UConn WBB vs Bama Football?

[oldude]

No, I am not suggesting that UConn WBB & Bama FB play each other. That would not be good. What I am suggesting is that throughout Division 1 college sports today, the only other program that can match the sustained excellence of UConn WBB is Bama FB. When comparing the 2 programs there are more than a few similarities. Both programs are run by legendary coaches in their 60’s, the sons of hard-working, middle-class families. Donato Auriemma worked in a factory in the Philly area. Nick Saban Sr ran a gas station in WV. The often-used expression, they don’t rebuild, they reload, clearly applies to the Huskies & the Tide. Beyond such obvious comparisons, there are striking similarities in the relationship between Program (external) & Process (internal) factors.

PROGRAM

· Exposure – Both teams get more than their share of national exposure via print and television media. The Crimson Tide are on national TV just about every week. While BY’ers would like to see greater exposure for WBB in general, within that sphere, UConn leads the pack. Consider that HBO’s upcoming series March to Madness is unprecedented exposure for UConn WBB.

· Passionate fan base – Last season I attended the Bama-WV football game at the Georgia Dome in early September. The streets of Atlanta were packed with people dressed in Crimson, shouting Roll Tide. Bama fans travel well as do Husky fans. I would venture to guess that in each of the last 9 FF’s UConn fans outnumbered every other team’s fans.

· Recruits – Top prospects want to come to UConn & Bama for a number of reasons. Chief among them is the opportunity to play on a championship team and advance their career to the next level. Both teams typically secure perennial top-3 recruiting classes. Both teams have sent more players to the pros than any other college program. UConn’s 2017 class is currently rated #2 while Bama’s is #1.

PROCESS

· Attention to Detail – The intense focus on every little detail at UConn & Bama is legendary, whether it applies to scouting opponents, practice schedules or obsessive commitment to a player’s physical, mental & technical development.

· Team 1st – No one is more important than the team. You are expected to conduct yourself in a manner befitting UConn WBB and Bama FB both on and off the court/field. No exceptions are tolerated.

· Evaluation of recruits – There are lots of high school seniors that can play, but UConn & Bama go through a painstaking evaluation process attempting to insure the student-athletes they bring in can not only play, but are good citizens and highly motivated kids that will buy into the program. While no team is perfect relative to whom they recruit, the Huskies and Tide get it right far more often than most.

Clearly UConn has 11 national championships and is chasing 12. While Bama claims 16 championships, there is some dispute do to the fact that a number of those championships were based on national polls that were not always in agreement.

One final interesting comparison: if a basketball point guard is basically your QB on the court, then both UConn (Danger) & Bama (Jalen Hurts) could be quarterbacked to a national championship this season by an 18-year-old freshman.

 

[alexrgct]

Ah, but if Colt McCoy hadn't gotten injured in that 2009/10 NC game...

 

[oldude]

Ah, but if Colt McCoy hadn't gotten injured in that 2009/10 NC game...

Yes that's true, but the same might be said if Natalie Achonwa doesn't tear her ACL at the end of ND's elite 8 game against Baylor in 2014, although I believe that UConn would have still beaten ND in a tight game.

 

[iamcbs]

Ah, but if Colt McCoy hadn't gotten injured in that 2009/10 NC game...

If "If" was a Fifth, every day would be Christmas.....

 

[iamcbs]

No, I am not suggesting that UConn WBB & Bama FB play each other. That would not be good. What I am suggesting is that throughout Division 1 college sports today, the only other program that can match the sustained excellence of UConn WBB is Bama FB. When comparing the 2 programs there are more than a few similarities. Both programs are run by legendary coaches in their 60’s, the sons of hard-working, middle-class families. Donato Auriemma worked in a factory in the Philly area. Nick Saban Sr ran a gas station in WV. The often-used expression, they don’t rebuild, they reload, clearly applies to the Huskies & the Tide. Beyond such obvious comparisons, there are striking similarities in the relationship between Program (external) & Process (internal) factors.

PROGRAM

· Exposure – Both teams get more than their share of national exposure via print and television media. The Crimson Tide are on national TV just about every week. While BY’ers would like to see greater exposure for WBB in general, within that sphere, UConn leads the pack. Consider that HBO’s upcoming series March to Madness is unprecedented exposure for UConn WBB.

· Passionate fan base – Last season I attended the Bama-WV football game at the Georgia Dome in early September. The streets of Atlanta were packed with people dressed in Crimson, shouting Roll Tide. Bama fans travel well as do Husky fans. I would venture to guess that in each of the last 9 FF’s UConn fans outnumbered every other team’s fans.

· Recruits – Top prospects want to come to UConn & Bama for a number of reasons. Chief among them is the opportunity to play on a championship team and advance their career to the next level. Both teams typically secure perennial top-3 recruiting classes. Both teams have sent more players to the pros than any other college program. UConn’s 2017 class is currently rated #2 while Bama’s is #1.

PROCESS

· Attention to Detail – The intense focus on every little detail at UConn & Bama is legendary, whether it applies to scouting opponents, practice schedules or obsessive commitment to a player’s physical, mental & technical development.

· Team 1st – No one is more important than the team. You are expected to conduct yourself in a manner befitting UConn WBB and Bama FB both on and off the court/field. No exceptions are tolerated.

· Evaluation of recruits – There are lots of high school seniors that can play, but UConn & Bama go through a painstaking evaluation process attempting to insure the student-athletes they bring in can not only play, but are good citizens and highly motivated kids that will buy into the program. While no team is perfect relative to whom they recruit, the Huskies and Tide get it right far more often than most.

Clearly UConn has 11 national championships and is chasing 12. While Bama claims 16 championships, there is some dispute do to the fact that a number of those championships were based on national polls that were not always in agreement.

One final interesting comparison: if a basketball point guard is basically your QB on the court, then both UConn (Danger) & Bama (Jalen Hurts) could be quarterbacked to a national championship this season by an 18-year-old freshman.

Clearly you don't know as much about Alabama Football as you think you do, they offer the same 5-Stars every other major CFB program offers some they get and some they don't, there is no discriminatory process like there is at Connecticut. Geno didn't recruit Diamond DeShields, not because he didn't believe she could play, but because she didn't fit at Connecticut. Saban has no such filter. Ask Mark Ingram and A'Shawn Robinson, among other notable screw-ups about how Bama players conduct themselves. Bama has won four of the last six Nattys because they recruit well, have a great coach and play a really weak schedule every year. But mostly because they recruit well, their players like tOSU's don't have to sit out Bowl Games to prepare for the NFL, they're already prepared.

 

[oldude]

Clearly you don't know as much about Alabama Football as you think you do, they offer the same 5-Stars every other major CFB program offers some they get and some they don't, there is no discriminatory process like there is at Connecticut. Geno didn't recruit Diamond DeShields, not because he didn't believe she could play, but because she didn't fit at Connecticut. Saban has no such filter. Ask Mark Ingram and A'Shawn Robinson, among other notable screw-ups about how Bama players conduct themselves. Bama has won four of the last six Nattys because they recruit well, have a great coach and play a really weak schedule every year. But mostly because they recruit well, their players like tOSU's don't have to sit out Bowl Games to prepare for the NFL, they're already prepared.

I was half-agreeing with your argument until you made the statement that Bama, "plays a really weak schedule." The SEC has been the toughest football conference in the country over the past 10+ years, and the SEC West is absolutely brutal.

 

[iamcbs]

I was half-agreeing with your argument until you made the statement that Bama, "plays a really weak schedule." The SEC has been the toughest football conference in the country over the past 10+ years, and the SEC West is absolutely brutal.

That myth has been propagated for the last 10 years. Conference strength in CFB is another myth that is usually determined by performances in Bowl Games. Compare the records of LSU, Arkansas, Auburn and Texas A&M over the past 10 years to any other division in any other conference and you'll see the fallacy of the argument. Paul Finebaum and other SEC hacks have convinced the sporting public that the SEC is so dominant. Every P-5 conference has 1 or 2 consistently elite teams and the rest sometimes have a great season or two. Alabama hasn't played a non-conference road game since 2003, when they went to Hawaii and the SEC as a conference has played just 6 non-conference road games since 1972. I'd love to see them come up and play in the "Shoe" on a November evening instead of playing Charleston College or Georgia Southern, as their final NC game.

 

[oldude]

That myth has been propagated for the last 10 years. Conference strength in CFB is another myth that is usually determined by performances in Bowl Games. Compare the records of LSU, Arkansas, Auburn and Texas A&M over the past 10 years to any other division in any other conference and you'll see the fallacy of the argument. Paul Finebaum and other SEC hacks have convinced the sporting public that the SEC is so dominant. Every P-5 conference has 1 or 2 consistently elite teams and the rest sometimes have a great season or two. Alabama hasn't played a non-conference road game since 2003, when they went to Hawaii and the SEC as a conference has played just 6 non-conference road games since 1972. I'd love to see them come up and play in the "Shoe" the on a November evening instead of playing Charleston College or Georgia Southern, as their final NC game.

Obviously I've touched a nerve here. Your points are worthy of consideration. Since this site is focused on UConn WBB, let me present my last points for your consideration and then I intend to focus on the excellence of Huskies BB. ESPN's PI currently rates Bama's SOS at #5. This will obviously go up once they play Washington on New Year's eve and, assuming Bama wins, they will play the winner of OSU-Clemson in the national championship game. Bama has played 5 teams currently ranked in the top 25, including a team that nobody wants to play right now, the USC Trojans. The game vs USC was played on a neutral site (Arlington, TX) and Bama won by a score of 52-6.

 

[j66kicker]

Clearly you don't know as much about Alabama Football as you think you do, they offer the same 5-Stars every other major CFB program offers some they get and some they don't, there is no discriminatory process like there is at Connecticut. Geno didn't recruit Diamond DeShields, not because he didn't believe she could play, but because she didn't fit at Connecticut. Saban has no such filter. Ask Mark Ingram and A'Shawn Robinson, among other notable screw-ups about how Bama players conduct themselves. Bama has won four of the last six Nattys because they recruit well, have a great coach and play a really weak schedule every year. But mostly because they recruit well, their players like tOSU's don't have to sit out Bowl Games to prepare for the NFL, they're already prepared.

Geno heavily recruited Diamond DeShields.

UConn Still In Good Shape Despite Loss of 2013s DeShields, Reimer

 

[iamcbs]

Geno heavily recruited Diamond DeShields.

UConn Still In Good Shape Despite Loss of 2013s DeShields, Reimer

He said in an interview last year with Kerith Burke, which was posted on this site, since I don't SNY, that he didn't recruit her. I don't know, just going by what he said in the interview.

 

[iamcbs]

Obviously I've touched a nerve here. Your points are worthy of consideration. Since this site is focused on UConn WBB, let me present my last points for your consideration and then I intend to focus on the excellence of Huskies BB. ESPN's PI currently rates Bama's SOS at #5. This will obviously go up once they play Washington on New Year's eve and, assuming Bama wins, they will play the winner of OSU-Clemson in the national championship game. Bama has played 5 teams currently ranked in the top 25, including a team that nobody wants to play right now, the USC Trojans. The game vs USC was played on a neutral site (Arlington, TX) and Bama won by a score of 52-6.

You are correct, this is a site dedicated to Connecticut WCBB and thus an improper forum for the conversation. Sorry BY'ers....