When the history of Big East Basketball is written....

[Huskies4ever]

i said in my first post i have no problem with uconn #1, theyve accomplished the most. my issue is the complete lack of respect you give cuse. some of you listed gtown #2 or nova being in the mix, thats comical. we have the most big east wins, highest winning %, and are currently on the best run of any big east team ever. and whether you like it or not, syracuse is the face of the big east. boeheim, the dome, the rivalries, big monday, espn.....its always been syracuse from day 1

We didn't give Cuse a lack of respect. They've been the most consistent program throughout the history of the Big East. But not the best. I know Cuse and Gtown have a great rivalry, but Gtown's best years were the '80's, and trump what Cuse accomplished in that decade. Cuse has longevity and consistency on their side. But not what UConn has done.
You came here bashing UConn.........

 

[babysheep]

UConn:New York Giants::Cuse: Diet Dallas Cowboys

Giants owe Cowboys no respect either

 

[BlueMAB]

If you want to talk about easy, look at the 2004 UConn team. They had a cakewalk through the tourney.

That's not fair. That 2004 team was loaded. They would have had a cakewalk through just about any tourney.

 

[Waquoit]

One thing Cuse has over UConn is that their coach was a guest star in Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.

 

[Rico444]

UConn:New York Giants::Cuse: Diet Dallas Cowboys

Giants owe Cowboys no respect either

...Syracuse has more national championships than us now?

 

[selles]

It's really not surprising they're getting antsy, though. We were the same way when our mid-90s regular season dominance didn't translate into the tournament. That 49-5 run was ridiculous, but made for some pretty painful Marches. At this point you know Syracuse is just dreading the start of the NCAAs.

I think this is the post of the thread. I remember how depressed I was after the Mississippi State loss in 1996. Those three great regular seasons meant nothing - in fact they made the pain worse.

With 1 random exception, Cuse has had 3 decades of that. Poor b*stards. We got our first title 3 years after that 1996 devastation, and commenced our run of national titles. Cuse has never had that sustained success. With their growth in the 80's, they built the bridge to nowhere. I can see why they would want to try to mix things up by jumping to another conference.

 

[Inyatkin]

I think this is the post of the thread. I remember how depressed I was after the Mississippi State loss in 1996. Those three great regular seasons meant nothing - in fact they made the pain worse.

With 1 random exception, Cuse has had 3 decades of that. Poor b*s s. We got our first title 3 years after that 1996 devastation, and commenced our run of national titles. Cuse has never had that sustained success. With their growth in the 80's, they built the bridge to nowhere. I can see why they would want to try to mix things up by jumping to another conference.

Mississippi State is, to me, hands down the worst loss of the Calhoun era, worse than '06 or anything else. We had no Final Fours to fall back on then. We all knew Ray and most of the rest of that team was gone. It really looked like our window might have closed without reaching the pinnacle.
But, you know, then we started winning national titles.

 

[selles]

Mississippi State is, to me, hands down the worst loss of the Calhoun era, worse than '06 or anything else. We had no Final Fours to fall back on then. We all knew Ray and most of the rest of that team was gone. It really looked like our window might have closed without reaching the pinnacle.
But, you know, then we started winning national titles.

Yep, I punched through a door that night. Sure, it was a flimsy door, but that's the only time I've ever done that.

It was a far more depressing loss than anything before or since. But at least it wasn't to Vermont or Richmond.

 

[upstater]

That's not fair. That 2004 team was loaded. They would have had a cakewalk through just about any tourney.

They had a cakewalk regardless. Look at the seeding. I mean, Alabama?

 

[upstater]

By the way, people tend to forget this about the 2011 team, but there were over 40 million tournament brackets set up on ESPN, and UConn was the 4th most picked team to win the championship, so even though UConn finished 9th in the BE tht year, people forget the fact they went undefeated against 10 ranked teams OOC (tough competition) and that after they won the BE tourney, they were ranked 8th in the country going into the tourney.

Ranked #8, 4th more popular pick to win the tourney.

They were not the outlier many are suggesting. The emphasis on 9th place in the BE totally discounts a dominating performance that year against non-BE teams. Indeed, they played more OOC games than BE games, and they didn't lose a single one.

 

[Gurleyman]

Yep, I punched through a door that night. Sure, it was a flimsy door, but that's the only time I've ever done that.

It was a far more depressing loss than anything before or since. But at least it wasn't to Vermont or Richmond.

We missed Ricky. We survived without him against Eastern Michigan, who wanted to run with us anyway. Against a slowdown, grinding team, we couldn't force tempo without our bench sparkplug, and we couldn't get good defensive match-ups.

MSU also beat Kentucky's best team under Pitino in the SEC title game, so they weren't going to be intimidated.

 

[selles]

We missed Ricky. We survived without him against Eastern Michigan, who wanted to run with us anyway. Against a slowdown, grinding team, we couldn't force tempo without our bench sparkplug, and we couldn't get good defensive match-ups.

MSU also beat Kentucky's best team under Pitino in the SEC title game, so they weren't going to be intimidated.

I'm perfectly ok with that now. But at the time...man. As good as they were, if Rudy J could have hit a jumper...and then running that weak weave late in the game...that was tough. Especially off the 2 prior years. There really wasn't any certainty that we'd get back to that level of team.

But we did. And we won 3 championships, so it's all good.

 

[Gurleyman]

I'm perfectly ok with that now. But at the time...man. As good as they were, if Rudy J could have hit a jumper...and then running that weak weave late in the game...that was tough. Especially off the 2 prior years. There really wasn't any certainty that we'd get back to that level of team.

But we did. And we won 3 championships, so it's all good.

You're definitely right. I slammed my couch cushions around the living room. Broke something I'm sure. At the time, having never been to the Final Four, that one felt devastating.

 

[mauconnfan]

You're definitely right. I slammed my couch cushions around the living room. Broke something I'm sure. At the time, having never been to the Final Four, that one felt devastating.

Same here........Ricky or a healthy Sheffer (hamstring I believe) and we win, Ray had an awful night and their guards Wilson and ? had career nights. One of them wouldn't have if Ricky was in the lineup.........

 

[Waquoit]

We missed Ricky.

I always hated that excuse. One of the best backcourts in Big East history and we lost because a freshman couldn't play? Please.

 

[Waquoit]

They had a cakewalk regardless. Look at the seeding. I mean, Alabama?

That Duke game was a cakewalk? If you really think that, I doubt you were watching real time.

 

[upstater]

That Duke game was a cakewalk? If you really think that, I doubt you were watching real time.

One tough game against a top seed. You usually expect more than that, no? Look, the 2011 team faced much stiffer competition. SD St, Arizona, Kentucky and Butler were all better than the teams before the F4. One could argue that G. Tech was no better than all those teams except SD St.

 

[ddminct]

They had a cakewalk regardless. Look at the seeding. I mean, Alabama?

Just imagine how easy of a cake walk they would have had if Alabama lost in the Sweet 16

 

[babysheep]

...Syracuse has more national championships than us now?

I know you're kidding, but obviously I'm talking about how they are hyped every regular season and do nothing lately while we actually perform in the post season. Cowboys have nothing to cling to in this millenium either, and all Cuse has is one NC. Also notice that I made the analogy with the DIET Dallas Cowboys because, yeah, there was a time where the Cowboys were actually elite.

Maybe the Colts would be a more accurate analogy

 

[Waquoit]

One tough game against a top seed. You usually expect more than that, no?

A cakewalk means no tough games to me. Especially not a game where you were down 8 with less than 3 minutes left to the #1 seed.

 

[babysheep]

UConn was the 4th most picked team to win the championship

Not sure about that. I did the free one on ESPN, and only got UConn right for the FF, and after we won I was in like the 98th percentile re: points earned from correct picks. My bracket was an absolute mess without UConn winning it all.

 

[mauconnfan]

I always hated that excuse. One of the best backcourts in Big East history and we lost because a freshman couldn't play? Please.

Not excuses Waq they are true....the Ricky excuse I accept less because he wasn't there but Doron on one leg hurt......

 

[upstater]

A cakewalk means no tough games to me. Especially not a game where you were down 9 with a little over 4 minutes left to that #1 seed.

It's a 6 game tourney. And, no, a cakewalk means more than no tough games. You can have a tough game against Albany. That doesn't mean that getting Albany as an opponent ends the cakewalk. Or you could annihilate a #1 seed in the championship game, but the fact you killed a #1 team doesn't make it a cakewalk. A cakewalk is simply not having to face the stiffest competition. UConn faced Duk, true, but no other resistance. Compare that to 2011 when one could easily argue that Arizona, Butler and Kentucky were the best teams in the tourney other than UConn.

In 2004, Stanford, Syracuse and Maryland were eliminated in UConn's bracket, so they took on 8 seed Alabama in the F8.
Meanwhile, Kansas and Kentucky were taken out by Georgia Tech, a 3 seed. Good team, but hardly top caliber.
Duke was legit (and were it not for Emeka playing only 2 minutes in the first half, UConn would have beaten them by at least 10).

If UConn had to face one of Stanford, Cuse or Maryland in the F8, and then Kentucky in the final, that would have been as brutal a path as it took in 1999.

 

[upstater]

Not sure about that. I did the free one on ESPN, and only got UConn right for the FF, and after we won I was in like the 98th percentile re: points earned from correct picks. My bracket was an absolute mess without UConn winning it all.

I am positive about it. ESPN reported it.
Not sure you can glean any information from being in the 98th percentile since there are so many variables involved, such as all the other picks from all the other games, or not knowing how much weight the 4th most popular pick had (i.e. the #1 pick could be a favorite of 50%, #2 a favorite of 25%, #3 a favorite of 15%, #4 a favorite of 10%, etc.)

 

[upstater]

Just imagine how easy of a cake walk they would have had if Alabama lost in the Sweet 16

touche!