With ND withdrawing and Louisville stepping in, should UConn move on from ND when contract expires?

[DefenseBB]

I think with the new regime in ND and the BigEast schedule to regularly have 20 games, maybe now is the time to move on from playing ND. While I wish Niele Ivey well, what allegiance does UConn have to play her? Time moves on and maybe Geno prefers Jeff to beef up his OOC and have a more friendly banter while ND determines if it remains among the elite. Other options would be Duke, UNC, Texas who all have new coaches and cache to the WCBB calendar.
Thoughts?

 

[WiseOne]

I think with the new regime in ND and the BigEast schedule to regularly have 20 games, maybe now is the time to move on from playing ND. While I wish Niele Ivey well, what allegiance does UConn have to play her? Time moves on and maybe Geno prefers Jeff to beef up his OOC and have a more friendly banter while ND determines if it remains among the elite. Other options would be Duke, UNC, Texas who all have new coaches and cache to the WCBB calendar.
Thoughts?

Yup! I would give UNC a try based on their superb recruiting recently.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Make mine Louisville too. Nothing is cast in stone and if Ivey was the power behind the throne as many said then ND will be back sooner rather than later and both schools can have a fresh look at it.

 

[Plebe]

I think UConn should have regular series with both. Why not?

 

[bluedevil]

South Carolina, Baylor, Louisville, Stanford..who needs Notre Dame?

 

[eebmg]

I have always enjoyed ND games since their style of play was quite similar to UConn and therefore different from most WCBB so I voted to keep ND on our schedule.

 

[ctfjr]

Who ever they replace them with I doubt they will have a mascot I want to choke as much!

 

[eebmg]

Who ever they replace them with I doubt they will have a mascot I want to choke as much!

For me, I want to choke out an Oregon Duck. My brain still cant around the idea of a duck being a mascot.

 

[Skeets]

For me, I want to choke out an Oregon Duck. My brain still cant around the idea of a duck being a mascot.

At least I know what a duck is. What the heck is a Hoya or a Hoosier or a cardinal (a number, really?), etc. Having said that, maybe give the UCONN vs. ND a rest for a couple of years, although beating up on them isn't bad either.

 

[JellyBean]

UConn should continue to play Notre Dame until the each program decides to go in a different direction. Notre Dame women's basketball, as much as I dislike saying this, has become a force in women's college basketball. Coach McGraw turned that program into power house in 24-25 years. The last 12-13 years, they have really become a staple in women's basketball. To not play them this year, it is gonna have an impact but to not play them 3 or 4 years in a row, the impact will grow especially if they play at a high level under Coach Ivey. If she can get those players playing at a high level, the attention is going to be off the charts! Now if they struggle and Coach Ivey does not develop the players and they become like Tennessee under Coach Warlick, well then we can have that discussion. But right now, let's keep that series going with Notre Dame WBB.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Wouldn't mind playing Duke again.

 

[triaddukefan]

Wouldn't mind playing Duke again.

I would

 

[j66kicker]

Keep it going. ND is down right now, but they're an elite program. If Niele's recruiting success continues, they'll be right back in a couple years and a great rivalry can continue.

 

[EdSaid]

Right now, ND needs to play UConn more than UConn needs to play ND. UConn has nothing to gain by playing ND. Put Duke and UNC on the schedule. UNC is a better program than ND, and Duke is right behind them. Geno and crew could head down to the triangle, beat UNC on Friday night, then beat Duke on Sunday afternoon. Two ESPN games. Boom.

 

[Jim]

I think you need to keep a certain amount of geographic diversity in your schedule if you want to get recruits from all parts of the country. The American only had Cincinnati as a UConn opponent in that region, so it made sense to do home and home games with ND to get more exposure in the Chicago/Indiana region. With DuPaul and Butler filling that need in conference, scheduling ND is now $$$ decision as the networks love old rivalries. Then again, who knows? There might be a recruit considering both schools.

 

[JoePgh]

Because the Big East conference schedule is (really) almost as weak as the AAC, UConn needs as a top priority to put together the strongest possible out-of-conference schedule. So, assuming that the UConn schedule will accommodate only 10 out-of-conference games, the only question should be whether Notre Dame is one of the 10 most competitive teams that UConn can schedule.

We need to bear in mind that not every other Top-10 team will want to play UConn every year, if at all. So it would not surprise me if the Irish make the cut as one of the 10 best teams willing to play UConn in any particular year.

I also think that Kara Lawson will quickly have Duke at a level where it might also make the cut, and I think she will (unlike her predecessor) never shrink from the challenge of playing a Geno-coached team. I think she would look forward to it regardless of the expected outcome.

 

[Hayven]

Vic is building Texas back to a top program, so it would be nice to have Texas back on the schedule

 

[Sonny44]

Wouldn't mind playing Duke again.

Duke has a team?

 

[Waquoit]

What good does playing an unranked Notre Dame team do UConn? Nothing, this isn't football. Those games only help ND and UConn has better things to do than help ND. Cancel the contract now I say. If not, I want to see some tasty score running up.

 

[JordyG]

Duke has a team?

Them's fightin' words.

 

[Woof 101]

For me, I want to choke out an Oregon Duck. My brain still cant around the idea of a duck being a mascot.

Say what??? You need to hang around to the boardroom meeting!

 

[Figurehead]

For me, I want to choke out an Oregon Duck. My brain still cant around the idea of a duck being a mascot.

Like it or not kids absolutely go nuts over the Duck at every sporting event.

Beginning in 1940, cartoon drawings of Puddles in student publications began to resemble Donald Duck, and by 1947, Walt Disney was aware of the issue. Capitalizing on his friendship with Disney cartoonist Mike Royer, Oregon athletic director Leo Harris met Disney and reached an informal handshake agreement that granted the University of Oregon permission to use Donald as its sports mascot, naming him Donald Duck.

When Disney lawyers later questioned the agreement in the 1970s, the university produced a photo showing Harris and Disney wearing matching jackets with an Oregon Donald logo. Relying on the photo as evidence of Disney's wishes, in 1973, both parties signed a formal agreement granting the university the right to use Donald's likeness as a symbol for (and restricted to) Oregon sports.

Walt Disney far right in photo.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Time moves on and maybe Geno prefers Jeff to beef up his OOC and have a more friendly banter while ND determines if it remains among the elite.

Do you presume ND will not be among the elite by 2022? Where's @Dillon77 ? Has he jumped on this yet. Muffet put all her eggs into a basket of 5 really good players and paid the price last year. Neille has them recruiting aggressively. The Notre Dame situation is one bad year and not like Tennessee where they have witnessed 7 years of decline despite recruiting good players. It's way too soon to even have these thoughts about ND.

 

[huskeynut]

I voted to keep ND on the schedule. Granted last year was bad for ND, but they are still ND and carry a lot of weight nationally. Whether Ivey can bring ND back to a top 5 team remains to be seen. She may have been the power behind the throne, but following a legend is no easy task as has been seen in other programs.

I'd say keep Louisville too. I like Walz and his teams come to play.

 

[HuskylnSC]

I favor an OOC pool that includes Baylor, SC, Oregon, Louisville, ND, Duke, UNC, Texas, Tennessee, UCLA for two reasons
1) We need to compete against the best in order to meet our stated goal of playing for a national championship every year.
2) I want to compete in ever geographic area for recruiting purposes. I want every great player in every part of the country to feel the enthusiasm that UConn brings when they visit. And, I want the top recruits for every program in their stands when UConn comes to town and throttles the home team. Knock them down, keep them down.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Vic is building Texas back to a top program, so it would be nice to have Texas back on the schedule

I think this is something Vic will pursue for a number of reasons. He'll take it on the chin for maybe the first couple of games but it'll tighten up after that. Good draw to the fan base down there.

 

[Orangutan]

Right now, ND needs to play UConn more than UConn needs to play ND. UConn has nothing to gain by playing ND. Put Duke and UNC on the schedule. UNC is a better program than ND, and Duke is right behind them. Geno and crew could head down to the triangle, beat UNC on Friday night, then beat Duke on Sunday afternoon. Two ESPN games. Boom.

UNC is a better program than ND? Since when?

Even in a horrific down year for ND, they still had a better ACC record than UNC. I know UNC has a good coach in place and has been recruiting well but ND's 2020 and 2021 recruiting classes are strong too.

The rush in this thread to dump ND for UNC is odd to me. UNC and ND are in roughly the same spot in my estimation.

I guess the logic is that UConn shouldn't give ND a game because it helps ND more than it does UConn. However, playing in the ACC will usually ensure a decent strength of schedule and ND can find other good non-conference games without much trouble. I don't think refusing to play ND as a sort of punishment is very effective. ND's schedule will be just fine without taking the customary yearly guaranteed loss to UConn.

 

[Wbbfan1]

I would like to see Stanford added to the schedule on a permanent basis. I would also like to see UConn schedule a Southern California school as well. California produces a large number of highly skilled BB players and it would help in recruiting California players. I would like to see Notre Dame stay on the schedule as its a Great TV Game. If a school has to be dropped, I would drop Baylor as they only agree to play UConn when it suits their purpose.

 

[Geew1992]

Wasn’t Louisville on the schedule originally?? Didn’t they drop UCONN due to Covid? And now obviously added them back on.

and I say.... nope. ND had a down year with a young team. They have the 3rd ranked class coming in I believe.

 

[Skeets]

What good does playing an unranked Notre Dame team do UConn? Nothing, this isn't football. Those games only help ND and UConn has better things to do than help ND. Cancel the contract now I say. If not, I want to see some tasty score running up.

Football??? Let us not forget UCONN is undefeated against ND in football. ND football, hah!