UConn's Big East Rival

[superjohn]

Really? PC is higher on the list than DePaul, Creighton, Butler and Marquette for me.

We have a lot more history with PC and they're right down the street but I get more geared up to play Marquette because it's pretty much always going to be a bigger win if we beat them, they're a way better program than PC.

 

[CTBasketball]

St. John's

I really wish Jeff Adrien threw a punch back at that St John kid in 2006, he woulda knocked him out cold.

 

[Guapo]

All of them except Providence.

Providence is not a rival.

 

[Jbirdp5]

We should be so irrelevant.

So you’d rather be Rutgers than UConn right now....... that’s sound logic

 

[Jbirdp5]

Excited to beat up on Marquette, the guys who run their sb nation site have some type of illusion that they are big time big East members with a lot of clout and have done so much for the league. They were balking at accepting us back talking about we don’t bring enough to the league. Had to remind them their big East resume doesn’t hold any weight compared to all we’ve done for the league

 

[Chuck]

why does school size factor into this? Duke v. UNC and Stanford v. Cal are private v public rivalries, as was UConn v. Cuse

I don't think I mentioned size. UConn and Syracuse are, however, pretty similarly sized at the undergrad level.

I don't personally know exactly what drives a true rivalry. Just my opinion. Familiarity over a long period of time is certainly a factor. We have that with a few of the New Big East (NBE) schools. Distance helps. In your examples, Duke and UNC are 20 miles away, Cal and Stanford are 46 miles apart. I'd add UCLA / USC to your examples. UConn has Providence within 60 miles. Applicants in common? I don't know. Your examples had geography and history. We can certainly build (or reengage) a rival over time, but I don't see anything that makes a natural rival.

I'll be at every UConn at Seton Hall game and a percentage of SJU games, so I'll be working to develop those as rivalries!

 

[UConnJim]

It's St. John's. We get to play them at MSG every year and bring more fans.

 

[UconnU]

With Hurley at the helm it has to be providence. Their fan base hates him.

 

[bendm]

I don't think I mentioned size.

thought size was implied since you made the blanket statement that we are too different from all the other schools and size is the biggest difference i can think of, even though i think it's irrelevant

FWIW syracuse is just as far from storrs as nova is

 

[ctchamps]

The AAC would have been respected if UConn and Memphis lived up to their historical norms. The bottom of the AAC did not drag the conference down as much as our subpar play.

Rivalries need relevance. In the OBE our rivalries changed because we stayed relevant as most teams went through phases. The one exception was Syracuse which is why we love dumping on them more than any other team we have been conference affiliated with since the Yankee Conference. For example early in JC's UConn career we had a strong rivalry with BCU. They were geographically close, they had good teams and JC was a Boston guy. After going on that large win streak (20 straight wins against them?) they were unimportant to us and the rivalry shifted to Pitt, Nova, and Syracuse.

The women's team didn't need rivalries to be nationally respected. The BE developed into a modicum of respect because UConn women carried the conference on their back and brought up some teams. This really didn't happen for them in the AAC. It didn't matter. UConn women had a large bullseye on their back because everyone they played against circled that game against UConn on their calendar. They were the de facto rivals of everyone.

UCLA and USC football used to be a huge nationally perceived rivalry. It still is locally but UCLA has been in the dumps a long time and USC has been as well recently. The rivalry between Michigan and OSU has lost a lot of luster with the dominance of OSU. This is similar to what happened between us and BCU although Michigan never became as irrelevant. If those football teams played each other twice or three times every year the interest would have decreased even more precipitously.

I was less interested in which conference we played in based on rivalries. Fans should be excited to watch their team no matter which team we play against. For me it's fun to watch development of teams and players. IMO there is much too much emphasis on the goal (winning a NC) at the detriment of being engaged with the team and players over the course of the season. It's a natural extension of rooting for a successful program that has won it all many times, but it's an anchor against enjoying things as they play out.

I have mixed emotions about going back to the BE. From a monetary standpoint it makes sense at this point in time. That's not a guarantee in the future. From a travel standpoint it's a significant improvement for most UConn sports sans football which is an unknown. That means fans can get to more venues increasing the noise potential at arenas as long as teams stay relevant. And relevancy is the key. The women's team draws large crowds in away games even when they are playing subpar teams. BCU struggled with attendance even though they are in the sexiest bb conference. Recruiting already has gotten a bump, but unless UConn does well that will rapidly change. Look at Georgetown. My biggest reservation is joining a league with small student enrollments. It will be harder for smaller universities to fund their ADs over time.

For now I'm happy. But outside of the couple of recruits who came our way because of the BE bump the major happiness is the development of the team.

 

[Fishy]

It won’t be any one school.

The old Big East schools will have more heat than the midwestern appendages.

 

[HooperScooper]

So you’d rather be Rutgers than UConn right now....... that’s sound logic

Seriously. What exactly has Rutgers done with all that B10 money? They still suck in almost every sport. And they lose to every B10 team.

How does Rutgers being in the B10 benefit the average fan? Unless you just like watching your teams lose to national brand teams. But it's still losing.

BTW, all this is intended to respond to freescooter.

 

[Kenny11]

The team of whichever coach Hurley starts beef with

 

[Devland]

I hope everybody hates us. Like Duke, Kentucky, Patriots......…..

 

[Palatine]

Who do you believe that will be UConn's new Big East Conference rivals in basketball ? I'm guessing Xavier and Villanova.

Butler, YUCK
Creighton, YUCK
DePaul, YUCK
Georgetown, YUCK
Marquette, YUCK
St. John's, YUCK
Seton Hall, YUCK
Villanova, POSSIBLY, ONLY NATIONALLY RELEVANT TEAM ON THE LIST
Xavier, YUCK
Providence College, DOUBLE YUCK.

 

[Robertelamin]

Butler, YUCK
Creighton, YUCK
DePaul, YUCK
Georgetown, YUCK
Marquette, YUCK
St. John's, YUCK
Seton Hall, YUCK
Villanova, POSSIBLY, ONLY NATIONALLY RELEVANT TEAM ON THE LIST
Xavier, YUCK
Providence College, DOUBLE YUCK.

No one is stopping you from watching ECU USF basketball games

 

[ClifSpliffy]

coming up on a century of pc hoops, I vote them. good times or bad, being at a uconn-pc game always feels like a fight is gonna break out at any moment in the stands. cold, drunk people? priceless!

 

[Jbirdp5]

Butler, YUCK
Creighton, YUCK
DePaul, YUCK
Georgetown, YUCK
Marquette, YUCK
St. John's, YUCK
Seton Hall, YUCK
Villanova, POSSIBLY, ONLY NATIONALLY RELEVANT TEAM ON THE LIST
Xavier, YUCK
Providence College, DOUBLE YUCK.

You invest so much time into being overly negative in your posts about the big East move you can’t be taken seriously

 

[Fishy]

No one is stopping you from watching ECU USF basketball games

The fact that it won’t be televised will stop him.

 

[XLCenterFan]

I'm hoping Providence becomes a bigger rival. They have had some really good teams since we left the BE.

Also, as someone who lives near Hartford, it's the closest drive for me for an away game and it's a city I do not mind getting a hotel room in - great restaurants in the Federal Hill area. Lots of Providence and UCONN grads amongst the people I grew up with. Many kids from Wethersfield went to school in Providence, including my wife.

 

[freescooter]

i cant name a single player on any of those teams off the top of my head other than buddy boeheim

As they play on actual networks and get paid actual money while the ZBE plays on the fishing and hunting network for peanuts.

 

[bendm]

As they play on actual networks and get paid actual money while the ZBE plays on the fishing and hunting network for peanuts.

ok scrooge. money cant buy chips.

 

[I Bleed Blue]

Nova. I have a lot of respect for Jay Wright.

 

[Griffman]

We need to kick arse so everyone hates us and then we will have plenty of rivals.

 

[TRest]

URI is PC’s rival, I don’t make the rules.