"UCONN belongs in a tougher conference"

[EricSD]

First off, let me say that given how incredibly well UCONN has played the past week, I would think the BY would be filled with mild euphoria. Color me surprised, and wrong apparently. Numerous folks are not following Geno's excitement about the team, how they progressed, and how proud he is of them. They are actually lamenting the smackdown UCONN put on Marquette. UCONN held Marquette and Villanova to 39 points, and SJU to 41.

Smothering defense both from individual accomplishments, and team defense, and I would argue it's more a testament to our great defense than "lack of quality competition".

Second, it is VERY unlikely that UCONN will EVER make it to a traditional P5 conference. But first let's look at the men's side. 4 teams in and 2 more on the first 4 out/next 4 out. So the BE had the potential to get 6 teams into the big dance. I know there are other "tougher" conferences, but the BE is no slouch on the men's side. So WCBB fans better hope that the women's side of the conference improves and gets better, like the men's side has.

This is UCONN's first year back in the BE. Other coaches have already talked about having to "up" their games both in coaching and in recruiting. The Big East could have gotten 4 teams in - UCONN, DePaul, Marquette and Seton Hall if not for Seton Hall's implosion twice against Creighton. Bodes well for the future. Many of the teams in the BE were decimated by injuries early on. There's reason to hope that next season the entire conference will at least be as competitive as a few of the traditional power conferences.

It's going to be a slow roll. I'm hopeful that all the teams in the BE will continue to improve, dedicate resources, get stronger players, and make the BE as competitive as some of the P5 conferences. It never happened in the AAC. I'm hopeful that like the men's side, the women's side can consistently get 4-5 teams into the NCAA's. Seems like UCONN, DePaul, Marquette, Seton Hall and at least Villanova are all trending in the right direction. Butler, SJU and Creighton seem like they are working hard to improve. The jury is still out on Georgetown, Xavier and Providence.

Bottom line - this is IT for UCONN.

Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin' each night of his charms
That won't get you into... a new conference.

 

[eebmg]

Just schedule intramural games.

 

[npignatjr]

First off, let me say that given how incredibly well UCONN has played the past week, I would think the BY would be filled with mild euphoria. Color me surprised, and wrong apparently. Numerous folks are not following Geno's excitement about the team, how they progressed, and how proud he is of them. They are actually lamenting the smackdown UCONN put on Marquette. UCONN held Marquette and Villanova to 39 points, and SJU to 41.

Smothering defense both from individual accomplishments, and team defense, and I would argue it's more a testament to our great defense than "lack of quality competition".

Second, it is VERY unlikely that UCONN will EVER make it to a traditional P5 conference. But first let's look at the men's side. 4 teams in and 2 more on the first 4 out/next 4 out. So the BE had the potential to get 6 teams into the big dance. I know there are other "tougher" conferences, but the BE is no slouch on the men's side. So WCBB fans better hope that the women's side of the conference improves and gets better, like the men's side has.

This is UCONN's first year back in the BE. Other coaches have already talked about having to "up" their games both in coaching and in recruiting. The Big East could have gotten 4 teams in - UCONN, DePaul, Marquette and Seton Hall if not for Seton Hall's implosion twice against Creighton. Bodes well for the future. Many of the teams in the BE were decimated by injuries early on. There's reason to hope that next season the entire conference will at least be as competitive as a few of the traditional power conferences.

It's going to be a slow roll. I'm hopeful that all the teams in the BE will continue to improve, dedicate resources, get stronger players, and make the BE as competitive as some of the P5 conferences. It never happened in the AAC. I'm hopeful that like the men's side, the women's side can consistently get 4-5 teams into the NCAA's. Seems like UCONN, DePaul, Marquette, Seton Hall and at least Villanova are all trending in the right direction. Butler, SJU and Creighton seem like they are working hard to improve. The jury is still out on Georgetown, Xavier and Providence.

Bottom line - this is IT for UCONN.

Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin' each night of his charms
That won't get you into... a new conference.

Don't hold your breath. Better chance the AAC getting 3 than the least. BTW the AAC has the higher ranked men's team

 

[Padutch5]

First off, let me say that given how incredibly well UCONN has played the past week, I would think the BY would be filled with mild euphoria. Color me surprised, and wrong apparently. Numerous folks are not following Geno's excitement about the team, how they progressed, and how proud he is of them. They are actually lamenting the smackdown UCONN put on Marquette. UCONN held Marquette and Villanova to 39 points, and SJU to 41.

Smothering defense both from individual accomplishments, and team defense, and I would argue it's more a testament to our great defense than "lack of quality competition".

Second, it is VERY unlikely that UCONN will EVER make it to a traditional P5 conference. But first let's look at the men's side. 4 teams in and 2 more on the first 4 out/next 4 out. So the BE had the potential to get 6 teams into the big dance. I know there are other "tougher" conferences, but the BE is no slouch on the men's side. So WCBB fans better hope that the women's side of the conference improves and gets better, like the men's side has.

This is UCONN's first year back in the BE. Other coaches have already talked about having to "up" their games both in coaching and in recruiting. The Big East could have gotten 4 teams in - UCONN, DePaul, Marquette and Seton Hall if not for Seton Hall's implosion twice against Creighton. Bodes well for the future. Many of the teams in the BE were decimated by injuries early on. There's reason to hope that next season the entire conference will at least be as competitive as a few of the traditional power conferences.

It's going to be a slow roll. I'm hopeful that all the teams in the BE will continue to improve, dedicate resources, get stronger players, and make the BE as competitive as some of the P5 conferences. It never happened in the AAC. I'm hopeful that like the men's side, the women's side can consistently get 4-5 teams into the NCAA's. Seems like UCONN, DePaul, Marquette, Seton Hall and at least Villanova are all trending in the right direction. Butler, SJU and Creighton seem like they are working hard to improve. The jury is still out on Georgetown, Xavier and Providence.

Bottom line - this is IT for UCONN.

Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin' each night of his charms
That won't get you into... a new conference.

One of Us are old enough to remember all the criticism of the Big East competition in Genos early years. Mostly from the direction of Tennessee but not limited to there, they always lobbied for UCONN to be ceded lower and mocked them e Huskies for the weak league. That subsided when ND, Louisville and others rose in strength. The answer then as it is now for the other teams to get stronger. I’m confident some of them will .
As far as realignment. Dont give up. At least some commentators believe a major shake up is coming in several years when the power 5 TV contracts come up for renewal. COVID may also have something to do with realignment. I think a few schools are rethinking all of the travel..Certainly UCONN men and women’s BB are happier with less time on airplanes.

 

[hoopsfan22]

The knock on our conference often comes up in the context of a UConn superlative. If Stanford, South Carolina, Baylor, Tennessee, or whomever from a P5 conference, were in our shoes the last eight years when we moved to the AAC, does anyone think any of those teams would be 160-0 in conference games? How many more games do UConn detractors think this team would lose in a "tough" conference? Last I checked we were in the strongest basketball conference before being forced into the AAC, and we spent years kicking the crap out of all of those now P5 teams too.

 

[Aluminny69]

This is a problem which appears unique to Women's basketball. There is not enough talent to go around, and all the best players want to play together. I can't really blame them.

One solution I suggested before, is for UConn Women to have an independent schedule, similar to Notre Dame football used to be. Of course, this will never happen.

Second, set up a system like English Premier Soccer. The top fifteen teams play each other twice, that's 28games. The rest of the teams have their own tournament, with the top four teams moving up, replacing the bottom four Premier teams. The Premier teams can have their own 8 team end of season tournament. Of course, this would be super exciting, but it's never going to happen. Just a fun idea.

 

[cohenzone]

When UConn joined the original Big East, the better teams were Providence, Seton Hall, Miami and Villanova. UConn quickly blew past them. Ultimately UConn’s presence boosted both Rutgers and ND recruiting to where they were real rivals and nationally competitive. Ultimately Louisville and to a lesser extent, DePaul got there. A few other programs became pretty good for more than one year, Syracuse, West Virginia, BC. Hopefully UConn’s presence will have the same impact on rival recruiting in the current BE.

 

[MD#12Fan]

This is a problem which appears unique to Women's basketball. There is not enough talent to go around, and all the best players want to play together. I can't really blame them.

One solution I suggested before, is for UConn Women to have an independent schedule, similar to Notre Dame football used to be. Of course, this will never happen.

Second, set up a system like English Premier Soccer. The top fifteen teams play each other twice, that's 28games. The rest of the teams have their own tournament, with the top four teams moving up, replacing the bottom four Premier teams. The Premier teams can have their own 8 team end of season tournament. Of course, this would be super exciting, but it's never going to happen. Just a fun idea.

Ted Lasso's team, Richmond, is not going to be in the top tier of the Premier League in Season 2. Hope people watched season 1.

 

[oldude]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this, so I might as well. In the recently completed Pac-12 Conference Championship Tournament, Stanford beat their 3 opponents by: 39 pts (USC), 34 pts (OSU) & 20 pts (UCLA). Clearly, Stanford plays in a weak conference and needs to move to a stronger conference.....

Playing in a weak conference like the Pac-12 is probably why Stanford hasn't won a national championship in almost 3 decades, and even that championship came over powerhouse women's program, Western KY.....

Maybe we should consider allowing Stanford to upgrade their schedule by joining the Big East. Just sayin......

 

[Charliebball]

as much as I'd like to see UConn join the ACC, it appears that they are "doomed" to play in the Big East for many years to come...........as long as Geno can arrange a strong out of conference schedule that's well spaced during the length of the regular season I don't see it as a major problem.......

 

[SVCBeercats]

Bottom line - this is IT for UCONN.

I really believe whatever conference in which UCONN plays will be dominated by UCONN. Other conferences look stronger UNTIL UCONN rolls in and begins kicking butt and taking names. Then people will say well they need to be in this stronger conference. At one time several college wrestlers looked like champions until the had to wrestle Cael Norman Sanderson. Oops! Also rans they became. Same thing with the next stronger WBB conference. UCONN would turn all those teams into also rans.

 

[DogWarden]

We belong in the ACC. But BC will never let us in!!!!

 

[CajunHusky]

First off, let me say that given how incredibly well UCONN has played the past week, I would think the BY would be filled with mild euphoria. Color me surprised, and wrong apparently. Numerous folks are not following Geno's excitement about the team, how they progressed, and how proud he is of them. They are actually lamenting the smackdown UCONN put on Marquette. UCONN held Marquette and Villanova to 39 points, and SJU to 41.

Smothering defense both from individual accomplishments, and team defense, and I would argue it's more a testament to our great defense than "lack of quality competition".

Second, it is VERY unlikely that UCONN will EVER make it to a traditional P5 conference. But first let's look at the men's side. 4 teams in and 2 more on the first 4 out/next 4 out. So the BE had the potential to get 6 teams into the big dance. I know there are other "tougher" conferences, but the BE is no slouch on the men's side. So WCBB fans better hope that the women's side of the conference improves and gets better, like the men's side has.

This is UCONN's first year back in the BE. Other coaches have already talked about having to "up" their games both in coaching and in recruiting. The Big East could have gotten 4 teams in - UCONN, DePaul, Marquette and Seton Hall if not for Seton Hall's implosion twice against Creighton. Bodes well for the future. Many of the teams in the BE were decimated by injuries early on. There's reason to hope that next season the entire conference will at least be as competitive as a few of the traditional power conferences.

It's going to be a slow roll. I'm hopeful that all the teams in the BE will continue to improve, dedicate resources, get stronger players, and make the BE as competitive as some of the P5 conferences. It never happened in the AAC. I'm hopeful that like the men's side, the women's side can consistently get 4-5 teams into the NCAA's. Seems like UCONN, DePaul, Marquette, Seton Hall and at least Villanova are all trending in the right direction. Butler, SJU and Creighton seem like they are working hard to improve. The jury is still out on Georgetown, Xavier and Providence.

Bottom line - this is IT for UCONN.

Wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin'
Plannin' and dreamin' each night of his charms
That won't get you into... a new conference.

In order for UConn to make it to a P5 conference, they have to have a P5 football team. That boat has sailed.

The future bodes well for the Big East. Several teams upped their performance this year after playing UConn. And there is reason to believe all the Big East teams will competitively recruit in a larger and more talented pool of athletes.

 

[msf22b]

With regard the title and premise of Eric's thread:

"UCONN belongs in a tougher conference"​

_________________
Any offers considered

 

[Zanzman]

 

[veryolddog]

This is a "swan song" that likes to be replayed and played again and again. My opinion: UConn is where it needs to be and will be for now and the near future. Do I think that the BE will be better? Yep. These BE teams have a lot of creditability both in athletics and learning that will attract very good players who will compete more aggresively inside and outside that conference. As a matter of fact, recruiting for the men's program improved significantly when players saw the advantages of competing in he BE. Whatever. I guess every 6 months that this needs to be refreshed and the outcome will still be the same.

 

[Plebe]

Gonna say it flat out: People who whine and complain about the conference affiliation are revealing themselves to be both wrong-headed and weak-minded.

Being a member of a "strong" conference didn't save Notre Dame from tumbling embarrassingly from the mountaintop in the past two years. (Here's a visual just in case anyone forgot.)

And going back to previous years, "strong" conferences didn't save one-time powerhouses like Tennessee, Duke or North Carolina from dramatic falls-from-grace.

We could also rattle off dozens of programs that have been members of "strong" conferences all along and have never achieved any notable success in the sport.

People reach for the conference thing out of a desperate psychological need for an easy scapegoat. As stated, wrong-headed and weak-minded.

 

[UcMiami]

Everyone knows that it is better for Uconn to be in a really crap league so they get to the NCAAs well rested! It is why Geno is such a good coach - he personally convinced the P5 to raid all the other good team in the Old BE so he wouldn't have any competition, and then convinced the Uconn Pres and AD to sabotage any offers made to Uconn from P5 conferences. Pure Genius!!!

 

[Drumguy]

One of Us are old enough to remember all the criticism of the Big East competition in Genos early years. Mostly from the direction of Tennessee but not limited to there, they always lobbied for UCONN to be ceded lower and mocked them e Huskies for the weak league. That subsided when ND, Louisville and others rose in strength. The answer then as it is now for the other teams to get stronger. I’m confident some of them will .
As far as realignment. Dont give up. At least some commentators believe a major shake up is coming in several years when the power 5 TV contracts come up for renewal. COVID may also have something to do with realignment. I think a few schools are rethinking all of the travel..Certainly UCONN men and women’s BB are happier with less time on airplanes.

I agree. the fact that the AAC never got better is due to the reality that it was a bastardized football league, and wcbb was very low on their list. Even though we put the hurt on Marquette last night, I think that was just us playing up to our potential as the number 1 team, not that they were bad. I thought the Golden Eagles showed a ton of potential and Duffy is a good coach, I suspect one we are going to grow to hate as her teams continue to improve! Let's give the NBE a few years and see if recruiting picks up for the other teams before we give up on the conference.
I also think we'd roll in whatever conference we're in. When they showed the stats going back to 1993, that included all the years of Rutgers, LV, ND, Nova and BC in our conference and being national powers and we still rolled for the most part.

 

[cferraro04]

It should be noted that when UConn belonged to the Old Big East Conference that it was the catalyst that led to the Big East becoming one of the most competitive conferences in Women's College Basketball. In 2013 the Big East Conference had the following teams in the NCAA Tournament:


1. UConn #1 seed
2. Notre Dame #1 seed
3. Louisville #5 seed
4. Syracuse #7 seed
5. Villanova #9 seed
6. South Florida #10 seed
7. DePaul #10 seed
8. St. John's #10 seed

It should also be noted that three of the final four teams were from the Big East and that the final game was an all Big East finals.

 

[ConnMotors]

ERIC; Good post.

I posted this in the realignment section a while back because of Covid. If we could have our own way and do as we wished UConn could be a part of a Conference with 12 Division I schools all within the Northeast region.

Boston College
Connecticut
Syracuse
Temple
Rutgers
Pittsburgh
Penn State
Maryland
Army
Navy
Buffalo
Massachusetts.

All of these schools are a bus ride away. And, it could be a football conference as well.

Sadly, this is only a dream. UConn is stuck in the Big East. They would have to pay a ton of bucks to get out.

Geno would win no matter of what conference that the team plays in. Championships would still be hung from the rafters. The only thing that would be different is how many wins and losses that he may have.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Gonna say it flat out: People who whine and complain about the conference affiliation are revealing themselves to be both wrong-headed and weak-minded.

Being a member of a "strong" conference didn't save Notre Dame from tumbling embarrassingly from the mountaintop in the past two years. (Here's a visual just in case anyone forgot.)

View attachment 65512

And going back to previous years, "strong" conferences didn't save one-time powerhouses like Tennessee, Duke or North Carolina from dramatic falls-from-grace.

We could also rattle off dozens of programs that have been members of "strong" conferences all along and have never achieved any notable success in the sport.

People reach for the conference thing out of a desperate psychological need for an easy scapegoat. As stated, wrong-headed and weak-minded.

@Plebe I have spent the last 15 minutes transfixed with joy starring at the Muffet. 😁

 

[cferraro04]

ERIC; Good post.

I posted this in the realignment section a while back because of Covid. If we could have our own way and do as we wished UConn could be a part of a Conference with 12 Division I schools all within the Northeast region.

Boston College
Connecticut
Syracuse
Temple
Rutgers
Pittsburgh
Penn State
Maryland
Army
Navy
Buffalo
Massachusetts.

All of these schools are a bus ride away. And, it could be a football conference as well.

Sadly, this is only a dream. UConn is stuck in the Big East. They would have to pay a ton of bucks to get out.

Geno would win no matter of what conference that the team plays in. Championships would still be hung from the rafters. The only thing that would be different is how many wins and losses that he may have.

ConnMotors: How many seasonal losses would you predict if UConn belonged to such a conference as above?

 

[ucbart]

The re-rese of the Big East in WBB now that we're back in the conference can very much happen:

1. The BE is a basketball conference
2. The BE in men's basketball is a great conference.
3. There are some really great academic institutions in the BE.
4. The schools in the BE are in areas where girl's HS basketball is strong.

 

[cabbie191]

Geno is clearly happy and excited to have returned to the BE. If nothing else, I’m hoping that this might translate into his wanting to coach a few more years, health permitting, than might have been the case had we remained in the AAC.

And I’m hopeful that the quality of play of our conference opponents will increase over time as it did before.

 

[oldhusky]

Over the years, Uconn has often compensated for a weak conference schedule by taking on quite a few of the top schools out of conference. This year we lost a couple of those and added Arkansas back in, so we had fewer legitimate challenges.

For the best teams in the Power 5 conferences, their out of conference schedule is more like training camp with many easy opponents as they get the new players ready for the real season for them, the conference schedule and tournament.

Our conference results barely move the needle, our ranking year in and year out is based more on our big out of conference games. In the old Big East we had big in conference games, not so much now. But still the BE is overall better than the AAC, but thus far it has resulted in slightly more competitive blowouts than new real challenges.

Perhaps with Uconn in, programs like DePaul and Marquette will be able to step up their recruiting and competition a bit in the future.

 

[huskyd]

I agree. the fact that the AAC never got better is due to the reality that it was a bastardized football league, and wcbb was very low on their list. Even though we put the hurt on Marquette last night, I think that was just us playing up to our potential as the number 1 team, not that they were bad. I thought the Golden Eagles showed a ton of potential and Duffy is a good coach, I suspect one we are going to grow to hate as her teams continue to improve! Let's give the NBE a few years and see if recruiting picks up for the other teams before we give up on the conference.
I also think we'd roll in whatever conference we're in. When they showed the stats going back to 1993, that included all the years of Rutgers, LV, ND, Nova and BC in our conference and being national powers and we still rolled for the most part.

Let's give the NBE a few years

[Hey. Some of us don't have a few years to give . . .]

In writing about teams and leagues, we're ignoring the real question: what makes teams better? How, for example, did UConn emerge from mediocrity to become not only a powerhouse but a perennial one? Was it that better recruits such as Rebecca Lobo started to show interest? Was it Geno's evolution into a bb mastermind? Right now you can cite a decent/good player from most BE schools. Are they enough? Is there a lack of coaching skills in the BE? Can one or two players really elevate a team to something special? Is that what Paige has done? Would Buckets have chosen a school that didn't have a "genius" at its helm? What would the Huskies' record be w/out Slim?
A few BE schools have winning records, and most of us recognize the quality of Coach Duffy. Perhaps it's really only in the blend of competent players and innovative coaches that winners emerge.

 

[ConnMotors]

ConnMotors: How many seasonal losses would you predict if UConn belonged to such a conference as above?

Even great teams loose on occasion. And, UConn has had many of those teams. But all good/great teams can get beat on any given nights. I'm not saying 2, 3 or 4 times a year. However, the possibility of a loss against stronger tiered teams can happen whenever.

 

[Alydar]

This is a problem which appears unique to Women's basketball. There is not enough talent to go around, and all the best players want to play together. I can't really blame them.

One solution I suggested before, is for UConn Women to have an independent schedule, similar to Notre Dame football used to be. Of course, this will never happen.

Second, set up a system like English Premier Soccer. The top fifteen teams play each other twice, that's 28games. The rest of the teams have their own tournament, with the top four teams moving up, replacing the bottom four Premier teams. The Premier teams can have their own 8 team end of season tournament. Of course, this would be super exciting, but it's never going to happen. Just a fun idea.

Had the same general idea. It's time to admit that there isn't enough talent for 350 D1 teams, not even 150. So if colleges want to monetize wcbb like the mens game it needs to concentrate the available talent into a much smaller number.
Hope about the NCAA start a real pre-season NIT type 4 day event right after 1st Semester exams, inviting the previous years FF and 4 other invitees. Play 3 games in 4 days. Call it the early season E8. The games might draw more interest on TV than say High Point at Tenn or S W.. Tex Bible College at Baylor. But too many coaches, especially in the P-5 are more concerned with wins and keeping their job than they are to building the popularity of the game.

 

[triaddukefan]

Had the same general idea. It's time to admit that there isn't enough talent for 350 D1 teams, not even 150. So if colleges want to monetize wcbb like the mens game it needs to concentrate the available talent into a much smaller number.
Hope about the NCAA start a real pre-season NIT type 4 day event right after 1st Semester exams, inviting the previous years FF and 4 other invitees. Play 3 games in 4 days. Call it the early season E8. The games might draw more interest on TV than say High Point at Tenn or S W.. Tex Bible College at Baylor. But too many coaches, especially in the P-5 are more concerned with wins and keeping their job than they are to building the popularity of the game.

Why you bringing High Point into this discussion ?