What does the Big East hold for UConn, their constituents and revenue and prestige | The Boneyard

What does the Big East hold for UConn, their constituents and revenue and prestige

DefenseBB

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While I, like many others, applaud UConn going back to the BE for competitive purposes, I also have an eye on a few other items:
1. Attendance-will the average game attendance increase substantially enough in games not involving UConn? The Northeast has been a pretty good supporter of WCBB but schools need to build a local presence and support-think Dawn, Vic, Jose even and how to get fans into your venue.
2. Resources by the other schools into WCBB-as this is primarily a basketball conference, it should be obvious for the schools to focus resources and support into their programs. There are some synergies with the MCBB that could be realized but the league itself, should do an audit/best practices to ensure all the schools are trying to maximize their efforts
3. Success on the court to get better players and better results nationally-this effort was an abject failure in the American and I would argue that the AAC has regressed since when it was launched. The BE needs to get better scheduling for all its teams and to promote the "National appeal" that the MCBB Big East has.
4. Retention of coaches with better pay for the HC and the staffs-the Men's Big East is having success due to many of the coaches being paid commensurate with the P5. The WCBB needs to do the same. While we at UConn have been unprecedented in having Geno/CD for 35 years, Doug Bruno at DePaul is also long-tenured however while Harry Perretta had a long career at Villanova, I am not sure he held elite esteem or was compensated to the best. That needs to change with their next hire. Similarly, Marquette needs to decide that they should be a coaching destination, not a stop-over. Meg Duffy might well be worth their while to invest in her to build a marquee brand and not lose her to a P5 in a few years. This coaching stability (pay/results) as much as anything will propel the league to match the P5. If we go back 7 years to the OBE, with Geno, MM, Jeff, Doug, Jose, CVS-they were all paid well, had regular success and that made the league a destination. I understand it is hard for the school to find it's iconic coach but find it they must to truly build and be successful.
If the BE teams can use the building blocks I mentioned above, with the current strength already existing at some of these schools, the Big East can close the gap even more with a few of the P5 schools-Big12 is ripe for passing as is the ACC. It will take some time but it could happen.
What say you WCBB fanatics?
 

UcMiami

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Nice summary of what needs to happen. I think the coaching aspect is critical. Quality coaching and continuity can attract quality players to a cow patch. Add in quality sports administration/school administration and it can be sustained through retirements.
 
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I would like to see scheduling of games around weekends (e.g. Fri/Sun or Sat/Mon in the same way the PAC-12 does it. That way everybody - athletes, staff and fans develop a pattern that could increase attendance and TV viewing and streamline athletes schedules for practice and studies creating a smooth flowing season.
 

Plebe

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I would like to see scheduling of games around weekends (e.g. Fri/Sun or Sat/Mon in the same way the PAC-12 does it. That way everybody - athletes, staff and fans develop a pattern that could increase attendance and TV viewing and streamline athletes schedules for practice and studies creating a smooth flowing season.
The BE already uses a Friday-Sunday schedule.
 
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Smart. But you might be talking to the converts. I see Uconn, Depaul and one or two others. The rest will stay where they have been for some time. Let us take St. Johns. With NYC as their backyard why are they not at the top (an urban at that). Georgetown? Why haven't they modeled themselves off the likes of ND and Stanford? Even Princeton could teach them how to ...

If Uconn returning to the BE cannot teach them about this and that (and fill the empty seats, help them recruit, etc.), I doubt anybody can teach them anything. But this is a move that Uconn had to make for all the important reasons. What I like about them is that they are probably (?) not lying about their anti-cheating policy.
 
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While I, like many others, applaud UConn going back to the BE for competitive purposes, I also have an eye on a few other items:
1. Attendance-will the average game attendance increase substantially enough in games not involving UConn? The Northeast has been a pretty good supporter of WCBB but schools need to build a local presence and support-think Dawn, Vic, Jose even and how to get fans into your venue.
2. Resources by the other schools into WCBB-as this is primarily a basketball conference, it should be obvious for the schools to focus resources and support into their programs. There are some synergies with the MCBB that could be realized but the league itself, should do an audit/best practices to ensure all the schools are trying to maximize their efforts
3. Success on the court to get better players and better results nationally-this effort was an abject failure in the American and I would argue that the AAC has regressed since when it was launched. The BE needs to get better scheduling for all its teams and to promote the "National appeal" that the MCBB Big East has.
4. Retention of coaches with better pay for the HC and the staffs-the Men's Big East is having success due to many of the coaches being paid commensurate with the P5. The WCBB needs to do the same. While we at UConn have been unprecedented in having Geno/CD for 35 years, Doug Bruno at DePaul is also long-tenured however while Harry Perretta had a long career at Villanova, I am not sure he held elite esteem or was compensated to the best. That needs to change with their next hire. Similarly, Marquette needs to decide that they should be a coaching destination, not a stop-over. Meg Duffy might well be worth their while to invest in her to build a marquee brand and not lose her to a P5 in a few years. This coaching stability (pay/results) as much as anything will propel the league to match the P5. If we go back 7 years to the OBE, with Geno, MM, Jeff, Doug, Jose, CVS-they were all paid well, had regular success and that made the league a destination. I understand it is hard for the school to find it's iconic coach but find it they must to truly build and be successful.
If the BE teams can use the building blocks I mentioned above, with the current strength already existing at some of these schools, the Big East can close the gap even more with a few of the P5 schools-Big12 is ripe for passing as is the ACC. It will take some time but it could happen.
What say you WCBB fanatics?
I believe your number 1 criteria is key, if you can get fan support WBB will flourish. Big time recruits and coaches need to play to big crowds, they need to know the school and fans they play for are interested and support the goals of the team. Without accomplishing number 1 criteria there will never be enough revenue to support facility and coaches needs. I believe the BE attendance will be enhanced by UConn participation but unless the other teams raise their level of play the UConn effect will not be enough. Bottom line for me is if the conference as a whole is to get much better the schools must support one another, I think the SEC does have cooperation among the teams, sometimes the fans cheer SEC SEC if an SEC team is playing outside the league.
 

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Big East attendance is abysmal. It is worse than the AAC. Last year, BE had 1 team with greater that 2,000 per game (St.John's 2758) and only 3 other schools greater than 1,000 (DePaul-1917, Marquette 1884, Creighton 1089) where as the AAC had 3 schools besides UConn >2,000 and 5 more schools >1,000.

2018-19 BE was 1,167 while AAC was 2,068.

In looking at the numbers of theses AAC schools before UConn, they weren't that good either. I would attribute much of the improvement to UConn. In some cases, coaching changes helped a lot-think UCF who was 460 per game in 2012-13 but was 2,600+ last year.

While you mention the SEC, for the most does very well as you have 3 main outliers of superb attendance-SC, MSU and Tenn all with >8,000 but you also have some (3 < 2,000) "challenging schools" too.

For the record- @Jmsdawg is correct that the SEC leads the way in average attendance at 4,267 per game last year, ahead of the BigTen 4,099 and Big12 3,993. PAC12 was 3,132 and the lowly ACC had 3,077!

Where's @triaddukefan now? Seriously, what's up with that low attendance figure? Thank goodness you now have ND and Louisville to boost your numbers...:rolleyes:
 
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For sure the BE will see a boost in attendances, at least when Circus comes to town. In general I believe the BE has a great start due in part of their Non-Conference SOS. As the chart below shows, surprisingly the BE non-conference SOS is ranked first (93 avg, averaged all teams in each conference non-conference SOS to get these results WarrenNolan.com) among these seven conferences. As an additional exercise added UConn's data to the BE (2nd chart) and take away UConn's data from the AAC, just for reference.

What I was surprised about, the PAC-12 had the lowest non-conference SOS of the seven.

1584118595879.png
 
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triaddukefan

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Big East attendance is abysmal. It is worse than the AAC. Last year, BE had 1 team with greater that 2,000 per gam

Where's @triaddukefan now? Seriously, what's up with that low attendance figure? Thank goodness you now have ND and Louisville to boost your numbers...:rolleyes:

One thing with the ACC is you have a bunch of private schools... as well as schools in major metropolitan areas that are more interested in Pro sports than college. BC, Wake, Duke, ND, Miami, Syracuse are all private. The Pac 12 has one private school... the Big 10 has one private... the SEC has one private... the Big 12 has one private. ACC Schools in pro towns.... Pitt, Miami, BC, and GaTech. Even our public schools are smaller on average than the public schools of the other conferences.
 

Plebe

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The emphasis has to be on coaching, recruiting and infrastructure (facilities etc.). The attendance isn't really the needle-mover here; fan interest and loyalty is generally a response to on-court success.

Investment in facilities should support both recruiting and fan experience. Georgetown and Seton Hall, just for two examples, need to evaluate whether playing in high-school caliber gyms is conducive to building a nationally competitive WBB program.

It's really striking to note the disparity between MBB and WBB in both the AAC and the Big East. The men's BE is right up there with any "power" conference. The men's AAC isn't quite on that level, but is light years ahead of the women's AAC. You gotta think there's some synergy that remains untapped there.

This will be a huge hire for Nova. Harry had some good seasons but those are well in the past. Need to find a coach who can take advantage of the built-in spotlight provided by Jay Wright's success.
 
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triaddukefan

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The emphasis has to be on coaching, recruiting and infrastructure (facilities etc.). The attendance isn't really the needle-mover here; fan interest and loyalty is generally a response to on-court success.

Investment in facilities should support both recruiting and fan experience. Georgetown and Seton Hall, just for two examples, need to evaluate whether playing in high-school caliber gyms is conducive to building a nationally competitive WBB program.

It's really striking to note the disparity between MBB and WBB in both the AAC and the Big East. The men's BE is right up there with any "power" conference. The men's AAC isn't quite on that level, but is light years ahead of the women's ACC. You gotta think there's some synergy that remains untapped there.

This will be a huge hire for Nova. Harry had some good seasons but those are well passed. Need to find a coach who can take advantage of the built-in spotlight provided by Jay Wright's success.


:confused:
 

DefenseBB

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One thing with the ACC is you have a bunch of private schools... as well as schools in major metropolitan areas that are more interested in Pro sports than college. BC, Wake, Duke, ND, Miami, Syracuse are all private. The Pac 12 has one private school... the Big 10 has one private... the SEC has one private... the Big 12 has one private. ACC Schools in pro towns.... Pitt, Miami, BC, and GaTech. Even our public schools are smaller on average than the public schools of the other conferences.
Umm, not buying it. If we look at the attendance of the ACC Men's programs, is that argument going to hold? NYC is by far the biggest sports town over these schools and St. John's (2,758) out draws all of them. Last I checked, the Red Storm haven't been great but mediocre. Chicago is also more of a sports town than the 4 you mention yet DePaul (out draws 1,917) them as well-albeit a better product than what any of those 4 offer but still the point is just because you are a Pro sports town doesn't mean you can't draw fans. So, here's the 2018-19 attendance and I added the US News and World Report total Enrollment figures. Duke has a very large Graduate program so I put the Undergrads next to it. I admire your spunk to stick up for you sister schools but given what the ACC men's draw, I don't see the same effort by the schools for the women.

RkSchoolConf'18-19Tot EnrUnder
3
LouisvilleACC 9,531 21,431
5
Notre DameACC 8,434 12,607
28
NC StateACC 3,209 35,479
33
VirginiaACC 3,334 24,639
36
DukeACC 3,883 16,606 6,682
42
Florida St.ACC 2,982 41,005
54
SyracuseACC 2,444 22,803
55
North CarolinaACC 2,772 30,011
82
Virginia TechACC 1,608 34,850
85
Miami (FL)ACC 1,410 17,331
98
PittsburghACC 1,486 28,673
105
Boston CollegeACC 1,308 14,107
110
Georgia TechACC 1,495 32,723
113
Wake ForestACC 1,211 8,401 5,225
118
ClemsonACC 1,153 24,951
 
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What will be the effect of tv coverage. I know all games will be covered by SNY, but it was easier to get access by ESPN3. How easy will it be for Foxsports?
 

DefenseBB

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What will be the effect of tv coverage. I know all games will be covered by SNY, but it was easier to get access by ESPN3. How easy will it be for Foxsports?
My understanding is FOX is regional so if you live outside of the Connecticut area, if the Husky's are not playing a team in your area, I think you are out of luck.
 
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My understanding is FOX is regional so if you live outside of the Connecticut area, if the Husky's are not playing a team in your area, I think you are out of luck.
There are still ways to view SNY out of market. ESPN 3 was just easier.
 
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Aren’t a lot of Big East games streamed on YouTube?

Xavier has a few ladies from Pittsburgh, so I tried to watch them when possible, and it seemed like most of their games were on YouTube. Is that only because not many were on Fox?

Regardless, it was a rough first year for their coach, but I think she has potential to turn it around.
 
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I wouldn't be surprised if SNY somehow gets put into the FoxSports Go app or Fox Sports Go adds SNY's live stream to the app. Stay tuned, details to follow.
 

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This will be a huge hire for Nova. Harry had some good seasons but those are well in the past. Need to find a coach who can take advantage of the built-in spotlight provided by Jay Wright's success.
Totally agree. I'd like to see them get a young up and coming coach - probably from a mid-major - who can run an up-tempo motion-offense sort of game. While I thought Harry was terrific, his glory days were well back in the rear view mirror, and don't think his style of coaching was ever going to make his team relevant again.

Having said that, what exactly is the difference between Bruno's style and Harry's style? DePaul has managed to stay relevant for years, usually percolating in the top 25, often as high as 15 or so. Why was Harry unable to do that?
 
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Totally agree. I'd like to see them get a young up and coming coach - probably from a mid-major - who can run an up-tempo motion-offense sort of game. While I thought Harry was terrific, his glory days were well back in the rear view mirror, and don't think his style of coaching was ever going to make his team relevant again.

Having said that, what exactly is the difference between Bruno's style and Harry's style? DePaul has managed to stay relevant for years, usually percolating in the top 25, often as high as 15 or so. Why was Harry unable to do that?

Gotta admit, have not seen much of Villanova since the break up of the Big East and the formation of the AAC. If I recall Harry's and Doug's style are complete opposites. Harry's style, run the clock down for shot while Bruno's style, take the shot as soon as available.
 

EricLA

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Gotta admit, have not seen much of Villanova since the break up of the Big East and the formation of the AAC. If I recall Harry's and Doug's style are complete opposites. Harry's style, run the clock down for shot while Bruno's style, take the shot as soon as available.
That makes sense. I was thinking about the reliance on the 3 point shot, but yeah, I think you are corrrect Harry wanted to limit possessions and keep the score low while Doug is the opposite.
 

KnightBridgeAZ

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That makes sense. I was thinking about the reliance on the 3 point shot, but yeah, I think you are corrrect Harry wanted to limit possessions and keep the score low while Doug is the opposite.
The few games I have seen, it looks like Harry had become more flexible. Reliance on the 3 point shot was basic.

The biggest difference between DePaul and Villanova I always thought was that DePaul got a higher level of talent. When Harry had his best run, the Tennessee thing and everything, he had a couple of "superior" players, not of course stars on that national level, but really talented players. DePaul always has some decent talent, again, not usually "national" stars, but quite good indeed.
 
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The emphasis has to be on coaching, recruiting and infrastructure (facilities etc.). The attendance isn't really the needle-mover here; fan interest and loyalty is generally a response to on-court success.

Investment in facilities should support both recruiting and fan experience. Georgetown and Seton Hall, just for two examples, need to evaluate whether playing in high-school caliber gyms is conducive to building a nationally competitive WBB program.

Hey I love Walsh Gymnasium!!!!............where else can you see WBB up close and personal from the worst seat in the house..........seriously I know what you're saying but I'm really looking forward to seeing UConn from the upper balcony in the coming years (unless they move the game to the Prudential Center like the men's team)
 

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