UConn and the Big East

[nadav]

Clearwater was a great location for the conference tournament.

Big East tends to move around since the AAC grabbed Clearwater.

1985-1995 -> Muzzy Field (Bristol, Conn.)
1996-1998 -> Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium (Norwich, Conn.)
1999-2005 -> Waterfront Park (Trenton, N.J.)
2006 -> Bright House Field (Clearwater, Fla.)
2007 -> Key Span Park (Brooklyn, N.Y)
2008-2013-> Bright House Field (Clearwater, Fla.)
2014 -> MCU Park (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
2015 -> TD Ameritrade Park (Omaha, Neb.)
2016 -> Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium (Aberdeen, Md.)
2017 -> TD Ameritrade Park (Omaha, Neb.)
2018 -> Prasco Park (Mason, Ohio)
2019 -> Prasco Park (Mason, Ohio)

Dunk in Hartford would be killer for a BE baseball tourney.

 

[gtcam]

While it is not an optimal move for conference competion at least in the current state. There are some distinct positives that this move opens up. Moving to the bigeast opens up regionalized rivalries which we were lacking in the AAC, particularly with St.johns. It also reduces the burden of travel, baseball is a hard sport on teams that travel, the closest team in the AAC was Cincinnati, there are four teams in the big east closer than Cincy ( St. John's, Villanova, Seton Hall, Georgetown) and two other teams the same distance as Cincy (Butler and Xavier). Scheduling wise this will be a net plus bringing in an 8 team conference vs a 9 team conference, for one there will not be an out of conference week in the middle of the conference slate and two it opens up Penders to another OOC series which he has shown that he schedules OOC very well.

With the added regional rivalries and the additional OOC series to schedule I have no reason to panic just yet.

Travel is important to baseball
The AAC gave UConn a Florida, Texas and Carolinas exposure
Now its going to be Chicago, Wisconsin, Indiana...........................................

 

[gtcam]

Coach Penders has always talked about the goal of the team every season is to play in Omaha. Well, UConn baseball will now be playing in Omaha every other year. Of course, it will be in April or May, which of course is a tad earlier than mid June.

I wonder how many are going to get this!!!!!

 

[huskymedic]

Travel is important to baseball
The AAC gave UConn a Florida, Texas and Carolinas exposure
Now its going to be Chicago, Wisconsin, Indiana........

That's okay... Michigan has 5 kids from Wisconsin, 5 from Illinois and 2 from Indiana playing for the CWS Championship tomorrow.

In Penders I trust.

 

[nadav]

Penders seems to get the local studs from CT/RI/Mass and the Cali jr college transfers. Not worried about recruiting at all. But we will need the OOC games to be warm weather and we do that already. It’ll just be have to be higher RPI teams.

 

[gtcam]

That's okay... Michigan has 5 kids from Wisconsin, 5 from Illinois and 2 from Indiana playing for the CWS Championship tomorrow.

In Penders I trust.

Penders seems to get the local studs from CT/RI/Mass and the Cali jr college transfers. Not worried about recruiting at all. But we will need the OOC games to be warm weather and we do that already. It’ll just be have to be higher RPI teams.

I do trust Penders
My point is that there are more kids playing in these warm weather states and chances are for a higher percentage of better recruitment grounds.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[UConNick]

That’s super encouraging to hear, especially from someone who was a highly-rated, drafted, HS player and became a great Husky. I have reflected on it more and while it’s a clear step down there’s no reason to ring alarm bells as long as we’ve got Penders, and he isn’t going to abandon his alma mater.

 

[businesslawyer]

Mason Feole is somewhat overoptimistic. Look, UConn baseball is the strongest program in the northeast, by a fairly solid amount, and the conference shift will not change that in the short term. And, one or two weekend road trips that can be made by bus rather than flying -- and more games your family can drive to to watch you play -- won't hurt. But in the long term, is reducing your strength of schedule a good thing when you want to be competitive on a national level? No, it's not. And I'm not sure there is much they can do to increase the strength of either their pre-conference games or their weekday afternoon games to make up for it.

Baseball and football are the two program that will be hurt by this. Baseball not nearly as much as football, but still. All other programs will benefit, even if it's only by reducing travel.

 

[navery12]

Mason Feole is somewhat overoptimistic. Look, UConn baseball is the strongest program in the northeast, by a fairly solid amount, and the conference shift will not change that in the short term. And, one or two weekend road trips that can be made by bus rather than flying -- and more games your family can drive to to watch you play -- won't hurt. But in the long term, is reducing your strength of schedule a good thing when you want to be competitive on a national level? No, it's not. And I'm not sure there is much they can do to increase the strength of either their pre-conference games or their weekday afternoon games to make up for it.

Baseball and football are the two program that will be hurt by this. Baseball not nearly as much as football, but still. All other programs will benefit, even if it's only by reducing travel.

Counterargument, we'll also be playing less conference games which means we can schedule more OOC series to boost the RPI

 

[huskymedic]

Geez... it’s not like we weren’t successful in the Big East before.

Will the conference change have an impact on RPI - sure but it’s not something that can’t be mitigated in some ways.

 

[billybud]

Baseball should get the AQ most seasons while playing in the BE.

But..will that translate to hosting a Regional?

 

[dbmill]

That's okay... Michigan has 5 kids from Wisconsin, 5 from Illinois and 2 from Indiana playing for the CWS Championship tomorrow.

In Penders I trust.



I do trust Penders
My point is that there are more kids playing in these warm weather states and chances are for a higher percentage of better recruitment grounds.

Aside from the very occasional player from the midwest, UConn recruiting areas are some California JUCO's looking to go Division 1, and the northeast, meaning New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. UConn in its recruiting since I have followed the program has not been getting any freshmen from warm weather states. The success of this program has been primarily from developing blue collar type kids from the northeast. No doubt Penders even with the new baseball facility is going to continue going after the same type of player he has already been recruiting.

 

[dbmill]

No question AAC baseball is superior to Big East baseball. Creighton is also a very good baseball program, and St. John's is better than you give credit for. Xavier seems to be solid. However, teams like Villanova, Georgetown, and I suspect Butler will definitely be potential downers for the RPI.

One thing to remember is that Penders was able to recruit all the players that were on the 2010 and 2011 teams to the old Big East, and that was not exactly a power baseball conference either. With Penders around and a new baseball facility going online next season, I still think UConn baseball has a future that is worth following.

I've mentioned more than once how proud I am that UConn has made the NCAA tourney 6 out of the last 10 years. Well, it turns out that St. John's has also made the NCAA tourney 6 out of the last 10 years, and 10 out of the last 16 years. Out of those 10 bids, 6 were at large bids. Not bad at all for a northeast team. While there are a few bad teams in the Big East, there will be some competition at the top of the standings. UConn and St. John's were an excellent conference rivalry before, and I expect they will be again.

 

[DefCONNOne]

Dunk in Hartford would be killer for a BE baseball tourney.

Good luck getting the Eastern League on board with that.

Also what's "Dunk"?

 

[huskymedic]

Good luck getting the Eastern League on board with that.

Also what's "Dunk"?

I get your sentiment but hosting a conference tournament is a bit more predictable than hosting a NCAA Regional Series.

For example - the Big East Tournament this year was May 23rd>May 26th. The Yard Goats were away that whole period of time.

If the four parties (YardGoats/UConn/Eastern League/City) really wanted to pull it off it would be feasible. How likely is debatable.

 

[DefCONNOne]

I get your sentiment but hosting a conference tournament is a bit more predictable than hosting a NCAA Regional Series.

For example - the Big East Tournament this year was May 23rd>May 26th. The Yard Goats were away that whole period of time.

If the four parties (YardGoats/UConn/Eastern League/City) really wanted to pull it off it would be feasible. How likely is debatable.

I'm aware of that. but there's a growing trend from the minor leagues against blocking off dates for stadiums to host conference tournaments. It screws up the schedule and in fact the International League passed a rule forbidding Durham from blocking off dates in order to host the ACC tournament. I'm quite confident the Eastern League has a similar rule in place.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

From a fan viewpoint, it's a plus as more Conencticut fans care about St. John's, Hall, etc. than UCF, Tulane, ECU no matter where a given team is ranked. It may also help with local recruting as there is good baseball talent in the Northeast; but, the team could loose exposure to kids from down south. I don't have actual data on this, so not sure if ist a positive, loss, or wash. Penders will also have to really focus on non-conference as on average, AAC baseball is stronger than new Big East baseball and UConn. Twenty Years ago it may have been different as Providence and St. Johns were both considered strong programs; but, northern colleges have been pulling back from baseball for a while now.

 

[uconnflyer88]

From a fan viewpoint, it's a plus as more Conencticut fans care about St. John's, Hall, etc. than UCF, Tulane, ECU no matter where a given team is ranked. It may also help with local recruting as there is good baseball talent in the Northeast; but, the team could loose exposure to kids from down south. I don't have actual data on this, so not sure if ist a positive, loss, or wash. Penders will also have to really focus on non-conference as on average, AAC baseball is stronger than new Big East baseball and UConn. Twenty Years ago it may have been different as Providence and St. Johns were both considered strong programs; but, northern colleges have been pulling back from baseball for a while now.

Try not to confuse YOU caring more about St. John's, Hall, etc........with "Connecticut fans"

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Try not to confuse YOU caring more about St. John's, Hall, etc...with "Connecticut fans"

I actually care little about either one, outside of catching a UConn game at those schools when possible. What I am referring to is that rivalries are typically local, i.e. one high school graduate goes to UConn his best friend goes to Hall and thus they want to see therir schoosl play each other. For a student from anywhere in the Northeast, it is more likely that such a situation happens between UConn/St. John's/Hall than between UConn/ECU/UCF as the AAC is dominated by regional univerities that trully national universities, outside of Tulane and Navy, and Navy is only plays football in the AAC.

 

[nadav]

Good luck getting the Eastern League on board with that.

Also what's "Dunk"?

So you know I’m referring to an Eastern League stadium in Hartford, but can’t figure out what I’m referring to with Dunk? Cool

 

[DefCONNOne]

So you know I’m referring to an Eastern League stadium in Hartford, but can’t figure out what I’m referring to with Dunk? Cool

If that's what you choose to believe, then cool.

Just let it be known, I was mocking you for your inability to type out Dunkin Donuts Park.

 

[nadav]

If that's what you choose to believe, then cool.

Just let it be known, I was mocking you for your inability to type out Dunkin Donuts Park.

I know tough guy

 

[WrenchFan69]

If that's what you choose to believe, then cool.

Just let it be known, I was mocking you for your inability to type out Dunkin Donuts Park.

Just chill out man. Everyone understood him.

 

[WrenchFan69]

Underrated part of this move is timing up the opening of a brand new soccer stadium with good and traditionally rival programs of ours. I'm excited for soccer to get back to the big time.