Tulane-Big East marriage feels more like a funeral than a celebration

[emshorts]

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-ba...xpansion-louisville-cincinnati-uconn-big-east

the following was in the column:
Know this about the Big East’s decision: It was not unanimous. There was dissension among the current members discussing the move, and it was vehement. How widespread it might have been isn’t certain, although it is hard to figure how anyone was convinced to vote in favor.

 

[UCFBfan]

Maybe I missed it but that article mentioned UConn once, as a school with no where to go and pumped up Cincy a lot. Maybe the link was wrong?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[ctchamps]

http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-ba...xpansion-louisville-cincinnati-uconn-big-east

the following was in the column:
Know this about the Big East’s decision: It was not unanimous. There was dissension among the current members discussing the move, and it was vehement. How widespread it might have been isn’t certain, although it is hard to figure how anyone was convinced to vote in favor.

When Pitt and Cuse started the current exodus, I've been wearing black. With these latest additions to the BE I've come back as a zombie only to have had my head blown off. Sorry but if UConn gets into the ACC, a decent chance, I will still feel death's door. Rutgers going to the B!G was all win and no loss for them. WTF did they do in the BE! But UConn has an incredible story with the BE that will be an asterisk in the ACC.

What an awful thing for a UConn fan to have to hope to get an invite into another conference in which it gives up a storied history to be a newb.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Ironically, the most poignant explanation of this whole process came from the NC Interruption Twitter account.... "If UConn were located in New Brunswick, they'd have been scooped up long ago." Sadly, it's true. Whether the perception of our actual location is right or wrong, this is the case.

 

[Adios]

I have the impression Tulane was added to bridge the FL and TX Big East all sports schools. Give them an additional southern school. Very good academically too. Maybe Tulane wants to hang with the big boys again. Better option for Louisiana than LT, ULM and ULL.

 

[junglehusky]

Better option for Louisiana than LT, ULM and ULL.

Is that supposed to make us feel better? Hey let's all take arsenic. It doesn't kill as quickly as cyanide!

(I might have gotten that backwards...)

 

[Adios]

Is that supposed to make us feel better? Hey let's all take arsenic. It doesn't kill as quickly as cyanide!

(I might have gotten that backwards...)

Jim Jones? I was talking from Louisiana's perspective.

 

[UConnDan97]

I have the impression Tulane was added to bridge the FL and TX Big East all sports schools. Give them an additional southern school. Very good academically too. Maybe Tulane wants to hang with the big boys again. Better option for Louisiana than LT, ULM and ULL.

I have a feeling that they were added solely for the fact that they were in New Orleans. I've heard a lot of theories about them; academics, bridging the other teams, etc. At the end of the day, I think the Big East stuck to their guns in terms of the "market the big markets" ideology. I don't have any problem with the ideology, except for the fact that I believe the football teams have to at least be marginally competent to make them worth it. Tulane is not marginally competent (nor is Memphis).

Fresno was the better add, by far. I'm not sure how the market sizes of Fresno versus New Orleans compare, but who cares. It's f#$king Tulane!

 

[Husky68]

Is that supposed to make us feel better? Hey let's all take arsenic. It doesn't kill as quickly as cyanide!

(I might have gotten that backwards...)

Tulane is a nice addition to go with the SMU, Houston. At least as good a chance for upside as 2000 Uconn. Played Rutgers better than Uconn in football this year.
NOLA is great place to visit in Fall/Winter.

NOLA is 53rd rated tv market, Louisville is 50.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Tulane is a nice addition to go with the SMU, Houston. At least as good a chance for upside as 2000 Uconn. Played Rutgers better than Uconn in football this year.
NOLA is great place to visit in Fall/Winter.

NOLA is 53rd rated tv market, Louisville is 50.

That's all great except for the fact that Tulane is literally one of the worst football teams in America and plays in front of 2,000 people in the Superdome.

 

[ctchamps]

That's all great except for the fact that Tulane is literally one of the worst football teams in America and plays in front of 2,000 people in the Superdome.

A southern version of BCU?

 

[UConnDan97]

That's all great except for the fact that Tulane is literally one of the worst football teams in America and plays in front of 2,000 people in the Superdome.

This. Don't get me wrong; I've been to New Orleans (pre-Katrina), and it was a fantastic city. Mardi Gras was fun, and the restaurants were great. But Tulane.....TULANE!!!.....as an addition to an athletic conference is absolutely mindboggling...

 

[Vowelguy]

A southern version of BCU?

No, not even close.
BC, despite its current state, has at least a decently long history of success in FB and BB. And they've had famous players. They've got some reputation.
Tulane has absolutely none of that. Hell, Harvard would've been a better pick.

Tulane seems like a school that the Catholics would vote for.

 

[Adios]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tulane_University_people#Sports

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Tulane_Green_Wave_football_team

They averaged about 15,000 a game. I am beginning to wonder how many people on this message board would qualify for psychiatric medicines.

 

[UConnDan97]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tulane_University_people#Sports

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Tulane_Green_Wave_football_team

They averaged about 15,000 a game. I am beginning to wonder how many people on this message board would qualify for psychiatric medicines.

Butchy, I had assumed that the person who quoted 2,000 people in attendance was speaking in hyperbole. Hell, we draw half that number for our women's soccer games! The point still remains; this is a team with seemingly little support from either the student body, the community, or both. It really really really really doesn't make any sense to add them to a top tier athletic conference...

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/conn/sports/w-soccer/auto_pdf/2012-13/stats/season_stats.pdf

 

[tzznandrew]

Butchy, I had assumed that the person who quoted 2,000 people in attendance was speaking in hyperbole. Hell, we draw half that number for our women's soccer games! The point still remains; this is a team with seemingly little support from either the student body, the community, or both. It really really really really doesn't make any sense to add them to a top tier athletic conference...

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/conn/sports/w-soccer/auto_pdf/2012-13/stats/season_stats.pdf

If you're not a Tulane student or alum, you're an LSU fan. And there aren't that many Tulane alum.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

 

[UConnDan97]

Look out for that Green Wave!!!.....in row 4 in section 118....with his wife and two kids...

 

[Adios]

They'll have a new stadium when they come into the BE. I really don't care about the BE. We just need to get the fuck out and aim high as we can. The potential is there. If we ever do get into the B1G, I can just imagine how spoiled our fans will become.

 

[RS9999X]

By the time UConn gets to the ACC it will be the BE plus Duke and Waste Forest.

Sent from my Lumia 920 via Windows 8. Now bite me Apple Droids.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Maybe Tulane wants to hang with the big boys again.

The Green Wave hasn't hung with the big boys in a very, very long time, about 5 decades, and even then was never too competitive. However, acquiescing in accepting Tulane takes UConn's empathy and community spirit almost as far as allowing GDL to #*)*@^ up for one more season.

 

[BlueMAB]

NOLA is 53rd rated tv market, Louisville is 50.

What do you think Tulane's market share is in that market compared to say....LSU?

Do you think anyone in NOLA gives a f&ck about watching Tulane play UConn when LSU is playing...anyone else?

 

[BlueMAB]

Maybe Tulane wants to hang with the big boys again.

Are they joining the SEC?

It's time people accepted that the Big East is not, and will never again, be considered among the "big boys".

 

[epark88]

A factor that I'm surprised no one's addressed yet:

Tulane's undefeated season back in 1998 is now credited to the Big East and helps the league secure a bigger payout in the new BCS financial structure.

Penny wise and pound foolish?

 

[ZooCougar]

Good grief. Are we trying to find sense in adding Tulane now too? They were one of the best available warm bodies. The Big East needs warm bodies, that's it.

 

[NOLAMike]

I've been lurking this board for some time and was as surprised as anyone when Tulane was added to the Big East. I'm a UConn alum living a half mile from Tulane's campus. I've been to dozens of Tulane football games in the last 5 years, and with few exceptions, they are an excellent venue for quiet reading or silent reflection. This season, there was only 1 game where actual attendance even approached 5,000 and that was Homecoming. Several games were attended by less than 3,000 fans. Around here, that's thin attendance for high school games. In an NFL stadium, this is especially depressing.

The attendance figures referenced earlier with the link to Wikipedia are completely inaccurate. Tulane routinely announces attendance by some combination of "tickets distributed" and actual turnstile attendance. This practice is not exclusive to Tulane, but probably nowhere is this practice more egregious. It became so bad that Tulane's student newspaper sued the state of Louisiana (who owns and runs the Superdome) to release actual turnstile numbers. They relented and here are the actual facts on attendance: http://www.thehullabaloo.com/news/article_a028379c-29b5-11e2-8a53-001a4bcf6878.html

Tulane is a great school, mostly uncompromising on its standards for "student-athletes". That said, as much as I would like to walk from my house to watch UConn compete in my neighborhood, it would truly be a sad day for this third-generation UConn alum.