Jacobs: Big 12 Is Out In The Cold, So UConn Officials Should Strike While Iron Is Hot

[Kolumbo]

For the record, I totally agree and always have, UConn bball fans would absolutely go nuts playing UNC, Duke, Wake, Syracuse, etc every year. Football against the ACC would be great with much more easy and fun travel spots than the B1G has.

I get the historic appeal and academic cache of the B1G, but I really think UConn fits better in the ACC (especially back with BC and Cuse).

The ACC was the perfect fit for UCONN 5 years ago. Basically a merger between the ACC and the Big East. But that stinkin garbage barge of a ship has sailed. I would prefer nothing to do with the ACC if possible. And before you say I would take the ACC over the AAC, yeah, why not. As long as they compensate us for the ride on our coattails.

 

[pj]

Your first strategy should be to entice 4 and 5 star recruits to have their families move to Connecticut. Having a fertile recruiting ground would make the B1G pay more attention.

Enticements from UConn boosters would be a violation. We should just annex Florida.

Or, we could follow the Rutgers strategy -- market size. Annex New York. That would give contiguity and if we merge with Stony Brook, AAU status.

 

[Kolumbo]

I understand football and hoops are much different animals, but is the recruiting grounds factor overstated? UCONN just started to build some basketball success and went out and recruited the Marshall Plan, Yell from PA, Donny from MI, Brian Fair from Phoenix, and of course, Ollie from LA. If the Big XII invited UCF, does that mean kids in Florida will suddenly know about Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas? I am fairly certain the big names recruit nationally regardless of where they play.

 

[Hoophound]

Anyone could see how relieved Boeheim was to get of our shadow shortly after their move was announced.

At a post game press conference (paraphrasing):

Reporter: Jim, what do think of UConn's strong play of late and how do you view that possible matchup?

Boeheim: "We are going to a much better conference than they are. I just think to we will be in a much conference than them."

Huh?

 

[CL82]

For the record, I totally agree and always have, UConn bball fans would absolutely go nuts playing UNC, Duke, Wake, Syracuse, etc every year. Football against the ACC would be great with much more easy and fun travel spots than the B1G has.

I get the historic appeal and academic cache of the B1G, but I really think UConn fits better in the ACC (especially back with BC and Cuse).

I don't know. the ACC is the old Big East: a mismatch of publics and priviates, originally formed a regional basketball conference that has become a a tortured conglomeration of dissimilar institutions, both private and public joined together in order to reinvent itself as a football conference, with Notre Dame attached as a half associated patch. I saw how that worked out for us the last time and I am not interested in repeating history. The B1G is made up of the predominently of the premere land grant institutions in each state, with a focus on research and academic excellence. It is also a far more profitable thant the ACC and thus far more stable. To me its not a close decision which to choose if both were available. That said, I'd take the first P5 offer that walked through the door and damned glad to get it.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I agree; but, spend some time in Boston and you'll understand.

You won't understand much more than most people here don't really care much for BC unless they're doing well. 99 out of 100 people on the street have no idea there's bad blood between BC and UConn.

 

[Jax Husky]

I understand football and hoops are much different animals, but is the recruiting grounds factor overstated? UCONN just started to build some basketball success and went out and recruited the Marshall Plan, Yell from PA, Donny from MI, Brian Fair from Phoenix, and of course, Ollie from LA. If the Big XII invited UCF, does that mean kids in Florida will suddenly know about Texas and Oklahoma and Kansas? I am fairly certain the big names recruit nationally regardless of where they play.

Not even slightly. The numbers of talented athletes just cannot compare to other parts of the country. Football recruiting is nothing like bball, where you can go get 4 kids from around the nation. You have to get a lot of kids regionally in football.

 

[businesslawyer]

I hard that Pitt felt it owed BC for it's path into the ACC after BC blackballed UConn. Syracuse has this crazy idea that they 'own' NYC and view UConn as their top threat for the only valuable thing they offer - ownership of NYC. Of course, UConn is over 100 miles closer to NYC than Syracuse and strictly by alumni headcount, Rutgers is number one followed by Penn St, then UConn, then ND, and then Syracuse.

As it takes 2/3 super majority to approve a new member, or 5 votes to block it, UConn is DOA with 5 'guaranteed' no votes already in place - 10 BC, 2) Syracuse, 3) Pitt, 4) Florida St, 5) Clemson and I suspect Louisville is a 6th 'No' vote as they 'owe' FSU and Clemson.

The number of rumors and assumptions you treat as facts to support your conclusion is s truly astounding.

 

[pj]

The number of rumors and assumptions you treat as facts to support your conclusion is s truly astounding.

All those objections to UConn would melt away to nothing if UConn brought an extra $100,000 per year to these schools.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

You won't understand much more than most people here don't really care much for BC unless they're doing well. 99 out of 100 people on the street have no idea there's bad blood between BC and UConn.

Concur, though I was referring to the reputation that Boston as a whole has and not just BC whether it be locals complaining about all of the non-Bostonians moving into Southie and gentrifying the dump it used to be or the never ending comparisons/complaints/envy that Boston has of NYC. Boston is called the 'Hub of the Universe' and it's residents 'Massholes' for a reason.

 

[Ha Who]

All those objections to UConn would melt away to nothing if UConn brought an extra $100,000 per year to these schools.

You nailed it. Just like Damon with the Yankees

 

[DarthGrumpy]

The number of rumors and assumptions you treat as facts to support your conclusion is s truly astounding.

Uh? For the ACC to accept a new member, it takes the support of 2/3 of the ACC's Presidents. That's in their own bylaws last I checked. Both BC and Syracuse openly lobbied against UConn to protect their respective 'territories.' BC lobbied for Pitt when the ACC's initial plan was to take Syracuse and UConn. The football powers in FSU and Clemson both lobbied for Louisville over UConn as Maryland's replacement. That's well documented. The rumor part, i.e. that Pitt and Louisville would vote in-line with the schools that saved them from the old Big E is not factual; but, is logical. The only assumption I made is that BC and Syracuse would continue to vote against UConn. You can check a map to confirm distances and check various sources for alumni headcounts.

 

[Fishy]

Of what practical concern is any of that?

Unless they need help selling their mythical network or if Notre Dame joins, the ACC isn't expanding in the next 10-12 years.

 

[Marty Jackson]

On the flip side, I don't see how adding 2 teams will actually help the B12 (other than better helping parents like me explain to my kids why the B12 is called the B12)

1. every year, by design, at least one of the P5 gets left out of the Final 4
2. you're adding 2 teams, maybe 4, for what?
3. if/when the SEC east reawakens from its slumber, the SEC will grab 2 seats, not 1 at the final 4
4. if they had a CG this year, it would have been Baylor/KSU (no split of that conference can split BU and TCU) and had Baylor beaten them 2x, it would still be 5th. And had KSU won, it would still have been OSU in 4th.
5. I get that they feel left out, but every year someone will feel that exact same way. I don't see how adding Mormons to that conference and/or another program will somehow create a different result than we saw this year.

Having said that, WM better offer up the store to Bowlsby and call Swofford (who now has a nervous irishman on his hands) and Delany and see if they need a dance partner.

With the playoff the value of a ccg just jumped up in value. In most cases the ccg could determine a playoff spot so by default, the ccg is the first playoff round.
When the big 12 finally realizes that fact they'll do what they have to.
Under the old bcs model the ccg was marginal at best.
Big 12 is keeping 2m in everyone's pocket by leaving 50m on the table.

 

[Marty Jackson]

My understanding is that the ACC proposed this because they didn't want another mismatch in the CCG like they had last year with FSU - Duke. However, if it passes it means that a conference could move forward with an odd number of teams; it would be one less hurdle for UConn to get an ACC or B1G invite.

Doesn't the acc have 14 fb schools.
I think the acc petition is to pick the division winners. Big 12 petition is to have less than 12 teams. Not getting the petition approved would be the better outcome for uconn.

 

[Marty Jackson]

I hard that Pitt felt it owed BC for it's path into the ACC after BC blackballed UConn. Syracuse has this crazy idea that they 'own' NYC and view UConn as their top threat for the only valuable thing they offer - ownership of NYC. Of course, UConn is over 100 miles closer to NYC than Syracuse and strictly by alumni headcount, Rutgers is number one followed by Penn St, then UConn, then ND, and then Syracuse.

As it takes 2/3 super majority to approve a new member, or 5 votes to block it, UConn is DOA with 5 'guaranteed' no votes already in place - 10 BC, 2) Syracuse, 3) Pitt, 4) Florida St, 5) Clemson and I suspect Louisville is a 6th 'No' vote as they 'owe' FSU and Clemson.

Does nd get a vote

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Doesn't the acc have 14 fb schools.
I think the acc petition is to pick the division winners. Big 12 petition is to have less than 12 teams. Not getting the petition approved would be the better outcome for uconn.

I agree. My impression of the ACC request was for them to be able to pick the two teams to play in the championship versus the division winners automatically playing for the title. It did not reduce the minimum number of conference members (12) for have a championship game. That is what Texas, I mean the XII wants.

 

[UConn Dan]

Doesn't the acc have 14 fb schools.
I think the acc petition is to pick the division winners. Big 12 petition is to have less than 12 teams. Not getting the petition approved would be the better outcome for uconn.

I agree. My impression of the ACC request was for them to be able to pick the two teams to play in the championship versus the division winners automatically playing for the title. It did not reduce the minimum number of conference members (12) for have a championship game. That is what Texas, I mean the XII wants.

The legislation proposed by the ACC (and endorsed by the Big 12) was just to do away with the 12+ teams/equal division Conference Championship rule altogether so that conferences can choose how to select their champion in whatever way they want. Whatever the number of teams, uneven divisions, no divisions, highest ranked team, whatever.

Any conference can apply for a waiver to host a CCG though, however, when the ACC did this with 11 teams (prior to BC joining) they were denied.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Does nd get a vote

Good question, I do not know...

 

[BlueHen]

Doesn't the acc have 14 fb schools.
I think the acc petition is to pick the division winners. Big 12 petition is to have less than 12 teams. Not getting the petition approved would be the better outcome for uconn.

My understanding is that the ACC proposal would do away with the need for divisions. If that were the case they would have one group of 14 football schools, but if you aren't going to have divisions there is less of a need to have an even number of schools. Much easier to schedule 15 teams if you aren't locked into two divisions. I'm not saying that they would add a team, but if they wanted to there would be less of a need to add two. Same would true for the B1G, they could add us without have to find an expansion partner.

The Big 12 petition (if there is one) to require less than 10 teams would not help UConn.

I hope the ACC petition passes, but not the Big 12 petition.

 

[junglehusky]

Yep, Miami is a odd thing though. They are a Florida football school (with definitely southern football antics); but, are private, academically very strong, and have a ton of northeastern alumni. Thus, they do not seem to mind traveling north for recruitment and endowment opportunities and would be OK with visiting UConn (maybe in NYC) every other year for football as long as it was early in the season (Miami is in the Coastal division, BC is in the Atlantic with FSU). Shalala herself is a challenge as she was sued by Blumenthal (idiotic!) and has a master's from Syracuse; but, him and most of UConn's key players from the suit have moved on. I would consider them on the fence.

Another key player moving on: University of Miami President Shalala Announces She Will Step Down in 2015

We know how some of the schools were positioned in the last go around. But if there is another expansion, we don't know how easy/hard it would be to change their votes.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Another key player moving on: University of Miami President Shalala Announces She Will Step Down in 2015

We know how some of the schools were positioned in the last go around. But if there is another expansion, we don't know how easy/hard it would be to change their votes.

True, if there is another round in the year to to with respect to the ACC, all UConn knows that it takes 5 votes to block admission. I still think BC and Syracuse will be 'no' votes because people may change, geography will not. So that is 2 no votes. UConn just has to make sure that that number does not rise.

 

[junglehusky]

True, if there is another round in the year to to with respect to the ACC, all UConn knows that it takes 5 votes to block admission. I still think BC and Syracuse will be 'no' votes because people may change, geography will not. So that is 2 no votes. UConn just has to make sure that that number does not rise.

It would depend if we're fighting another school the way we did with UL. For example, Cincy might be favored by UL, Pitt, maybe FSU. If UConn was "penned in" back in 2012, (in other words, if this quote wasn't Jurich re-writing history as the victor) then at least the NYC / TV markets argument had sway in the commissioner's office in the initial round. It's still the presidents' votes we need to worry about in terms of strategy though. (and, all 3 of the potential P5 leagues might have different commisioners by the time realignment happens again). It would be great if we could somehow prevent them from presenting multiple options whenever the next round goes down. Not sure how else to do that other than winning some more BB championships and having Diaco turn around the program though.

 

[Stinger92860]

Desperate times, call for desperate actions. I believe we can enhance our position by agreeing to play 1-2 football homes games each year in NYC. We can do the same for basketball at MSG. This has to be attractive to the ACC and B12. I think Rutgers would balk at MetLife for us and the B1G. Not sure if Gillette would have the same cache for the B1G.

I would make it known to ND that if we are in the league with them, games in the NY area would be on the table for all sports.

 

[upstater]

It would depend if we're fighting another school the way we did with UL. For example, Cincy might be favored by UL, Pitt, maybe FSU. If UConn was "penned in" back in 2012, (in other words, if this quote wasn't Jurich re-writing history as the victor) then at least the NYC / TV markets argument had sway in the commissioner's office in the initial round. It's still the presidents' votes we need to worry about in terms of strategy though. (and, all 3 of the potential P5 leagues might have different commisioners by the time realignment happens again). It would be great if we could somehow prevent them from presenting multiple options whenever the next round goes down. Not sure how else to do that other than winning some more BB championships and having Diaco turn around the program though.

At least against the ACC, UConn football has already shown it can beat teams like Virginia, Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville, Wake Forest, and Duke. It also beat then-ACC Maryland at the time. It came down to the final seconds and field goals (missed) against both UNC and NC State. UConn played games against VT, GT, Miami and BC when it was coming off 1-AA scholarship limits, and still transitioning, and it was blown out in those games. UConn also beat Notre Dame in its only game against them.

Diaco is definitely a factor. On the other hand, no one could ever say that UConn football could not compete with the vast majority of the ACC. It already has.