Where is our commissioner?

[freescooter]

Saying "St. John's was not a good team" just ignores the objective awfulness of the teams that got in ahead of them. Pay attention to the rest of college basketball if you're going to throw your opinion out there.

I told you why they were not a good team. If they were in the ACC with a comparable resume, you wouldn’t bat an eye. Their supposedly great 6 game win streak had 1 huge upset, 2 games with Georgetown and 1 with DePaul. They could have won those 3 playing 4 guys and an Orange cone. And they beat Seton Hall in the tournament. So it wasn’t exactly beating a lineup of powerhouses. As I said, before that the LOST 8 out of 10 and DePaul was one of the 2 wins. You can’t just look at the last 6 games and ignore everything before that. Plus they lost to a dreadful Michigan and to a pretty bad BC. Lastly, there are always going to be a couple of “legacy admissions.” There are in every tournament. St John’s has not been relevant for 30 years. They aren’t getting one of those.

 

[freescooter]

BE women's basketball is not good with only 2 top 25 teams and no other schools receiving votes. Schools need to step up and invest in women's basketball.

Yeah, sure. I’m sure it’s on the list.

 

[Inyatkin]

It's totally okay to be mad.

Where I think it crosses into comedy is the conspiracy-theory driven stuff that fuels this "EVERYBODY HATES US" mentality typically indicative of a middle school mentality.

They did a bad job. We agree. The seedings were all over the place. St. John's or Seton Hall or both should be in. But...there were other rational reasons for that we might disagree with than a conspiracy.

No argument there.
The one place I do drift into conspiracy land is when the SEC and Big 10 get every break, and the Big East end up on the wrong end of every 50-50 call. There's arguments on all bubble teams, but our conference got shut out.
It sure feels like a football thing.

 

[uconnric]

Val = Tranghese

Tranghese wasn't a bad commissioner. When Marinatto got the job, the raid was on.

 

[John]

Tranghese wasn't a bad commissioner. When Marinatto got the job, the raid was on.

Tranghese was better than Marinatto, but he was definitely asleep at the switch with the first ACC raid. That being said, he assembled a great football/basketball hybrid conference.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Wait until all 3 BE teams are in the FF!

 

[nomar]

100% agree. Our return to the conference that helped establish our legacy has this romanticizing factor. But we need to take a 10,000 foot view here. Big East is not about growth. It’s about trying to relive and recreate the past. The past is dead. It will never be the same 90’s battles. AND the Big East commish and officials are scared of the NCAA. The Big East has no leverage.

If we want to grow, get the best media deals (to help with NIL), and be part of the leagues that will have leverage w the NCAA, it’s time to move on.

Great. Let's join the Big Ten! I wonder if UConn has tried before. Or whether there's a 89,575-page long threat about it on the conference realignment board.

 

[nomar]

Saying "St. John's was not a good team" just ignores the objective awfulness of the teams that got in ahead of them. Pay attention to the rest of college basketball if you're going to throw your opinion out there.

You're responding as if he cares about facts and had any intent other than to neg our conference.

 

[UConnJim]

You all realize that the representative from any conference has to leave the room when we discuss that conference’s team, right?

Not true. Only if the representative is a conference commissioner. A rep has to leave the room when their own school is discussed.

 

[nomar]

Virginia averages like 63 points per game and St. John's averages 79. Absolutely no one wants to see Virginia in this tournament and they're awful.

I wouldn't mind seeing UVa in the tournament -- against us.

 

[August_West]

I wouldn't mind seeing UVa in the tournament -- against us.

I read that post in the voice of Triumph the insult Comic dog.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

Schools like UConn operate billion dollar budgets. Seton Hall getting an additional $2M for the league divided up against 11 teams is the repair for a new bathroom in a dorm. Totally immaterial to anything on a prez radar.

The fact that @freescooter liked your post should tell you wrong you are

 

[king conn]

You all realize that the representative from any conference has to leave the room when we discuss that conference’s team, right?

You sure about that?

I understood it to be, if the league rep represented the school which was being discussed. In this case he would only have to leave when discussing Butler.
I could be wrong though

 

[businesslawyer]

Not true. Only if the representative is a conference commissioner. A rep has to leave the room when their own school is discussed.

Actually, without looking it up I think you may be right. My mistake (I now think).

 

[FearThePups]

If 3 BigEast teams made the FF they would absolutely revisit this. Not in a specific team way, but as a story about the league and how they only got 3 teams and all 3 are here.

Was thinking the same thing. Let’s see how far the 2 big East teams go then we can revisit this argument.

 

[uconnfan68]

You sure about that?

I understood it to be, if the league rep represented the school which was being discussed. In this case he would only have to leave when discussing Butler.
I could be wrong though

No wonder they sent him. Never had to leave his seat.

 

[Fishy]

So let me get this straight. Val is a crappy commissioner because she doesn’t do a good enough job for her members, and proof of that is that when we entered the conference we got screwed (meaning that by definition her members got a good deal). LMAO.

Explain to me what, other than make you feel better, an angry press release attacking the committee is going to accomplish?

The job of the commissioner in this day and age is to primarily to negotiate contracts for the conference. By far, the most important ones are the multi-year TV deals. We’ll see how she does. But how loud she whines about committee decisions will have little to do with it.

The remaining power conference commissioners seem to feel their job is to advocate publicly for their league. Seems to work for them.

Also, she’s failed to renegotiate the contract one year after she said she was going to.

 

[Waquoit]

The remaining power conference commissioners seem to feel their job is to advocate publicly for their league. Seems to work for them.

Also, she’s failed to renegotiate the contract one year after she said she was going to.

Is she getting any stick at all from anybody? Besides us that is.

 

[Kolumbo]

Is she getting any stick at all from anybody? Besides us that is.

Oh yes

Ackerman should be fired

Need a new commissioner. Other than Uconn being overall no 1. seed the conference viewed as mid major. Two teams get into the field other than Uconn the committee set up Marquette and Creighton to go first weekend. I want her gone get someone who push this conference to new heights. We lost 8...

red.fans

Seton Hall basketball is owed an answer for March Madness snub

Why did the NCAA Tournament’s selection committee make the Big East bear the brunt of the bid-stealing? Seton Hall would like to know.

www.app.com

 

[John]

Is she getting any stick at all from anybody? Besides us that is.

she's getting pounded on the other BE fan boards.

 

[Kolumbo]

You sure about that?

I understood it to be, if the league rep represented the school which was being discussed. In this case he would only have to leave when discussing Butler.
I could be wrong though

I have no idea but I read this in the Seton Hall article above

"'We have to take a closer look at this'
The Big East did have a representative on the selection committee – retiring Butler athletics director Barry Collier – but he has to leave the room when teams from his league are discussed."

 

[Ha Who]

I have no idea but I read this in the Seton Hall article above

"'We have to take a closer look at this'
The Big East did have a representative on the selection committee – retiring Butler athletics director Barry Collier – but he has to leave the room when teams from his league are discussed."

And the cartel chuckles. How about we try institutional racism as a tactic?

 

[freescooter]

You're responding as if he cares about facts and had any intent other than to neg our conference.

Facts, gentlemen, are difficult things. Why do you think a team with St John’s resume was a good team? I gave you facts to back up my position. Bad losses. 2-8 over 10 games. An unimpressive 6 game winning streak. You respond with nothing. I think a better case could be made for Seton Hall than St John’s. I don’t think they get in either, but it is a far closer decision.

 

[GlastonTim]

I hate to break it to you but outside the NEWBIE bubble, the Big East is viewed as a “high mid-major.” Closer to the MWC than the ACC or Big 10 or 12. You can through all the metrics around that you want. Doesn’t matter. It is perception. This selection just further confirms that view outside the bubble. UConn is viewed in the same way Gonzaga is. Power program in a lesser conference. If UConn were to leave the NEWBIE it would absolutely be viewed as the mid-major.

With 3 Championships in the last 8 years the Big East is not viewed like those teams and conferences you mentioned.

 

[CL82]

To be clear, I’m not saying she can’t or shouldn’t do it. I’m saying it’s of no use to anything other than making people outside the process feel better.

And come on — you know as well as I do I didn’t say it wouldn’t be better for the conference if one or two of our bubble teams had gotten it. It would have been and I would have been happier had it happened.

Being vocal and visible in pursuit of the conferences interest is squarely in her job description. Her being silent increases the opportunity that this will become the norm. She should be talking it up all over the place. Kind of surprising that you don't see or understand that.

And come on — you know as well as I that your second paragraph is a strawman argument since I raised neither point. It's kind of weird that you just threw that in there.

 

[superjohn]

If you have no fear and claim UConn got screwed wouldn't it mean that Iowa State, Illinois and Auburn got screwed more by getting us?

If you believe we are going to win the whole thing then why does it matter who we play?

I get it. I much rather have the bracket Purdue and UNC have than our bracket because the path looks easier on paper. But paper doesn't play the game. No one would have predicted Houston, Purdue and UNC losing their finals in their respective conference tournaments. There are no guarantees in sports which is why so many of us watch games.

So yes we got "screwed"! We deserved an easier path as a reward for our season. Personally I'll be only slightly more tense each game than if the teams were less good. I felt last season the hardest tournament game we played was Iona. We were lucky their shooter had back spasms. I'm not going to blame our commissioner for something that she has little or no control over. Our bubble teams were not forced to schedule the teams they scheduled. They were not forced to lose games they should have won.

Of course everyone got screwed in the East, it's by far the hardest bracket. My thinking we're going to win it all has nothing to do with us getting screwed. They're two separate things. It matters to me because it's unfair to the #1 overall seed and to the other top seeds in the bracket. As a huge college basketball fan it selfishly hurts my rooting interest as Illinois and Iowa State are two of my favorite teams and I would've liked to see both of them make final 4 runs if it isn't going to be Marquette and Creighton.

 

[king conn]

I have no idea but I read this in the Seton Hall article above

"'We have to take a closer look at this'
The Big East did have a representative on the selection committee – retiring Butler athletics director Barry Collier – but he has to leave the room when teams from his league are discussed."

If that's the case, I am calling bs on it anyway

For instance, if you are the Big East rep, and the Acc rep has left the room, how could you decide to vote on a Virginia for instance, without knowing whether it comes at the expense of a Big East team? There has to be talks with everyone because this is all done by comparisons

You start to think about this, and now you wonder if you have handshake agreements, especially within the football leagues, while this Butler retiree is sleeping in the corner. And the smaller league reps know while they can't target those football leagues, the Big East is one league the football leagues would be more than happy that they gang up on

 

[superjohn]

If that's the case, I am calling bs on it anyway

For instance, if you are the Big East rep, and the Acc rep has left the room, how could you decide to vote on a Virginia for instance, without knowing whether it comes at the expense of a Big East team? There has to be talks with everyone because this is all done by comparisons

You start to think about this, and now you wonder if you have handshake agreements, especially within the football leagues, while this Butler retiree is sleeping in the corner. And the smaller league reps know while they can't target those football leagues, the Big East is one league the football leagues would be more than happy that they gang up on

Why the hell do we have a nearly 80 year old retiree from Butler as our representative?

What exactly is Val doing as commissioner?

 

[JeffConn]

She’s no Dave Gavitt. If she can’t negotiate a sweet media contract with having the current reigning champ and favorite to repeat, then it’s time for us to move to a power conference sans football. The talk now is the football program will join a lesser conference with the likes of Buffalo and Toledo, so the argument to insist that our football program is an all or nothing proposition is moot. Dave Bennett needs to explore existing the Big East while the iron is hot.

There could be an emerging trend of declining relevance for the Big East and increasing leverage brought forth by the power conferences. Given the recent league executive's complacency, the Big East school Presidents should soon consider an executive change if some positive news (especially regarding existing and future anticipated revenues) does materialize in the near future. As someone previously alluded, executive delays at the Pac-12 led to a quick downward spiral and extinction.

Regarding UConn, Dave Benedict might now reconsider UConn's objective about how we might join a power conference and get more creative in how we negotiate with another conference! (maybe a unique approach specific for UConn, different from what SMU arranged financially with the ACC) Maybe UConn should revisit the known target of joining a higher revenue power conference for all sports (including football). The UConn Football program, with it's extended period of losing records, has relegated itself and the University to a less desirable status as a prospective new conference member. (Note, there is Internet chatter out there that as Florida State moves forward with separating itself from the ACC, Brett Yormark, like he did with the remaining attractive PAC-12 schools, is now contemplating the swooping in and offering of conference membership to remaining desirable ACC basketball/football schools like Duke, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Syracuse, etc., if the more desirable ACC schools do end up joining the SEC and Big10. What conference options would UConn have if that were to happen??? Maybe it's now becoming more time sensitive (in terms of basketball importance and overall relevance) for UConn to consider joining a larger conference for all sports, except football, provided that it could negotiate a subsequent football entrance when some agreed-to performance criterion is met (such as achieving a 50% winning record over a continuous 3-year period). Football is essentially by itself as it is now anyway!

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Schools like UConn operate billion dollar budgets. Seton Hall getting an additional $2M for the league divided up against 11 teams is the repair for a new bathroom in a dorm. Totally immaterial to anything on a prez radar.

This is all fine and daddy until we are in Seton Hall's shoes. It will happen one of the these days soon enough.