Do not look at the Big East's record

[Gurleyman]

When you win national titles, you don't really care much what's going on with the pillow fights at the bottom of the league.

If we win the national title, and The Big East has the other 7 in the Elite Eight, fine with me. They can brag about their league while we raise another banner.

 

[mwc22]

UConn needs to either go independent in football or drop the football team to the FCS, and then rejoin the Big East.

 

[upstater]

RPI can be gamed. We all know this. Play the top dregs, not the bottom dregs. But as I've said 1000x in this thread, the AAC teams were underseeded and the BE teams overseeded. According to RPI and SOS. I've said this a number of times. It's crazy that you guys are going back to statistics and I'm saying those statistics showed that the AAC teams should have been seeded higher, the BE lower.

And the results of the actual tournament prove that and bear that out. Not to mention that the end of the year counts so much more. We saw how UConn developed through the year for instance. You see the best teams of the year in March and April, not November and December when the OOC games are played.

Regardless, yes I do believe that SMU, Memphis, Louisville, UConn and Cincy made it a stronger conference than the BE.

 

[upstater]

I hate RPI for the record.

I'm actually stuck in the present looking at what is presently going on.

You can't seem to grasp the Kentucky point... it's pretty simple...

Are you seriously still blabbing about NIT games? Good grief - you really are clueless.

NIT? Huh?

 

[Inyatkin]

These discussions sound like the Syracuse people who think being in the ACC rather than the AAC is an achievement unto itself. It's not. The goal is to win games. Who cares where you do it. Of course I'd rather be in a better conference, but the only thing in UConn's control is UConn games.

 

[upstater]

You act like the outcome of these games are meaningless or something. Their 8 seed probably had less to do with them being in the SEC and more to do with them going 2-6 in the games you listed, plus losses to Vanderbilt, Arkansas twice, South Carolina, etc.

Who said they were meaningless?

I am saying that the RPI and SOS should have given them more credit, but the general consensus (which was wrong) was biased against the conference. Same with the AAC teams. Kentucky was around 20 RPI. Not 36-40.

 

[itgoeslike]

The reason why the AAC teams performed better than NBE teams in last season's post season play is because the top half of the AAC was better than the top half of the NBE last year. This year appears to be trending differently, but we haven't even gotten through November. The NBE is fortunate to garner much needed, good press, which is important, because when conference play hits, they will be dropping off the radar.

 

[itgoeslike]

Good results will help and if they can get 5 teams ranked it will make a difference. Although, keep in mind, ESPN is showing some love now as the media partner for most of these preseason tourneys, but I suspect when NBE conference play starts they will limit exposure to highlights. At least that is how it appeared to play out last year.

 

[upstater]

Sigh.

By how their top teams do in the tournament. End of year is most important.

Not one team.

Multiple teams.

 

[CTBasketball]

I rank teams by eye test. I probably watch over 500 college hoops games a year. My rankings are pretty accurate.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Not sure what the OP is going for with the title of this post. The BE was never an option for UConn so it's not like fans are regretting not joining the league.

 

[Fishy]

Not sure what the OP is going for with the title of this post. The BE was never an option for UConn so it's not like fans are regretting not joining the league.

His point was that the Big East has been pretty good this year. (Looking at today's results, he understated his case.)

People seemed to take offense.

 

[champs99and04]

Not sure what the OP is going for with the title of this post. The BE was never an option for UConn so it's not like fans are regretting not joining the league.

It might not be an option, but the fact is that UConn consciously decided against joining a vastly superior basketball conference to continue supporting a football team that is one of the worst in the country. As a guy who cares way more about hoops than football, that's frustrating.

I understand that joining the Big East isn't a realistic option, so it's mostly a moot point.

 

[johnhuskies95]

His point was that the Big East has been pretty good this year. (Looking at today's results, he understated his case.)

People seemed to take offense.

I get that they've been good, I agree with that. I took the title of the thread to mean that we shouldn't look at what we missed out on.

The Big East is just another random conference at this point, at least in my eyes. Obviously there's a ton of history there, but the AAC was the only call for UConn to make. There really wasn't another viable option.

 

[johnhuskies95]

It might not be an option, but the fact is that UConn consciously decided against joining a vastly superior basketball conference to continue supporting a football team that is one of the worst in the country. As a guy who cares way more about hoops than football, that's frustrating.

I understand that joining the Big East isn't a realistic option, so it's mostly a moot point.

They were at best slightly better last year and this year they look to be a good deal better but it's still November. Saying the Big East is "vastly superior" is pretty hyperbolic.

 

[Stainmaster]

They were at best slightly better last year and this year they look to be a good deal better but it's still November. Saying the Big East is "vastly superior" is pretty hyperbolic.

Aren't people also forgetting that conference success tends to be cyclical? The Big East didn't send 11 teams to the tourney every year. Just because they may end up having a comparatively good year doesn't mean they are permanently the "better conference". Next year it could just be Villanova+another team completely carrying the league.

 

[champs99and04]

They were at best slightly better last year and this year they look to be a good deal better but it's still November. Saying the Big East is "vastly superior" is pretty hyperbolic.

The version of the AAC that we saw last year included Louisville and did not include ECU, Tulsa, and Tulane, so that obviously distorts the picture a bit. And really, if you're going to compare the two apples-to-apples, you have to eliminate UConn, too (again, this is in a different universe where UConn is choosing between leagues). Minus UConn and Louisville, it was a two bid league.

It might be still November, but the OOC schedule is already half over, so at this point we already have a pretty good idea of which conferences are strong and which aren't. The Big East is closer to #1 and the AAC is closer to #10, and looking at recruiting, I'm not so sure that's going to change anytime soon.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

They were at best slightly better last year and this year they look to be a good deal better but it's still November. Saying the Big East is "vastly superior" is pretty hyperbolic.

They weren't slightly better last year, they were a lot better with just about every single Big East team having a rebuilding year. They only reason that the AAC and Big East were remotely close last year was because of UConn and Louisville. Louisville is gone, and we can't count ourselves when assessing which conference is better. If Lebron James joined my rec league team, it wouldn't mean my team was any better, it would just mean we had Lebron James.

This year, it is no contest. The AAC is going to be fighting to stay in the Top 10 of leagues with us, and the Big East will be one of the Top 3 leagues.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

The Big East is a heck of a conference and I think people are starting to find out again that the Big East is not going away as easy as they once thought. The narrative may be that the Big East is dead and ESPN even formally declared it dead on its "Requiem for the Big East" documentary a year ago but now they must be really puzzled because they spent a lot of the broadcasting airtime today as they will do tomorrow (Okla-Butler, Gtown-Wisc) displaying Big East teams on their best. Basically giving airtime to a rival conference that is property of Fox Sports 1. The league looks as alive as ever before. They are killing the competition right now (including other top tier leagues) and its pretty darn fun to watch

The AAC as a league? not so much. Connecticut will be fine at the end of the day. Connecticut is Connecticut and I don't think it matter what conference it plays on to win championship but from an attendance/hype perspective is much better to belong to a great league than a crappy one. So far the AAC is not even in the top-10 RPI conference. I know its a bit too early to take the RPI too serious, but the signs are there and the AAC has to start winning some games quickly before the loses pile up

 

[whaler11]

Today while the AAC was losing to Hawaii and getting blown out by Davidson and Oklahoma State the Big East picked up wins over Florida and North Carolina. They threw in a win over Minnesota for fun.

Yeah they have Depaul. The AAC has 5 Depauls.

At least Depaul will try and fix it.

 

[Robertelamin]

Go find a Big East team to follow then. Bye!

 

[whaler11]

Go find a Big East team to follow then. Bye!

I love the UConn fans who want to chase off other UConn fans. You guys are the best.

Because if you realize the Big East is a better basketball conference than the AAC, UConn doesn't need you.

Solid strategy.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

wait til you visit XL this winter and you are brave to view a crap conf club contest

a crapper that will maybe draw 6k diehards who have no other alternatives

the place will be center stage for little sir echo

& huskies will probably have a struggle with a roster loaded wit union card carriers

revenue is dwindling fast

that is not good for future growth