UConn and the Big East

[UConNick]

Well, everyone else is talking about it. If you somehow haven’t heard yet, a UConn move to a new conference appears imminent.

Overall, I think it’s a shortsighted move that eliminates whatever minuscule chance we ever had at being a big time athletic institution, but I wanted to just focus on baseball.

It simply sucks.

Penders has us flying so damn high, and I do think a not insignificant factor has been the high level of competition in the AAC. We’ve started to land the elite CT (and some PA, MA, and NY for that matter) recruits that in the past would’ve been ACC bound because we became a top program in a respectable league that plays other good teams every weekend.

I’m skeptical that this move won’t hurt baseball. Hopefully Penders has us in such a good spot that this won’t hurt our mometum. But the margin of error will be slim.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Brutal...as you said, we've bern recruiting at a stunningly high level, so this is a gut punch.

 

[BaseballDog]

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.

 

[navery12]

It's definitely a step down but I'm not worried. Penders is putting UConn on the map nationally, not just locally. It's a weaker league but we should be in the top 2-3 teams every year and if we do that we'll be in the postseason

 

[UConNick]

We're REALLY going to need OOC wins in the beginning of the season. The Big East was 17th in RPI last season and only had two teams in the top 100. In my opinion, it's a massive step down in competition. 35 wins isn't gonna cut it anymore. St. John's went 31-23 last season but only 9-9 in the Big East. Not only were they off the map for the postseason, their RPI was 113. I'm very worried about what this does to our schedule. I'd personally take the top-50 games every weekend over having some regional rivalries.

 

[uconnsouth]

Penders will adjust. They play 20 games every year in south anyways. Beef up non-conference schedule to maintain high RPI. UConn should steamroll BigEast. Oh, and a new stadium

 

[UConNick]

Penders will adjust. They play 20 games every year in south anyways. Beef up non-conference schedule to maintain high RPI. UConn should steamroll BigEast. Oh, and a new stadium

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely anticipate Penders adjusting. It’s just very uncomfortable to be in this new position compared to life in the AAC.

 

[BaseballDog]

The selection committee for baseball always snubbed the AAC as it was. I think the affect on atlarge chances are a little over blown, as long as the out of conference schedule stays strong then we will be fine.

 

[BaseballDog]

The only teams I will really miss playing in the AAC are Houston, UCF, and ECU. Everyone else was up and down.

Playing St. John's and Creighton does not replace those three, but helps the pain of losing those three from the schedule.

 

[dbmill]

I suspect the prime reason for the move to the Big East is the ESPN+ kicker to the upcoming TV deal for the AAC. UConn and its fan base simply want no part of that. I don't think the competition will be much better, but it will also have the benefit of lower travel costs and the return of regional rivalries that UConn was missing in the AAC.

No question the only real good thing about the AAC for UConn was baseball. One other thing I'll miss about AAC baseball is the tournament, it is always a crazy affair.

In the Big East baseball years 2010 through 2013, UConn got to the NCAA tourney 3 times, twice on at large bids, and the Big East was not exactly a plentiful conference for at NCAA large bids. Some years they would get one or two, and other years none. Most of the time now the Big East is a one bid league in baseball. Maybe that will change with UConn joining, but I wouldn't want to bet on it.

UConn baseball at this point will be in a stronger position in the Big East, as now it is clearly the best baseball school in the northeast, and the new baseball facility will probably be one of the best in the conference. Both those items are a big change from where UConn baseball was just prior to Springer, Barnes and company helping to fuel rise in prominence of the UConn baseball program about 10 years ago.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

This move will be bad for baseball. Baseball prospered in AAC by playing lots of southern schools. I believe it made it attractive for recruits who were good enough for southern programs, but maybe didn't want to play that far from home.

 

[huskymedic]

This move will be bad for baseball. Baseball prospered in AAC by playing lots of southern schools. I believe it made it attractive for recruits who were good enough for southern programs, but maybe didn't want to play that far from home.

Baseball will be fine as long as Big East has an auto-bid to NCAA tourney.

Penders will continue to maximize OOC scheduling.

 

[BaseballDog]

This move will be bad for baseball. Baseball prospered in AAC by playing lots of southern schools. I believe it made it attractive for recruits who were good enough for southern programs, but maybe didn't want to play that far from home.

Many of our current players come from the north east and some of their families attend many away games, I know they would welcome less travel. There is more than enough talent that wants to stay in the Northeast. The whole month of March will be played in the South regardless.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Penders will adjust...to his new job. This move helps one of the sports programs and kills the rest.

 

[bazzdog]

Penders will adjust...to his new job. This move helps one of the sports programs and kills the rest.

C'mon man, it's not going to kill the rest. This will cement us as Northeast regional powers in all our sports.
Football is another story-we tried it hasn't worked out.....time to move on

 

[Jax Husky]

Brutal. St. John's and Seton Hall are halfway decent programs, but the Big East is a completely garbage baseball league. This sucks. Houston, Tulane, ECU....the AAC was a very good baseball conference.

 

[huskymedic]

Brutal. St. John's and Seton Hall are halfway decent programs, but the Big East is a completely garbage baseball league.

The Big East is not to the level of the AAC of late but Creighton has a decent program history. Xavier also has had some good years/teams but not consistent.

 

[dbmill]

Brutal. St. John's and Seton Hall are halfway decent programs, but the Big East is a completely garbage baseball league. This sucks. Houston, Tulane, ECU....the AAC was a very good baseball conference.

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.

 

[dbmill]

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.

 

[huskymedic]

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.

 

[uconnsouth]

UConn will still have an outstanding OOC schedule. RPI should be ok.

I will miss seeing the team play in Clearwater every March though!

 

[ASweet3781]

I don't know if it kills all the sports. It certainly helps the basketball teams. Better top to bottom leagues with less travel and more natural and regional rivals. It probably helps the soccer teams too. The drop off of our soccer programs happened almost the same time we left for the AAC.

Obviously football is completely up in the air. Who knows what the plan is there. Baseball is probably hurt too but I can't imagine players are coming to play for Penders because of the league.

 

[ASweet3781]

Brutal...as you said, we've bern recruiting at a stunningly high level, so this is a gut punch.

Serious question, are we getting these players so they can play ECU and Tulane?

 

[huskymedic]

I will miss seeing the team play in Clearwater every March though!

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)

 

[uconnbaseball]

Serious question, are we getting these players so they can play ECU and Tulane?

That is definitely a part of it; both those programs are national level.