other than Nova would have won one by now. So thank you Val for inviting us back, and you're welcome Val for bringing home another trophy.
/endrant
Regarding who saved who between UConn and the BE, I don't think anybody saved anybody else. It was a mutually beneficial business decision. There's a lot of history and emotion behind that decision, but at the end of the day it was just good business.
The AAC was consistently sending 2-4 teams to the tournament while we were there. Sure they were mostly getting bounced in the 2nd round, but it's not like the AAC was a low major only getting 1 autobid. Teams were winning games and making the tournament, and with 2 exceptions we weren't one of them. Being in the AAC didn't help, and it did limit our potential imo, but it's not like we were cruising through the conference.. We were struggling, badly. Regardless of anybody's thoughts on the man, a lot of that is attributed to Kevin Ollie.
In comes Dan Hurley. After a couple of seasons of building, a few 4 star recruits for the future (including a future NBA lottery pick), and UConn is on track to win 20 games for the first time since 2016, with 3 star and 229th ranked recruit Christian Vital leading the charge. I don't think Dan Hurley goes on the recruiting spree he's on now if we stay in the AAC, but I do think UConn returns to the tournament and returns to being a winning program.
Fast forward to the Big East where there is immediate success, building on our AAC momentum. Last year the conference generally had a really bad OOC stretch, the BE anchor Villanova was struggling, and UConn kept it afloat. Let's face it, a few BE teams really bolstered their tournament resume last season by beating us down. I don't have the numbers in front of me but I'd bet that BE average attendance has also been on an upwards trend. The games just all mean a little bit more now, they're a little bit more nationally relevant, and UConn has a part to play in that. Certainly not all of it is because of UConn, because there's some really great coaches and players in the BE, but UConn played an important part.
If it was as easy as just being in the Big East, somebody other than Nova would have won one by now. So thank you Val for inviting us back, and you're welcome Val for bringing home another trophy.
/endrant
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perfectly written. It was more coaching than it was the conference. Sure, the AAC limits the ceiling for UConn if they are playing well and lowers the floor when they are playing bad, especially in home attendance. However, with Dan Hurley and his staff, UConn was on their way to becoming a NCAAT regular. When UConn was bad in the AAC it was like adding roller skates to the program while they were going downhill, it just made the descent that much sharper and faster.
The Big East didn't invite UConn as some charitable gesture, they did it because UConn would enhance the national profile of the conference and UConn ultimately did. UConn and Nova are the only 2 schools from the BE that have a national reputation of being basketball powerhouses.
Waquoit
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It was hurting Geno. At the time of the COVID shutdown he had his worst team since Kerry Bascom. That wasn't coaching.
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I agree with what you say… Uconn started to turn it around while in the aac when Hurley took over the program..and the big east is lucky to have Uconn..we are the biggest brand in the big east and last year we helped alot of schools because of how good we were.. also we will bring alot more money for the big east in the next media contract.. i also think the big east helps us keep Hurley and helps us with recruiting 4 and 5 star recruits… i think we lose Hurley and start recruiting 3 star recruits if we join the big 12
It wasn't hurting Geno's team that much, they still won 3 championships (2014-2016) and them made 6 Final Fours including one title game appearance after the 3 championships.
I am talking strictly about the men's team. Coaching was bad, it just was. And I say that as a person that likes Kevin Ollie a ton and gives him full credit for 2014 which some here on the Boneyard only give credit to Calhoun for. FWIW, I think his divorce messed him up and I am glad he is getting back on his feet with the Brooklyn Nets.
If Dan Hurley was coaching for those AAC years from 2017 onwards, do they win a title? I don't know, but they wouldn't have been so bad, I know that.
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This is beyond idiotic
2 minutes in he said that “the big east is the best thing about UConn basketball” and I knew it would be a doozy. I think it’s sad after all we’ve proven as a program there is a segment of fans who don’t believe we can be successful without the magical powers of the big east and if we go to another power basketball conference that will pay a lot more money we are doomed to fail.
Right now we recruit with the best programs in the country… if we want a player..i have confidence we will get him most of the time… there is a reason for that.. Hurley is a great recruiter and we are the kings of the north east..in a northeast conference..playing our championship games in New York City
This is what I’m talking about geez. We’re the kings of the whole country. We recruit nationally. We play our championship games in front of 80,000 people where ever they have them, usually Texas.
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CTBasketball
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The same people vouching for the Big 12 will be the ones blasting fans for not showing up to a 9pm Gampel midweek tip v. UCF, BYU, or Kansas St.
shizzle787
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We weren't successful because only 2014 could the American be considered a power conference. That season the league had UConn, Louisville, Memphis, Cincy, Temple, Houston, Rutgers, SMU, UCF, and USF.
The next year we traded Louisville and Rutgers for Tulsa, Tulane, and ECU. At that point, it could no longer claim to be a power league.
FfldCntyFan
Texas: Property of UConn Men's Basketball program
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Do you really believe that a game in Hartford or Gampel against BYU or Kansaa St won't draw?
CTBasketball
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9pm weeknight games don’t fill unless it’s a big game or a rival game. Expect a lot of late tips if we move to this conference.
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Why? The B12 gets 7 and 9 PM tip off slots, and we'd be one of the few schools in the Eastern time zone. I'd imagine we'd get almost all 7 PM home game tips
FfldCntyFan
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How would the 9pm weeknight game against BYU or K St not be a better draw than the same tipoff date and time against DePaul or Butler?
Would our fan base really view Creighton or Xavier as rivals? Would those games have any juice if the programs weren't both currently at what is basically their highest points ever? Would our fan base not quickly view schools like Baylor, Iowa St, Ok St on a similar level as how we view Creighton and Xavier if those schools perform at similar levels?
Baylor has recently been better than nine of our ten current conference opponents, Texas Tech, Ok St, Iowa St and Kansas St have all been very good in recent years and BYU has had quality teams in the most too distant past. There is quite a bit of quality in B-12 men's basketball and in all candor, the familiarity of opponent that comes with remaining in the BE really only covers half the conference.
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FfldCntyFan
Texas: Property of UConn Men's Basketball program
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He's intelligent enough to realize that he can't use logic to defend his position so he has to cherry pick specific circumstances where his position can be defended.
CTBasketball
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BYU not maybe because that fanbase travels. But I’ll scale back and say it’d be harder to fill XL/Gampel with Kansas St, Texas Tech, UCF, Houston, Colorado (potentially) than it would be to fill it vs. DePaul, St John’s, Villanova, Creighton, Providence, etc. Throw in a bad tip time and you never know.
Can’t really guarantee tip slots. We had a slew of garbage tip times in the AAC. I wouldn’t bet the Big 12 prioritizes us from the get go and gives us the best tip times.
CTBasketball
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Yes I’m using a hypothetical to combat the hypothetical invitation you all want to an overrated conference, the minute Texas/Oklahoma leave and UCF/Colorado/Houston/Cincinnati join. The last statement is also a hypothetical. There are no facts or logic in this thread.
Show me the logistics of traveling to all Big 12 schools for all sports. Does that make sense?
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I agree the Big 12 isn't going to intentionally give us the best tip times, I'm arguing the opposite. In order to give us a 9PM tip they'd have to inconvenience their own existing schools with early tips that nobody there wants
FfldCntyFan
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We were able to pull it off in the AAC playing a handful of B level schools and a lot of C level schools. Doing it for a handful of A level schools and quite a few B level schools while being compensated well above anything we could have hoped for in either the AAC or the BE makes a ton of sense.
Question for you: if the second AAC media contract paid half of what the B-12 contract pays would we have left for the BE when we did?
Waquoit
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Not for home games. Having us play home games at 9 defeats the purpose of the Big 12 having an east coast team. If that's your main objection...
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