UConn and the Big East

[dbmill]

This little blurb about UConn baseball was part of a Hartford Courant article on Geno Auriemma and the move to the Big East.

Mike Anthony: UConn women’s basketball better off in the Big East, even if the program never struggled in six years without it

>Take baseball. Jim Penders’ program is taking a step back because Big East baseball is not as strong as AAC baseball. Still, Penders is also said to be backing the Big East move. He didn’t need the AAC to build UConn into a top-25 program. And after years of doing more with less than anybody, one could argue he’ll have the best job in a conference and the best facilities.<

One other thing that I have been thinking about. Geno in this article talks about all the road travel from playing in the AAC, and getting back to Storrs after road games in the early morning hours. UConn baseball over the years has built a reputation for being road warriors. UConn baseball will no doubt still be taking long road trips in February and March. However, with the move to the Big East, UConn baseball in April and May will have a few more bus trips and short flights. And unlike the basketball teams, I believe it was a rare thing for the baseball team to take charter flights. A little less road travel could end up having a positive effect on the baseball team.

 

[dbmill]

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.

Also possible that Dodd Stadium could host the Big East Tournament. Last several years Dodd Stadium has been hosting the NEC tournament.

 

[dbmill]

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.

We'll see how the Big East move will affect UConn baseball recruiting. I'm not worried that the Uconn baseball team could lose exposure to southern kids, as UConn baseball rarely gets freshmen recruits from outside the northeast, and they pretty much never get freshmen recruits from the south.

 

[BaseballDog]

People who don't follow college baseball closely seem to think that the AAC is a powerhouse conference that does not continuously get snubbed by the NCAA selection committee as is.

With the majority of our 56 games being OOC our atlarge chances will be the same. Decreased travel for conference games will be a huge benefit that can not be discounted and may open up more of a travel budget for OOC games.

 

[DefCONNOne]

Just chill out man. Everyone understood him.

As did I.

Laziness is not something to be celebrated.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Damn this board can have some entertaining drama!

 

[huskymedic]

PKellyMLB sounds like a BC fan (need to open whole thread):

 

[businesslawyer]

We'll see how the Big East move will affect UConn baseball recruiting. I'm not worried that the Uconn baseball team could lose exposure to southern kids, as UConn baseball rarely gets freshmen recruits from outside the northeast, and they pretty much never get freshmen recruits from the south.

I haven't changed my view with more thought. This is by no means a good move for the baseball program. If you want to compete nationally -- and we do -- being in a better conference is better than being in a weaker conference. But it's not a terrible thing for baseball, as there will be some advantages -- mostly a little less travel -- to offset the disadvantages, and we are in a position to overcome it.

 

[billybud]

Soooo?

UConn will have Men's Lacrosse team...

...the contract states that UConn will participate in all Big East Sponsored sports.

 

[huskymedic]

Soooo?

UConn will have Men's Lacrosse team...

...the contract states that UConn will participate in all Big East Sponsored sports.

"... for which the University has a varsity program."

 

[billybud]

oh ok...thanks

 

[billybud]

But darn...have come to appreciate Lacrosse.

 

[Omaha-Jays]

I am excited for another real program in the league. Creighton cares, they play home games where the championship is played and they try to be competitive. Finished Top 25 in every poll this year.

X and St. John's are decent too. I have no delusions of them(or Creighton) being powerhouse programs, but they try and aren't a RPI anchor.

What absolutely kills this conference is the bottom. Hall, Butler, GT and Nova are RPI killers. Somehow Creighton still pulled off a 20 RPI with 4 teams between 185 and 290 RPI in conference. Those programs don't need to become world beaters, but the conference needs to find a way to get the bottom team at 200 or 175. 3 programs in the high 200s is going to ruin the league as a whole.

I still think there is potential for a consistent 2 bid league with UConn, Creighton, X and SJU.

I am also on the bandwagon of not holding a conference tournament and making sure the team that wins the regular season gets the bid. It would buy an extra week to push regular season home games further out of winter and could give some more scheduling flexibility to build a strong schedule.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Yea that sounds good - the best team all year in conference play should be the one getting rewarded.

 

[BaseballDog]

I am excited for another real program in the league. Creighton cares, they play home games where the championship is played and they try to be competitive. Finished Top 25 in every poll this year.

X and St. John's are decent too. I have no delusions of them(or Creighton) being powerhouse programs, but they try and aren't a RPI anchor.

What absolutely kills this conference is the bottom. Hall, Butler, GT and Nova are RPI killers. Somehow Creighton still pulled off a 20 RPI with 4 teams between 185 and 290 RPI in conference. Those programs don't need to become world beaters, but the conference needs to find a way to get the bottom team at 200 or 175. 3 programs in the high 200s is going to ruin the league as a whole.

I still think there is potential for a consistent 2 bid league with UConn, Creighton, X and SJU.

I am also on the bandwagon of not holding a conference tournament and making sure the team that wins the regular season gets the bid. It would buy an extra week to push regular season home games further out of winter and could give some more scheduling flexibility to build a strong schedule.

SHU was a solid program when we last played them, 3 years ago. They still look decent. Facilities wise Seton Hall is investing money in improving their fields so that shows commitment.

Hopefully Butler, Georgetown, and Villanova can show some improvement soon. Villanova had the BE freshman of the year in Nick Lorusso from Masuk in Monroe CT, so maybe they have some chance of turning around soon. Although from what I remember Villanova plays in a park off campus that leaves alot be desired. I don't know much about Georgetown or Butler's programs, maybe UConn coming aboard can be a shot in the arm.

I am very excited to have St.Johns on the schedule every year, if I had my way we would have already been playing them every year. Jack Kaiser is a great place to watch a game.

Chreighton is a solid program with the added benefit of playing at TD Ameritrade every other year.

Xavier has always been solid, but how much of that is due to Scott Googins? It seems like they may be dropping off without Googins?

No denying that the AAC is a better baseball conference, however the majority of the schedule in baseball is OOC. Chreighton has been successful in the BE scheduling a challenging schedule OOC, giving them good standing in RPI. With significantly reduced in-conference travel and an additional OOC weekend to schedule (going from 24 to 21 conference games), UConn should have no problem in the BE positioning themselves for postseason play.

On a side note, baseball is all about winning tournament play, I believe it would be a bad move to get rid of the four team double elim tournament, as some have suggested. The BE should have 4 quality teams year in and out between UConn, Chreighton, Xavier, St. John's, and SHU that if someone gets hot over a weekend and wins the tournament they will be all deserving ( ala Cincinnati in AAC this year or Michigan in CWS run this year). The regular season champ of the Big East should be in the tournament as an atlarge anyways.

 

[dbmill]

I am also on the bandwagon of not holding a conference tournament and making sure the team that wins the regular season gets the bid. It would buy an extra week to push regular season home games further out of winter and could give some more scheduling flexibility to build a strong schedule.

Over the last several seasons, UConn baseball's conference tournament (Big East and AAC versions) has become one of my favorite week's of the year. When Uconn leaves the AAC, I will miss Uconn being in an eight team tournament. As for those who don't like having a conference tournament, UConn made the NCAA tourney in 2013 and 2016 by winning their conference tournament. UConn was an 8 seed in 2013, and was probably on the wrong side of the bubble in 2016. It's good to benefit from this sort of thing when you can.

 

[dbmill]

SHU was a solid program when we last played them, 3 years ago. They still look decent. Facilities wise Seton Hall is investing money in improving their fields so that shows commitment.

Hopefully Butler, Georgetown, and Villanova can show some improvement soon. Villanova had the BE freshman of the year in Nick Lorusso from Masuk in Monroe CT, so maybe they have some chance of turning around soon. Although from what I remember Villanova plays in a park off campus that leaves alot be desired. I don't know much about Georgetown or Butler's programs, maybe UConn coming aboard can be a shot in the arm.

I am very excited to have St.Johns on the schedule every year, if I had my way we would have already been playing them every year. Jack Kaiser is a great place to watch a game.

Chreighton is a solid program with the added benefit of playing at TD Ameritrade every other year.

Xavier has always been solid, but how much of that is due to Scott Googins? It seems like they may be dropping off without Googins?

No denying that the AAC is a better baseball conference, however the majority of the schedule in baseball is OOC. Chreighton has been successful in the BE scheduling a challenging schedule OOC, giving them good standing in RPI. With significantly reduced in-conference travel and an additional OOC weekend to schedule (going from 24 to 21 conference games), UConn should have no problem in the BE positioning themselves for postseason play.

On a side note, baseball is all about winning tournament play, I believe it would be a bad move to get rid of the four team double elim tournament, as some have suggested. The BE should have 4 quality teams year in and out between UConn, Chreighton, Xavier, St. John's, and SHU that if someone gets hot over a weekend and wins the tournament they will be all deserving ( ala Cincinnati in AAC this year or Michigan in CWS run this year). The regular season champ of the Big East should be in the tournament as an atlarge anyways.

Pretty much in agreement with almost everything @BaseballDog says here. Creighton and St. John's are definitely at the top of the Big East hierarchy, and both probably have the best two baseball facilities in the conference. Seton Hall and Xavier can be relied upon to field solid teams as well. In recent years Xavier has gotten several NCAA tourney bids out of the Big East. At this point Butler, Georgetown, and Villanova form the bottom of the Big East baseball totem poll. I did a quick check of Big East baseball standings through the years, and found that Georgetown and Villanova have been fairly consistent about finishing towards the bottom of the conference.

In moving from the AAC to the Big East, UConn will go from a situation where they had the worst baseball facility to a conference where they will have one of the best. From what I can tell, it seems that Villanova, Butler, and Xavier all play on fields that have no lights.

 

[freescooter]

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.

Except that none of these regional rivalries is any good. Now we have to play 21 really bad to below average games on top of the weak sister local games. SOS just went down 20 points

 

[BaseballDog]

Except that none of these regional rivalries is any good. Now we have to play 21 really bad to below average games on top of the weak sister local games. SOS just went down 20 points

It's really only 9 games that I would consider"below average" against the three teams that aren't fully funded (Butler, Villanova, Georgetown), it's not like the AAC was stacked and loaded with teams who made the NCAAs year in and year out (minus ECU).

Reduced travel matters, especially as the season wears on. I don't think it is a coincidence that UConn has only swept one conference series in the last three years (while still having solid teams). Traveling 1000+ miles every Thursday and returning at 2-3 am every Monday morning while still being a full time student takes an impossible toll on the team over a 14 week regular season.

UConn baseball will still schedule, recruit, and develop at a high level. St. John's is more of a rival than we ever had in the AAC.

 

[BaseballDog]

I wonder if Paul Gozzo gets his 2020 year of eligibility back if we are in the Big East that year? He lost a year of eligibility by transferring within the AAC, which I believe is an AAC specific rule and has no implication on NCAA eligibility.