Two Questions

[GemParty]

1. Let's pretend everything Bazz just accomplished was in his junior year. Would he come back next year & be a Senior? Why?

2. There's 3 minutes to go against Kentucky. All tied up. You have the power to decide the outcome of the 2014 title game. Your choices are: lose by a point, & UConn will be in the B1G within 4 years OR win like we did, UConn will be in the American until the day you die. Which do you take? Why?

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

No. I really think he would know his stock couldnt get much higher at his size. He would come nack for his degree.

As much as I hate to say it...the 2nd. Football needs that move more than b ball needed #4 in 2014. Bball will win many more titles soon enough.

 

[CTBasketball]

Win and we're in the American until I die. I sacrifice my own life and the original Big East is put back together all while college football is ruled inhumane and goes extinct.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Bazz doesn't come back.

You always take championships

 

[hoophuskee]

1-- Depends on where Shabazz feels he'd be picked. If he expects 1st round, he'd be gone.

2--- If getting into B1G is a certainty in 4 years- I'd go with that. Ollie already made his bones with recruits by getting into the finals- unless if we lost and he did something really stupid. . Getting into the B1G we'd probably surpass BC and Syracuse for recruiting football-wise. As years 2 and 3 and 4 come around, rumors would probably surface we are going to B1G. Thus we'd land more star-studded recruits probably before year 4. And may have a 12+ year run of fabulous hoop plus watch some decent football on occasion seeing how we'd be outrecruting BC and Syracuse as long as we can get by Rutgers. Every so often, this would happen.

Footnote: We have no shot for getting into B1G. None. If they wanted us they would have taken us before RU. It's a pipedream. Our only shot is ACC.

 

[CAHUSKY]

1--
Footnote: We have no shot for getting into B1G. None. If they wanted us they would have taken us before RU. It's a pipedream. Our only shot is ACC.

Taking UCONN before RU would have made absolutely zero sense based on the criteria (TV sets) they used. Taking UCONN to add to the number of tv sets makes abundantly more.

 

[hoophuskee]

Taking UCONN before RU would have made absolutely zero sense based on the criteria (TV sets) they used. Taking UCONN to add to the number of tv sets makes abundantly more.

Keep thinking what you want. I dreamed of being a NBA player when I was a kid.

 

[uconNYC]

If the option was AAC for next 10 years, I would take the championship. But UConn athletics will not be viable if we are in the conference beyond that period. So the risk of taking the title would mean not being able to realistically compete for a title after 10 years. So I would take entry into the B1G.

 

[Tenspro2002]

1. Let's pretend everything Bazz just accomplished was in his junior year. Would he come back next year & be a Senior? Why?

2. There's 3 minutes to go against Kentucky. All tied up. You have the power to decide the outcome of the 2014 title game. Your choices are: lose by a point, & UConn will be in the B1G within 4 years OR win like we did, UConn will be in the American until the day you die. Which do you take? Why?

1. No. Bazz would be gone. As much as he loves UConn, he makes a business decision to leave with his stock at the peak of his value.

2. Lose and the B1G. Within a major conference and KO still with huge respect across the country, we win probably 2-3 more titles within the next 30 years. In the AAC until eternity, with more power increasingly concentrated in the hands of the P5, we'll struggle to compete beyond the next 10 years.

 

[BUHusky]

...we win probably 2-3 more titles within the next 30 years.

wow. Wow. WOW. I knew that UConn's recent success had spoiled fans, but I guess I had no idea to what degree it has fried people's brains. You take a championship 1 million times out of 1 million. Do any of you crazies realize how hard it is to win a championship? I'll let you in on a not so little secret. It's really freaking hard to win a championship. UConn now has the SAME number of titles as Duke. UConn has MORE titles than Kansas. Let that sink in for a second. UConn has more titles than Kansas, one of the bluest of the blue bloods. Tom Izzo, undeniably one of the best coaches of this generation, seems like he has Michigan State in the Final Four every year. But guess what? Kevin Ollie now has as many titles as Tom Izzo. Winning championships is really hard. Stop acting like it isn't.

Also, despite the notion shared by a countless number of internet message board pundits, power conference membership doesn't guarantee success when it comes to, you know, actually winning games. Sure the big paychecks that come along with power conference membership help, but winning a big paycheck doesn't guarantee you win on the court. Last time I checked the Big 10 last won a basketball championship in 2000. The PAC 10/12 last won in 1997. If anything BC has gotten a lot worse since they joined the ACC. On the flip side, so called "mid-majors" Butler and Memphis are only a few years removed from multiple title game appearances. Players, coaches, chemistry, toughness, and just a little bit of luck win championships, not bank account balances.

Enjoy what we have now. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the banners. Nothing is guaranteed, no matter how many zeros are at the end of the paycheck.

 

[Deleted member 3149]

I don't think people here understand how incredible of an achievement it is to be crowned national champions. We had to beat St Joes, Villanova, ISU, Michigan State, Florida, and Kentucky back to back to back to back to back to back. We did the impossible. 100 to 1 odds to be exact.

 

[Tenspro2002]

wow. Wow. WOW. I knew that UConn's recent success had spoiled fans, but I guess I had no idea to what degree it has fried people's brains. You take a championship 1 million times out of 1 million. Do any of you crazies realize how hard it is to win a championship? I'll let you in on a not so little secret. It's really freaking hard to win a championship. UConn now has the SAME number of titles as Duke. UConn has MORE titles than Kansas. Let that sink in for a second. UConn has more titles than Kansas, one of the bluest of the blue bloods. Tom Izzo, undeniably one of the best coaches of this generation, seems like he has Michigan State in the Final Four every year. But guess what? Kevin Ollie now has as many titles as Tom Izzo. Winning championships is really hard. Stop acting like it isn't.

Also, despite the notion shared by a countless number of internet message board pundits, power conference membership doesn't guarantee success when it comes to, you know, actually winning games. Sure the big paychecks that come along with power conference membership help, but winning a big paycheck doesn't guarantee you win on the court. Last time I checked the Big 10 last won a basketball championship in 2000. The PAC 10/12 last won in 1997. If anything BC has gotten a lot worse since they joined the ACC. On the flip side, so called "mid-majors" Butler and Memphis are only a few years removed from multiple title game appearances. Players, coaches, chemistry, toughness, and just a little bit of luck win championships, not bank account balances.

Enjoy what we have now. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the banners. Nothing is guaranteed, no matter how many zeros are at the end of the paycheck.

I know how hard it is to win a championship. And I certainly agree that power-conference affiliation is no guarantee of being able to win championships.

But you know what else is true: no team outside a power conference has won a championship in almost 25 years. The AAC this past year resembled enough of a power conference, but even then we had to overcome abysmal seeding. In 10 years, minus Louisville, plus ECU, Tulane, Tulsa, and God knows what other mid-major dregs, and with the P5 having consolidated their power to the detriment of all others, the AAC will be a firmly mid-major league and we would have an extremely difficult time competing for championships.

So yes, I would trade this year's championship for having decades upon decades of opportunities to win more (in the B1G), rather than being banished to a position where it would become nearly impossible (in the AAC forever).

 

[BUHusky]

I know how hard it is to win a championship. And I certainly agree that power-conference affiliation is no guarantee of being able to win championships.

But you know what else is true: no team outside a power conference has won a championship in almost 25 years. The AAC this past year resembled enough of a power conference, but even then we had to overcome abysmal seeding. In 10 years, minus Louisville, plus ECU, Tulane, Tulsa, and God knows what other mid-major dregs, and with the P5 having consolidated their power to the detriment of all others, the AAC will be a firmly mid-major league and we would have an extremely difficult time competing for championships.

So yes, I would trade this year's championship for having decades upon decades of opportunities to win more (in the B1G), rather than being banished to a position where it would become nearly impossible (in the AAC forever).

I think we can all agree that winning a championship is the ultimate goal, right? I just can't see how one would trade actually achieving the ultimate goal (which again for the millionth time, is really freaking hard to do!) for multiple opportunities to maybe achieve the ultimate goal. It makes no sense. A bird in the hand... Just ask Kansas, who has had "decades upon decades of opportunities to win more".

Also, it's pure speculation that being in the AAC would make it "nearly impossible" to win a championship. Memphis, a C-USA team, was a couple of made free throws away from a title. And even in the worst case scenario for the AAC, it's still light-years ahead of the Horizon League. Yet Butler, a Horizon League team, made the national title game 2 years in a row, while the entire Big 10, PAC 12, Big 12, and SEC sat home wondering why all their money, recruits, high seeds, etc. didn't have them playing Monday night.

 

[Fishy]

1. Let's pretend everything Bazz just accomplished was in his junior year. Would he come back next year & be a Senior? Why?

2. There's 3 minutes to go against Kentucky. All tied up. You have the power to decide the outcome of the 2014 title game. Your choices are: lose by a point, & UConn will be in the B1G within 4 years OR win like we did, UConn will be in the American until the day you die. Which do you take? Why?

1) No. (See Walker, Kemba)

2) I'll take the Big Ten.

Short term pain, long term gain. Anyone outside of those (currently 65) P5 seats is going to be in for a world of hurt over the long term. They've already consolidated a massive percentage of the revenue and exposure and they'll continue to do so until there's just not enough oxygen left for those outside the velvet rope.

Forget Butler or VCU or Boise or whatever upstart you want to hold up as an example - they did so with a playing field that will look almost level compared to where we're heading. In the very near future, Wake Forest will make more money in a year from their conference than UConn will make in a decade or more.

 

[David 76]

Bazz goes
Lose B1G

 

[stickyrice]

2. Take the championship. There's 14 teams in the BiG that would do the same

 

[Huskyforlife]

Guys, we have more championships then mother frekin Kansas! It sucks that Uconn won't be making much off this conference, but assuming Ollie stays 20-30 years, we will always be competitive in bb. I'm not throwing away a title because we will have "more chances" to win in the future. What are we just gunna get banned from the tournament or something? And btw I don't think playing in a mid major conference would hurt us cause kids will always be interested in a school with 4 championships. It really just sucks for the football team. Cause what if we never win another? You'd feel good about just being in the b1g? Also I understand this conference will never be as good as any in the p5, but over the years why can't it improve to the point where it's not brutal? I mean does this place have no potential at all?

 

[CAHUSKY]

I mean does this place have no potential at all?

With a television contract that only pays $2,000,000 a year, no, it has absolutely no potential at all unfortunately.

 

[Huskyforlife]

With a television contract that only pays $2,000,000 a year, no, it has absolutely no potential at all unfortunately.

Maybe the next one can be for more

 

[amory]

Maybe the next one can be for more

From what we've seen so far, the next one will almost certainly be for more.

...unfortunately our current deal runs through 2020 .

 

[hoophuskee]

Guys, we have more championships then mother frekin Kansas! It sucks that Uconn won't be making much off this conference, but assuming Ollie stays 20-30 years, we will always be competitive in bb. I'm not throwing away a title because we will have "more chances" to win in the future. What are we just gunna get banned from the tournament or something? And btw I don't think playing in a mid major conference would hurt us cause kids will always be interested in a school with 4 championships. It really just sucks for the football team. Cause what if we never win another? You'd feel good about just being in the b1g? Also I understand this conference will never be as good as any in the p5, but over the years why can't it improve to the point where it's not brutal? I mean does this place have no potential at all?

What makes you think Ollie would stay if he has no shot to win a title? And what if you don't think over time kids will want to play for a team that won titles - which eventually could be many years?

I don't get some of your logic. So if UCONN were to have lost by 1 point in the NCAA Fianls we won't be able to recruit? Wasn't it amazing getting there as well? Don't you want to experience that chance/opportunity more for the next 30 + years? We could have easily been knocked out in the 1st round. We get one bad run - kids will begin to question Ollie and the league. Why fight the data? It's there for you to see. Just ignoring it won't help. Over the long haul the conference will not be attractive for top-tier kids unless we continually win a lot of games in NCAA. There is too much pressure for UCONN of never having to slip up over a 4 year stint. If you are giving us a way out of that pressure - I'll take it.

And when you speak of the leauge "maybe not being brutal" that's already the start of losing recruits. "At least were not brutal" is not a selling point.

While you say "what if we never win another" wile being in the B1G. Well I say what if we stay in thisleague and never have a chance to ever win a title again after Boatright and both Daniels (assuming the furrue freshman is good enough) leave? You seem to appreicate how hard it is to win. Imagine if the league isn't very good? Look at the disrespect UCONN was shown by having a 7 seed and still even now I never hear anyone admit our seeding was a joke. They speak how Lousiville and Kentucky were bad seeds - but not us? Just wait until we miss out a couple of times. On the other hand- if we are in the B1G then your statement of a school winning 4 championships is a strong one indeed. Chances are we will land many over time and be a threat to win titles many times. IMO that's what it is all about.

 

[Huskygrad88]

Q2 is absolutely fantastic. While championships are the ultimate goal each individual year, being able to fund the overall athletic program long term is the required goal. Think of it as a business that only makes short term goals but has no long term viability. Have to lose and go to the B1G...without us being in a P5 soon football goes away.
Perhaps because this is on the hoops board there is some debate. Can the basketball team survive (and perhaps thrive) in a lesser conference....probably. Can the school generate enough revenue for all sports staying in the AAC...absolutely not.

 

[amory]

I tend to think we're next up when the plates begin to shift again, but there's no real way to tell when that'll be.

I think I'd take the B1G invite... I want my kids to have the joy of rooting for competitive UConn programs. AAC in the long run probably won't offer that.

 

[Inyatkin]

We've gotten so used to winning championships that people would be willing to give one up for some unforeseeable future glory. Yes it could be bleak outside the P5 in the future, but it's also far from a settled situation. You take the title every ------ time.

 

[BankShot]

1) BAZZ goes pro

2) Championships. End of story.

We had an amazing run in the greatest conference in basketball. We know what that is like. I'd rather have that runs and Championships than being in a lesser conference and never winning one in the modern era.

Would you rather be Wisconsin who has played in a lesser yet still good conference forever and has only come close to a championship twice in the last 70 YEARS? How about BC? Would they trade a championship to be in a lesser conference?

You have to understand, there are diehards like us, for other schools out there, who NEVER come close to championships despite playing in great conferences (I'm talking to you PITT, BC, FSU, ST. John's, Providence, Oklahoma, etc.) I am sure they would trade it in for one year.

As a Vikings fan, at this point, I would take ONE, just ONE magical run for the next decade of mediocrity. Just one, to avenge all the years of losses, close calls (87,88,2000) and choke jobs (98, 09), and be a happy man

Championships, they can never take it away from you.