UConn & FS1’s Media Marriage: Beyond 2025

[HuskyFich]

Coastal Carolina was ranked 14th in the nation this year. ECU has been irrelevant for almost a decade. Popular amongst who I guess is the real question.

 

[Drew]

Coastal Carolina was ranked 14th in the nation this year. ECU has been irrelevant for almost a decade. Popular amongst who I guess is the real question.

I’m not gonna waste a ton of time on this because it’s pointless but ECU’s fan and alumni base is much much bigger than Coastal and it’s really not even remotely close. ECU has 3x the enrollment numbers and has a much more robust football history than CCU with Coastal having only started their team in 2003 and moving to FBS in 2017. I live in Charlotte, CCU isn’t even the 3rd most popular school in South Carolina (that’d be College of Charleston) and Wofford/Furman/Winthrop are arguably ahead of CCU in popularity here too. There’s dedicated bars for ECU fans on gamedays here (same for App and Charlotte) with packed watch parties on a weekly basis- can’t remember anyone ever deliberately having a Coastal game on TV outside of the BYU game last year. Not to mention ECU’s medicine program which collaborates with the largest hospital system in eastern North Carolina. Coastal is really not even close to ECU on any level (and Conway is a DUMP).

 

[Hoophound]

Coastal is a hot school right now. Their baseball and football success got them noticed and their location near Myrtle Beach is getting them a ton of applicants. Coastal is on the rise. ECU is what it’s been for years, a low level academic school with bad teams. Their football team was good for a while by CUSA standards, but they just aren’t a valuable athletics program in any way. They used to get a lot of the best football players in North Carolina 20 years ago. Not anymore.

 

[Guapo]

I’m not gonna waste a ton of time on this because it’s pointless but ECU’s fan and alumni base is much much bigger than Coastal and it’s really not even remotely close. ECU has 3x the enrollment numbers and has a much more robust football history than CCU with Coastal having only started their team in 2003 and moving to FBS in 2017. I live in Charlotte, CCU isn’t even the 3rd most popular school in South Carolina (that’d be College of Charleston) and Wofford/Furman/Winthrop are arguably ahead of CCU in popularity here too. There’s dedicated bars for ECU fans on gamedays here (same for App and Charlotte) with packed watch parties on a weekly basis- can’t remember anyone ever deliberately having a Coastal game on TV outside of the BYU game last year. Not to mention ECU’s medicine program which collaborates with the largest hospital system in eastern North Carolina. Coastal is really not even close to ECU on any level (and Conway is a DUMP).

I’m not entirely sure how Coastal got put in North Carolina. Only on the boneyard!

 

[Big East Fa]

Here’s the best part: not a single game is hidden behind a paywall. UConn is watchable coast to coast with FS1 & football on CBSSN.

I'll take it step more. The Big East Conference has 20 games on CBS and FOX. Most of any conferences playing on over-the-air.

 

[VCE]

Uh-oh. You will be hearing it from the BY now. And lay me start. You forget MSG.

The fact that you are right on the money with the NEWBIE is irrelevant by the way. They just don’t get that the NEWBIE is Villanova. Indeed, I suspect the fear of Villanova reverting to the mean was behind the UConn addition.

And I’m not sure Georgia Tech-Wake is a great draw, but it likely outdraws Butler-DePaul or Seton Hall-Providence in most of the world.

Who is the Villanova or UCONN of the Big Ten and PAC Ten?

 

[whalerfan]

Who is the Villanova or UCONN of the Big Ten and PAC Ten?

Ummm Rutgers. Just kidding.

 

[freescooter]

I'll take it step more. The Big East Conference has 20 games on CBS and FOX. Most of any conferences playing on over-the-air.

And they lose in head to head ratings vs Big 10, SEC, ACC nearly every time. Especially on Fox.

 

[freescooter]

Who is the Villanova or UCONN of the Big Ten and PAC Ten?

There isn’t one which is really the whole point. ACC loses Duke it would still have big names in UNC, Virginia, NCState, Syracuse, FSU. The Big 10 loses Ohio State it still has Michigan State, Michigan, Illinois Maryland, Indiana. The Big 12 loses Kansas it still has Texas Tech, Oklahoma, The NEWBIE loses Villanova it has ???. A rebuilding UConn maybe, and nobody who has accomplished anything in the last 20 years…by losing I mean the program goes through a significant drop off as we did in the Ollie era. No other “power” conference has 1 power team. The NEWBIE’s relevance comes from 2 things. 1 Villanova which has been utterly dominant and 2. It’s legacy from when it was a true power league.

 

[Husky25]

Here’s the best part: not a single game is hidden behind a paywall. UConn is watchable coast to coast with FS1 & football on CBSSN.

And in high definition. It was hard to follow the ball sometimes in numerous games on the ESPN family of networks. As if the games were produced in something between SD and true state of the art HD. Sort of an Enhanced Definition, akin to watching HD off a tablet from 2017.

The AAC went with the long term deal to lock up the ESPN audience and exposure - just as much, if not moreso, than dollars.
That’s why the American took less not to go to the open market.
Their deal affects ESPN’s ability and willingness to offer television windows elsewhere (it takes another bidder off the table)
With the subsequent expansion of the CFP it was paramount to lock in that relationship with ESPN for the AAC.

What does the ESPN exposure provide if few can or are willing to tune in?

 

[MU in MKE]

There isn’t one which is really the whole point. ACC loses Duke it would still have big names in UNC, Virginia, NCState, Syracuse, FSU. The Big 10 loses Ohio State it still has Michigan State, Michigan, Illinois Maryland, Indiana. The Big 12 loses Kansas it still has Texas Tech, Oklahoma, The NEWBIE loses Villanova it has ???. A rebuilding UConn maybe, and nobody who has accomplished anything in the last 20 years…by losing I mean the program goes through a significant drop off as we did in the Ollie era. No other “power” conference has 1 power team. The NEWBIE’s relevance comes from 2 things. 1 Villanova which has been utterly dominant and 2. It’s legacy from when it was a true power league.

So... did you just start watching college basketball when the BE split?

We're going to ignore UConn's ridiculous championship streak for a second, and off the top of my head we've got Marquette, Georgetown, and Butler that all went to final fours. Butler actually having gone to the NC twice during that time. I only choose the final four accomplishment since your previous post made it seem like that is your determinant of success.

You think FSU, that has 1 final four (1972), NCState (last one in 1983), Maryland (1 final four ever), Indiana (2002, previous to that 1992), accomplished more during that time based on your own final four criteria? Or, would you like to change your criteria now?

Programs go through ebbs and flows, Georgetown/Marquette are in a down cycle, but their programs are too big not to turn around (really really hoping now that Wojo is gone this is true for MU!). This is the exception that proves your power conference rule. Those two big programs have a down cycle and Nova was there to keep things at the highest level, plus other programs without as much historical success stepped up.

Providence had gone to the tournament every year since the BE split until COVID, Xavier has only missed the tournament 3 times in the last 20 years until COVID put an end to that (including an elite eight run that only ended when they ran into #1 seeded Gonzaga), Kevin Willard turned Seton Hall into an annual contender, UConn was brought back into the fold and I think will soon bring their 'A' game again, Butler that has been to the tournament almost every year since the split, and down the line.

So don't try to use NCState, IL, Indiana, etc as some bastions of success for other conferences yet hasn't done anything since the BE split, but tell me you can't count MU/GU and the rest. The only area this conference has struggled is in second weekend tournament games... and that's only going to last so long because these teams have been damn good year in and year out.

 

[Big East Fa]

And they lose in head to head ratings vs Big 10, SEC, ACC nearly every time. Especially on Fox.

Well, I see you are moving the goal post. As the quote I was doing was all games on TV. Not being stuck on a paywall.

 

[conorg223]

So... did you just start watching college basketball when the BE split?

We're going to ignore UConn's ridiculous championship streak for a second, and off the top of my head we've got Marquette, Georgetown, and Butler that all went to final fours. Butler actually having gone to the NC twice during that time. I only choose the final four accomplishment since your previous post made it seem like that is your determinant of success.

You think FSU, that has 1 final four (1972), NCState (last one in 1983), Maryland (1 final four ever), Indiana (2002, previous to that 1992), accomplished more during that time based on your own final four criteria? Or, would you like to change your criteria now?

Programs go through ebbs and flows, Georgetown/Marquette are in a down cycle, but their programs are too big not to turn around (really really hoping now that Wojo is gone this is true for MU!). This is the exception that proves your power conference rule. Those two big programs have a down cycle and Nova was there to keep things at the highest level, plus other programs without as much historical success stepped up.

Providence had gone to the tournament every year since the BE split until COVID, Xavier has only missed the tournament 3 times in the last 20 years until COVID put an end to that (including an elite eight run that only ended when they ran into #1 seeded Gonzaga), Kevin Willard turned Seton Hall into an annual contender, UConn was brought back into the fold and I think will soon bring their 'A' game again, Butler that has been to the tournament almost every year since the split, and down the line.

So don't try to use NCState, IL, Indiana, etc as some bastions of success for other conferences yet hasn't done anything since the BE split, but tell me you can't count MU/GU and the rest. The only area this conference has struggled is in second weekend tournament games... and that's only going to last so long because these teams have been damn good year in and year out.

It’s posts like these that make it so damn sweet that the AAC is a distant memory. Well done, MU in MKE.

 

[superjohn]

So... did you just start watching college basketball when the BE split?

We're going to ignore UConn's ridiculous championship streak for a second, and off the top of my head we've got Marquette, Georgetown, and Butler that all went to final fours. Butler actually having gone to the NC twice during that time. I only choose the final four accomplishment since your previous post made it seem like that is your determinant of success.

You think FSU, that has 1 final four (1972), NCState (last one in 1983), Maryland (1 final four ever), Indiana (2002, previous to that 1992), accomplished more during that time based on your own final four criteria? Or, would you like to change your criteria now?

Programs go through ebbs and flows, Georgetown/Marquette are in a down cycle, but their programs are too big not to turn around (really really hoping now that Wojo is gone this is true for MU!). This is the exception that proves your power conference rule. Those two big programs have a down cycle and Nova was there to keep things at the highest level, plus other programs without as much historical success stepped up.

Providence had gone to the tournament every year since the BE split until COVID, Xavier has only missed the tournament 3 times in the last 20 years until COVID put an end to that (including an elite eight run that only ended when they ran into #1 seeded Gonzaga), Kevin Willard turned Seton Hall into an annual contender, UConn was brought back into the fold and I think will soon bring their 'A' game again, Butler that has been to the tournament almost every year since the split, and down the line.

So don't try to use NCState, IL, Indiana, etc as some bastions of success for other conferences yet hasn't done anything since the BE split, but tell me you can't count MU/GU and the rest. The only area this conference has struggled is in second weekend tournament games... and that's only going to last so long because these teams have been damn good year in and year out.

Why this freescooter clown chooses to post on a basketball board when he knows absolutely nothing about basketball is a mystery. Why he posts on a UConn basketball board when he doesn't like UConn makes things even more strange.

 

[UCSouth]

Why this freescooter clown chooses to post on a basketball board when he knows absolutely nothing about basketball is a mystery. Why he posts on a UConn basketball board when he doesn't like UConn makes things even more strange.

The sad part is that he is totally different on the football board. He's Jeckyl and Hyde...the switch flips when he comes over here.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Coastal Carolina was ranked 14th in the nation this year. ECU has been irrelevant for almost a decade. Popular amongst who I guess is the real question.

A decade ago Stony Brook was playing and routinely beating Coastal Carolina in the Big South Conference. Have you heard of the Big South Conference?

Exactly...

They elevated to FBS football recently and had a good couple of years... but no way in hell that they have the following that ECU has had traditionally.

With all that said. Why are we even talking about Coastal Carolina when they located in South Carolina, not in North Carolina as originally suggested.

 

[bendm]

@freescooter has clearly made a burner account with bapekidd. ignore.