Two new games announced for next season. | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Two new games announced for next season.

Syracuse/Michigan is kind of interesting I guess since it is Phelia against her old school.
 
Zonepress said:
last year they played boston uni and i believe Fdu
still room for 2-3 more out of conference games
room for both south carolina and notre dame if both parties want to continue thecseries
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The big turning point to what seemed to make the team "much more coachable" this past season was the loss to Tennessee, and the confidence boost towards the NC run was the double digit defeat of South Carolina.

IMO, the rankings don't matter as it appears the NCAA tournament committee disregarded their own NET rankings. However, the "Check point" OOC games in late January/February have been important for each of the NCs from 1995 onward. uNd provided may of those check point games in conference in the OLD Big East, but only three teams have been ranked in the Big East in the past couple of years.

Tough OOC games will be essential for the 2025-2026 campaign for the team building essential to a successful NC run. Playing uNd, Tennessee (getting better again), and South Carolina are good for the Huskies win or lose. The games tend to be nationally televised as well, which is good for the sport.

Hopefully, these main series continue. :):):)

Go Huskies!!!
 
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It's too bad Uconn has been forced to play in this awful Big East Conference and that AAC conference for the past 15 years. They gain nothing from playing against these teams.

I am old enough to remember the wars they had when Notre Dame, Rutgers and Louisville were in the same conference. All of which were great teams.

There is not one single Big East team that is even half way decent. I also don't consider Creighton to be anywhere near a championship caliber team..
 
1974yankees said:
It's too bad Uconn has been forced to play in this awful Big East Conference and that AAC conference for the past 15 years. They gain nothing from playing against these teams.

I am old enough to remember the wars they had when Notre Dame, Rutgers and Louisville were in the same conference. All of which were great teams.

There is not one single Big East team that is even half way decent. I also don't consider Creighton to be anywhere near a championship caliber team..
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The Big East is what it is. Complaining about it doesn’t really serve a purpose. It makes you wonder how it was possible for UConn to hammer OK, USC, UCLA and SC in succession during the Big Dance if the BE was such a terrible conference.
 
oldude said:
The Big East is what it is. Complaining about it doesn’t really serve a purpose. It makes you wonder how it was possible for UConn to hammer OK, USC, UCLA and SC in succession during the Big Dance if the BE was such a terrible conference.
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I mean, really. The BE has had 3 national champions in the last 3 years. I fail to see how any of our past seasons since we have rejoined where we didn't win it were because of conference play. It's called injuries or lack off depth or better teams. There is a strong argument to be made that not playing an in conference schedule as tough as our out of conference schedule actually helps us in terms of experimentation, playing time, confidence, durability, etc. This coming year, we need boatloads of experimentation. Watch for a full court press with KK, Kayleigh, Ash, Azzi and Sarah. Or an inside crew in a game of Serah, Sarah, and Jana. Or a team of Caroline, Morgan, Serah, Sarah and Azzi just for fun. Geno took a long look at a lot of options this past year before picking the style of play and the players. This year, it is mind boggling.
 
oldude said:
Well, here’s a solution. If the SEC just accepts UConn as a new member, everyone is happy. :)
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I'd be happy if this happened (would our football team remain an independent or be destined to be a perpetual bottom dweller if it had to join their conference?) but I suspect that our friends in Knoxville wouldn't be pleased. :(
 
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Forego said:
Be careful what you wish for. Kim Barnes Arico is an excellent coach. Her unranked St. John’s team defeated #2 UConn (at UConn) back in 2012. That victory was one of reasons why Kim was coaching Michigan the next season. Michigan played Florida State at the Mohegan Sun in 2019.
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We lived near Ann Arbor between 2014-2020 and saw a couple of UM games each year. I like what Arico did with the Wolverines and thought she comported herself well on the sidelines, regardless of whether her team was winning (usually the case) or losing.
 
1974yankees said:
It's too bad Uconn has been forced to play in this awful Big East Conference and that AAC conference for the past 15 years. They gain nothing from playing against these teams.
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I understand where you're coming from but I respectfully disagree. There is an advantage of having a soft conference schedule. It allows the coaches to experiment with numerous line-up iterations, gives several of the end of the bench players more and valuable playing time than if we played in a conference where more games went to the wire, and in turn this allows us to sit our starters more.

The result of the latter, I believe, is we were pretty well rested going into the final two weeks of the NCAA tournament and we're able to out hustle the opposition in every game.
 
1974yankees said:
It's too bad Uconn has been forced to play in this awful Big East Conference and that AAC conference for the past 15 years. They gain nothing from playing against these teams.

I am old enough to remember the wars they had when Notre Dame, Rutgers and Louisville were in the same conference. All of which were great teams.

There is not one single Big East team that is even half way decent. I also don't consider Creighton to be anywhere near a championship caliber team..
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It's from 2013 actually and in that span we have had 5 National Champions, 11 Final Fours, 12 conference champions and a bunch of pretty good players. I think every D1 school in the country would want such "awful" conference play if it meant those numbers.
 
cabbie191 said:
I'd be happy if this happened (would our football team remain an independent or be destined to be a perpetual bottom dweller if it had to join their conference?) but I suspect that our friends in Knoxville wouldn't be pleased. :(
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What if UConn just goes independent in men’s and women’s bb and plays about 20-25 P-4 teams per year? UConn would own all the home game TV rights. No sharing with conference members. When was the last time UConn played a P-4 and wasn’t televised on a network with more pizaz than the BE’s current TV contract?
 
visitingcock said:
What if UConn just goes independent in men’s and women’s bb and plays about 20-25 P-4 teams per year? UConn would own all the home game TV rights. No sharing with conference members. When was the last time UConn played a P-4 and wasn’t televised on a network with more pizaz than the BE’s current TV contract?
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Unfortunately, UConn would struggle mightily to schedule 20-25 P4 teams. It’s hard enough for UConn to schedule 8-10 P4 teams prior to conference schedules. Once conference schedules kick in, it’s extremely difficult to get P4 teams to play UConn in the middle of their conference games.

SC & TN have been pretty good about playing UConn during their conference schedules. But we are hearing that SC may pull back next season. I hope that doesn’t happen, because I think the late season matchup between the Gamecocks and the Huskies benefits both teams heading into the Big Dance.
 
oldude said:
:(Unfortunately, UConn would struggle mightily to schedule 20-25 P4 teams. It’s hard enough for UConn to schedule 8-10 P4 teams prior to conference schedules. Once conference schedules kick in, it’s extremely difficult to get P4 teams to play UConn in the middle of their conference games.

SC & TN have been pretty good about playing UConn during their conference schedules. But we are hearing that SC may pull back next season. I hope that doesn’t happen, because I think the late season matchup between the Gamecocks and the Huskies benefits both teams heading into the Big Dance.
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Funny. I’m hearing that UConn may pull back because their number of conference games. :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, it appears that neither is fired up about renewing. :(
 
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Stagnant said:
I like this because I want UConn to play Michigan. I want to get a look at swords and Olson.
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Having lived outside of Detroit for 10 years, this is a hotbed of basketball talent. Good game to play for many reasons, including recruiting.
 
BBallF said:
It's from 2013 actually and in that span we have had 5 National Champions, 11 Final Fours, 12 conference champions and a bunch of pretty good players. I think every D1 school in the country would want such "awful" conference play if it meant those numbers.
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4 of those 5 National Championship teams since 2013 had the greatest women's basketball player who EVER played on those teams. A person named Stewart... Her partner was perhaps the best point guard I ever saw. Jefferson. Nobody was beating those Stewart/Jefferson teams....

But I disagree about being in this bad conference being good for other players to get playing time....

We need to be battle tested with a brutal schedule with awesome teams in our conference because beating up weak teams leads to a false sense of thinking you are better than you are....

I wish we at least had 1 other powerhouse in our conference. Preferably Notre Dame....I loved playing them 3 times during the regular season (including championship game) then meeting up with them again in the final four....

After playing Notre Dame so many times, we were able to destroy everyone else.

Just my thoughts.
 
1974yankees said:
We need to be battle tested with a brutal schedule with awesome teams in our conference because beating up weak teams leads to a false sense of thinking you are better than you are....
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While I get your point, UConn has won titles in seasons with blah schedules. And even this past year they beat one top-10 team during the regular season. They'll schedule some good opponents, but I don't think a "brutal" schedule is necessary.
 
1974yankees said:
4 of those 5 National Championship teams since 2013 had the greatest women's basketball player who EVER played on those teams. A person named Stewart... Her partner was perhaps the best point guard I ever saw. Jefferson. Nobody was beating those Stewart/Jefferson teams....

But I disagree about being in this bad conference being good for other players to get playing time....

We need to be battle tested with a brutal schedule with awesome teams in our conference because beating up weak teams leads to a false sense of thinking you are better than you are....

I wish we at least had 1 other powerhouse in our conference. Preferably Notre Dame....I loved playing them 3 times during the regular season (including championship game) then meeting up with them again in the final four....

After playing Notre Dame so many times, we were able to destroy everyone else.

Just my thoughts
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I just don't see how we we were at any disadvantage last year. We ran away with the Final Four and were clearly the best team. So how can you make the argument that we needed a brutal schedule in conference? Both teams we dominated, UCLA and SC, had very highly ranked strength of schedules. Didn't help them against us. Isn't the test championships first, Final Fours second and conference championships third? When you go through a grueling in conference schedule it is not a guarantee of national championships or , only of a grueling schedule.

I wouldn't mind a stronger Big East but to conclude that it is necessary for the end goals is just not supported by past history. Geno has won championships with strong conference play as in the old Big East and weak conference play as in the AAC. Makes no difference to him and it shouldn't to us.
 
Sluconn Husky said:
While I get your point, UConn has won titles in seasons with blah schedules. And even this past year they beat one top-10 team during the regular season. They'll schedule some good opponents, but I don't think a "brutal" schedule is necessary.
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"Uconn has won titles with blah schedules"

Maybe, maybe not. With the exception of the Stewart teams, I remember the Maya/Tina/Renee teams playing awesome teams within their conference.

The game has changed a heck of a lot since then though. Today there are probably at least 6-8 teams on any given year that can win it all....

During the Lobo years there was Tennessee period. For the longest time going into the Taursi years there was Tennessee and Uconn.. (with Notre Dame as a possible third decent team) But for years it was either Uconn or Tennessee really....

Of course someone will probably mention the early 80's with USC and Cheryl Miller but that was way before my time.
 
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BBallF said:
I just don't see how we we were at any disadvantage last year. We ran away with the Final Four and were clearly the best team. So how can you make the argument that we needed a brutal schedule in conference? Both teams we dominated, UCLA and SC, had very highly ranked strength of schedules. Didn't help them against us. Isn't the test championships first, Final Fours second and conference championships third? When you go through a grueling in conference schedule it is not a guarantee of national championships or , only of a grueling schedule.

I wouldn't mind a stronger Big East but to conclude that it is necessary for the end goals is just not supported by past history. Geno has won championships with strong conference play as in the old Big East and weak conference play as in the AAC. Makes no difference to him and it shouldn't to us.
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Personally I didn't think UCLA was that good. (They had 1 player) as for SC well this was an off year for them too. They lost their best players from the previous year.

Playing a great Notre Dame or a Vivian Stringer Rutgers team 3 times a year definitely conditions you for the NCAA tournament. We haven't had that league competition in years.

In the old days, playing a tough league schedule helped us against a team like Tennessee. (A team who dominated the sport for decades)

As far as Geno goes, I would bet he would love the tough conference schedule of the old days but he really has no say. (Of course I could be wrong but would still bet that he agrees)

In the end, it's because football rules when it comes to the NCAA. It is always about the dollars.

Btw,

The exception to the weak conference schedule and still winning would be the Stewart years. Nobody was beating her teams no matter who we played.

Last year was a pleasant surprise to me in all honesty. So sometimes things go against my theories but nobody was really dominant last year throughout the year.

There were at least 6 teams that went back and forth of being the number 1 ranked team.

One last thing,

The team that I was the most scared of last year was Notre Dame. (I didn't think we could beat them)

The other thing that was a huge pleasant surprise was how well Fudd played. I did not see that one coming.
 
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1974yankees said:
"Uconn has won titles with blah schedules"

Maybe, maybe not. With the exception of the Stewart teams, I remember the Maya/Tina/Renee teams playing awesome teams within their conference.

The game has changed a heck of a lot since then though. Today there are probably at least 6-8 teams on any given year that can win it all....

During the Lobo years there was Tennessee period. For the longest time going into the Taursi years there was Tennessee and Uconn.. (with Notre Dame as a possible third decent team) But for years it was either Uconn or Tennessee really....

Of course someone will probably mention the early 80's with USC and Cheryl Miller but that was way before my time.
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Your unspoken null hypothesis is: Geno would have a more successful program if his teams played in “stronger” conferences.

Geno’s program is already the most iconic winningest WCBB program and probably of all-time (during a coach’s tenure). All that in the Big East or AAC.

Your null hypothesis effectively thus claims UConn could have won more national championships by being in “stronger” conferences. Possibly but very improbably. Playing in a “stronger” conference adjacent to the NCAAT would most probably hinder UConn’s quest for yearly championships (those that they have lost and those that they have won):
  • Playing a cohort of national championship contenders anywhere from 2 to 4 times, gives that cohort-writ-large a blueprint on a how to beat us in the NCAAT;
  • The “metamorphosis” that always happens during conference schedule would probably be hindered by having Geno and CD sequentially prepare for a parade of talented teams that frequently play the same style;
  • The hindrance is due to Geno and CD having less bandwidth to teach these still-developing players “proper basketball” to play honed intuitive “basketball player” team basketball that can win against any opponent, rather than win the nth iteration of player match-ups against the same types of opponents;
  • The hindrance is also due to the increased risk, prior to the NCAAT, of fatigue, aches and pains and injury due to playing in a “stronger” conference;
  • The hindrance is also due to the hit on game minutes for the non-corest core players which hinders their development into next years’ core players.
The “soft” conference schedule of less-talented teams playing diverse styles, with the familiarity they have gained over the years, is akin to playing against much better practice players (i.e. in lock-step with UConn’s farm-system curriculum):
  • These teams generally play fundamentally sound diverse offense and strong defense basketball — they have to, to win — which gives UConn “soft dress rehearsals” to a significant number of teams in the NCAAT;
  • The weaker teams gives the full roster better reps of some of what they practiced;
  • The stronger teams gives core-plus players better reps on their execution and what to do when normal shots are not falling, part of Geno’s stress testing in practice;
  • Geno then finds willing strong one-time OOC opponents — presenting unique challenges, the better — to complete Geno’s and CD’s farm-system development;
  • This leads to the necessity of a front-loaded gauntlet of early “stronger” opponents which Geno supplements &0 with 2-3 strong opponents in the middle of conference play.
  • This gauntlet is very helpful too in that the team’s flaws are detected early in “meaningless” (i.e. not hurting UConn’s auto-bid) games leading to a better growth trajectory by the team;
  • In only one instance, as happened this year, with the team failing to secure a seeding commensurate to the team’s perceived strength, does this “stronger” early OOC schedule, as a result of the “weaker” conference schedule, hurt UConn;
  • But this year, as years before, UConn entered the NCAAT as a “tip-of-the-iceberg” “operational Death Star” rested team with a more robust farm system development afforded by a “weaker” conference schedule.
Occasionally, UConn loses in the NCAAT with reasons (biblical injury plague, fatigue due to biblical injury plague, Achilles heels, prior paradigm obstacles to recruiting most-desired bigs, better opposing coach strategy from weaknesses in the roster, some uncharacteristic poor game) that are now tremendously mitigated by a top-down quality full roster afforded by the new paradigm of the portal and NIL and 40-minute fast-paced larger rotation mix-match play.

All these leads to Multiple Power Decades and Geno’s and CD’s yearly ability to attract and recruit their type of players, the lifeblood of a sustainable program (with subdued basketball-meaningful early attrition), under the old paradigm and moreso under the new paradigm.

&0 These 2-3 OOC opponents during conference play gives Geno and CD all the benefits of a late temperature check on the “metamorphosis” of the team without the downsides of a congested brutalizing counter-productive “stronger” conference schedule enumerated above.
 
1974yankees said:
4 of those 5 National Championship teams since 2013 had the greatest women's basketball player who EVER played on those teams. A person named Stewart... Her partner was perhaps the best point guard I ever saw. Jefferson. Nobody was beating those Stewart/Jefferson teams....

But I disagree about being in this bad conference being good for other players to get playing time....

We need to be battle tested with a brutal schedule with awesome teams in our conference because beating up weak teams leads to a false sense of thinking you are better than you are....

I wish we at least had 1 other powerhouse in our conference. Preferably Notre Dame....I loved playing them 3 times during the regular season (including championship game) then meeting up with them again in the final four....

After playing Notre Dame so many times, we were able to destroy everyone else.

Just my thoughts.
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1974yankees- - -Do you really think Geno, CD, etal, would allow the players to under estimate any opponents?
UConn WBB is wired to take all opponents as if it was a Championship game! They're not playing the name on the uniform!
I wish thje Big East was a bit tougher but it does give reserves more playing time and rests starters for the better programs as stated above!
 
RSHERMVIKES said:
1974yankees- - -Do you really think Geno, CD, etal, would allow the players to under estimate any opponents?
UConn WBB is wired to take all opponents as if it was a Championship game! They're not playing the name on the uniform!
I wish thje Big East was a bit tougher but it does give reserves more playing time and rests starters for the better programs as stated above!
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"Do you really think Geno, CD, etal, would allow the players to underestimate any opponents"

Nope. I am saying that Geno, CD, etal are forced to play in a league with Division 2 quality (at best) teams. I am also saying that injuries are more likely to occur when you are playing against opponents who are not fundamentally sound.

How many times have we seen one of our players get hurt by an opponent because either they or their coach will play rough house style basketball because they don't have the skills to play fundamentally sound basketball? We all know a few of those teams. Georgetown and those old West Virginia teams come to mind. Instead of playing basketball they foul our players to death..
 
1974yankees said:
It's too bad Uconn has been forced to play in this awful Big East Conference and that AAC conference for the past 15 years. They gain nothing from playing against these teams.

I am old enough to remember the wars they had when Notre Dame, Rutgers and Louisville were in the same conference. All of which were great teams.

There is not Tsingle Big East team that is even half way decent. I also don't consider Creighton to be anywhere near a championship caliber team..
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1974yankees said:
It's too bad Uconn has been forced to play in this awful Big East Conference and that AAC conference for the past 15 years. They gain nothing from playing against these teams.

I am old enough to remember the wars they had when Notre Dame, Rutgers and Louisville were in the same conference. All of which were great teams.

There is not one single Big East team that is even half way decent. I also don't consider Creighton to be anywhere near a championship caliber team..
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The reason we are not playing these teams is because THEY ended the series. Uconn was not the school that backed down. Geno would gladly resume playing them but they don't want a loss on their record.
 
Steelerone said:
The reason we are not playing these teams is because THEY ended the series. Uconn was not the school that backed down. Geno would gladly resume playing them but they don't want a loss on their record.
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The reason why we are not playing Notre Dame 2 times during the regular season plus the Big East tournament (3 games right there) is because Notre Dame is not in our conference anymore. The same can be said about Louisville.

Notre Dame is not in our conference because their football team is a national powerhouse and Uconns football program is not even close.
 
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