'UCONN: The One That Got Away'

[UConn07]

http://rushthecourt.net/2014/04/04/...twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

 

[Gfunk]

This better not be a segue to ACC membership. I want you guys in the BIG, period. No exceptions! None!

 

[WestHartHusk]

We didn't really get away as much as left behind. This article is akin to longing for a girlfriend you pushed out of your car while driving down the highway.

 

[Dooley]

This better not be a segue to ACC membership. I want you guys in the BIG, period. No exceptions! None!

Gfunk - if you polled the UCONN fanbase, I would wager a confident guess that most would prefer B1G membership. There would be some that would be receptive to playing our traditional basketball rivals again, but I think that after the last snub when they chose to invite Louisville Community College, most UCONN fans gave up on the ACC. Personally, I think UCONN has more in common with the B1G than ACC anyway (strong academic large, flagship public university located in the North). That opinion was only solidified the day that the ACC invited a lousy academic commuter school in a mediocre southern TV market that plays second fiddle within its own state.

You have to think that Delany was looking around the Garden last Sunday and thought that he wanted more B1G basketball in NYC. There's one easy way to do that. I truly believe that football will improve leaps and bounds over the Pasqualoni era (nowhere to go but up, right?) and a B1G invite would send the program's stock through the roof. Just need to get that dang-fangled AAU acceptance, I guess.

F the ACC.

 

[Ha Who]

Gfunk - if you polled the UCONN fanbase, I would wager a confident guess that most would prefer B1G membership. There would be some that would be receptive to playing our traditional basketball rivals again, but I think that after the last snub when they chose to invite Louisville Community College, most UCONN fans gave up on the ACC. Personally, I think UCONN has more in common with the B1G than ACC anyway (strong academic large, flagship public university located in the North). That opinion was only solidified the day that the ACC invited a lousy academic commuter school in a mediocre southern TV market that plays second fiddle within its own state.

You have to think that Delany was looking around the Garden last Sunday and thought that he wanted more B1G basketball in NYC. There's one easy way to do that. I truly believe that football will improve leaps and bounds over the Pasqualoni era (nowhere to go but up, right?) and a B1G invite would send the program's stock through the roof. Just need to get that dang-fangled AAU acceptance, I guess.

F the ACC.

Agree, but what would you do if Swoffir invited UCONN tomorrow?

 

[HuskyHawk]

This better not be a segue to ACC membership. I want you guys in the BIG, period. No exceptions! None!

First one that calls wins. That includes the Big 12. Operators are standing by to take your call. A bidding war involving payment of our exit fees would be welcome.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Agree, but what would you do if Swoffir invited UCONN tomorrow?

You know the answer to this question.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

Gfunk - if you polled the UCONN fanbase, I would wager a confident guess that most would prefer B1G membership. There would be some that would be receptive to playing our traditional basketball rivals again, but I think that after the last snub when they chose to invite Louisville Community College, most UCONN fans gave up on the ACC. Personally, I think UCONN has more in common with the B1G than ACC anyway (strong academic large, flagship public university located in the North). That opinion was only solidified the day that the ACC invited a lousy academic commuter school in a mediocre southern TV market that plays second fiddle within its own state.

You have to think that Delany was looking around the Garden last Sunday and thought that he wanted more B1G basketball in NYC. There's one easy way to do that. I truly believe that football will improve leaps and bounds over the Pasqualoni era (nowhere to go but up, right?) and a B1G invite would send the program's stock through the roof. Just need to get that dang-fangled AAU acceptance, I guess.

F the ACC.

That is a great write-up on the mindset of most UCONN fans. Once ACC invited Louisville commuter college, it cemented itself as a second class conference. Like former president Ohio St Gee said " there is zero chance a school like UL would be invited to the B1G", which pretty much showed the ACC was scared and desperate to keep FSU and Clemson. ACC founding members like UNC and UVA should have held their ground, but they gave in. Louisville will change the ACC forever. It is now just a collection of schools with less and less in common.

B1G is where we belong. We are a flagship state university like many others in the B1G. We are just waiting for the invite.

 

[Dooley]

Agree, but what would you do if Swoffir invited UCONN tomorrow?

Don't get me wrong - UCONN would jump at the chance to join the ACC. And I know that there was a pocket in the ACC (i.e. - Tobacco Road, UVA) that wanted UCONN. I just think UCONN is a better fit in the B1G. But to be fair, let's make this first ask first join.

 

[uconndogs]

If on court and field performance had anything at all to do with conference realignment UCONN would have been in the ACC long ago. And I'm not just talking about our hoops prowess. Since entering the Big East we have a .500 or better record against all of Pitt, Louisville, Cuse and Rutgers........and we were just getting going at that level of football.

Folks are reading way too much into this terrific run in hoops this season as it relates to CR. Filling the Rent and traveling to bowls will mean much more.

 

[uconndogs]

Oh, and Louisville has a terrific athletic department. The only thing that has less to do with CR than basketball is academics. The only people who openly state that b*llsh*t reside in Chestnut Hill.

 

[Carl Spackler]

The reality is that if ACC called right now and asked UCONN to be program #16, we'd accept in heartbeat and let them figure out the logistics for a northern and southern division that would essentially be Big East version what.....4.3?

Seriously, the reality extends beyond the ACC - if somebody asks...if any of the 5 asks - if the Pac 14 or the Big 12texoka asks or the SEC asks or the Big10- we join - instantly. The division in athletics that exists right now has grown too wide to not accept any first offer.

The AAC is home for now, and it's reality, and it is what it is, and it already is a good league and can be much better in all sports. Each program will have to work together as hard as we can to help elevate the league and make it great in coming years. That's reality - this is home, and unless somebody comes over to our side of the floor and asks us to dance, we're not going anywhere, so better make the best of it.

Moving off to play in dream land........the Big10, without a doubt, is more preferable than the ACC. What gives me a slight bit of imagination and fantasy, is that of the 5 conferences that are holding all the cards right now, the Big 10 is the only conference that actually is up very soon for the next television contract restructuring - and whether or not the folks in Iowa, Nebraska, etc realize it or not and how they feel about us New Englandah's and New Yawkers - we fit. Ohio State football, Penn State football, Michigan, Iowa.......hell yeah, we better get recruiting hard. Big 10 basketball tournament at MSG? It fits.

 

[Dooley]

Yup, whoever asks first is where we go even if it is the PAC. This upcoming football season couldn't be any more important than it already is. A packed Rent would go a LONG way to changing that perception surrounding the football program. If we pack Yankee Stadium in November like we pack MSG, then someone will take notice. Got to get football back to a bowl game to wash this Pasqualoni our of our mouths as fast as possible! Amazing what kind of damage that one AWFUL hire by one former, inept Athletic Director can do.

 

[Sea Goat]

Gfunk - if you polled the UCONN fanbase, I would wager a confident guess that most would prefer B1G membership. There would be some that would be receptive to playing our traditional basketball rivals again, but I think that after the last snub when they chose to invite Louisville Community College, most UCONN fans gave up on the ACC. Personally, I think UCONN has more in common with the B1G than ACC anyway (strong academic large, flagship public university located in the North). That opinion was only solidified the day that the ACC invited a lousy academic commuter school in a mediocre southern TV market that plays second fiddle within its own state.

You have to think that Delany was looking around the Garden last Sunday and thought that he wanted more B1G basketball in NYC. There's one easy way to do that. I truly believe that football will improve leaps and bounds over the Pasqualoni era (nowhere to go but up, right?) and a B1G invite would send the program's stock through the roof. Just need to get that dang-fangled AAU acceptance, I guess.

F the ACC.

While we would take an invite from the ACC over the dumpster fire we're trapped in, I hope we end up in the B1G also. It isn't just because we were inexplicably left out, but how and why.

First, BC would have us believe that the rest of the ACC listened to them during the 2011 go around when Pitt and Syra.... were added. Do we want to be part of a conference that would pay any attention to an underachieving, newbie driven by resentment and insecurity? Then ND gets a nod for membership on its terms when the B1G wouldn't bite. Do we want to be part of a conference that gives "most favored nations" status to an institution with a reputation derived far back into last century? Finally, Louisville gets a nod over us - enough said! Do we want to be part of a conference that would sully a pretty good academic reputation by adding a clearly inferior academic institution?

We need AAU status for the B1G and I think we'll get there. Once we do, the B1G should come calling. We'll see.

 

[RuffRuff]

It really is an interesting choice, isn't it? While we all have a burning, resenting grudge towards the ACC for all the realignment history, eltisim, snubs, poaching, it is the better fit. To whom who likened us more to the Big Ten schools, not true. We aren't a mass scaled state school of those proportions with rabid football fan bases. The Big Ten is only a better fit if the idea is to grow into a similar type of university - football stadium size AAU/research obviously, etc. Without question, the ACC makes more sense. It's a hoops first conference, has rivals all over the place, is smarter geographically and comparatively from an academic standpoint. But boy, would it feel good to tell all the balloon knots in the ACC to suck it.

 

[Drumguy]

It really is an interesting choice, isn't it? While we all have a burning, resenting grudge towards the ACC for all the realignment history, eltisim, snubs, poaching, it is the better fit. To whom who likened us more to the Big Ten schools, not true. We aren't a mass scaled state school of those proportions with rabid football fan bases. The Big Ten is only a better fit if the idea is to grow into a similar type of university - football stadium size AAU/research obviously, etc. Without question, the ACC makes more sense. It's a hoops first conference, has rivals all over the place, is smarter geographically and comparatively from an academic standpoint. But boy, would it feel good to tell all the balloon knots in the ACC to suck it.

The University has made it clear it is getting bigger and more into research. The BIG profile fits where the administration see us.

 

[btstimpy]

Gfunk - if you polled the UCONN fanbase, I would wager a confident guess that most would prefer B1G membership. There would be some that would be receptive to playing our traditional basketball rivals again, but I think that after the last snub when they chose to invite Louisville Community College, most UCONN fans gave up on the ACC. Personally, I think UCONN has more in common with the B1G than ACC anyway (strong academic large, flagship public university located in the North). That opinion was only solidified the day that the ACC invited a lousy academic commuter school in a mediocre southern TV market that plays second fiddle within its own state.

You have to think that Delany was looking around the Garden last Sunday and thought that he wanted more B1G basketball in NYC. There's one easy way to do that. I truly believe that football will improve leaps and bounds over the Pasqualoni era (nowhere to go but up, right?) and a B1G invite would send the program's stock through the roof. Just need to get that dang-fangled AAU acceptance, I guess.

F the ACC.

These sentiments are the prevailing ones here, but what is perplexing is that the opinion is that the ACC is so awful for taking Louisville (2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Champion and Sugar Bowl Champion) over UConn, and that the Big Ten is wonderful for taking Rutgers (no championships in anything for forever in the past or threatening to win one in forever in the future) over UConn. Both Conferences snubbed UConn if you will, but it's ok to do it for Rutgers, but not Louisville. Neither Rutgers nor Louisville are academic poster children. Perplexing.

I'd like to see UConn in the ACC, and UConn would fit well. There will be another spot at some point in the future. But many here don't want this, so it's a moot point I guess. The worst thing the ACC could do is bring in a whole fan base that doesn't like the ACC to start with.

 

[whaler11]

Odd a genius from genius factory Virginia would talk about mute points.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I despise the ACC so much, I honestly think it's probably unhealthy. While we would have better rivals in the ACC and would be able to compete right away with the Northern teams in football, I think I would still prefer the B1G even knowing that football would damn near be an insurmountable task on a year in year out basis.

 

[btstimpy]

Odd a genius from genius factory Virginia would talk about mute points.

True. It's been a long week, but Friday is finally here.

 

[Fishy]

I was going to expand and sugarcoat this, but Jesus, the Virginia guy is a dense piece of work.

 

[uconndogs]

I despise the ACC so much, I honestly think it's probably unhealthy. While we would have better rivals in the ACC and would be able to compete right away with the Northern teams in football, I think I would still prefer the B1G even knowing that football would damn near be an insurmountable task on a year in year out basis.

We would be middle of the pack B1G very quickly and probably were under Edsall's last years. Mich. and OSU would be tough road to hoe, but they are for everyone.

 

[WestCoastHusky]

These sentiments are the prevailing ones here, but what is perplexing is that the opinion is that the ACC is so awful for taking Louisville (2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Champion and Sugar Bowl Champion) over UConn, and that the Big Ten is wonderful for taking Rutgers (no championships in anything for forever in the past or threatening to win one in forever in the future) over UConn. Both Conferences snubbed UConn if you will, but it's ok to do it for Rutgers, but not Louisville. Neither Rutgers nor Louisville are academic poster children. Perplexing.

I'd like to see UConn in the ACC, and UConn would fit well. There will be another spot at some point in the future. But many here don't want this, so it's a moot point I guess. The worst thing the ACC could do is bring in a whole fan base that doesn't like the ACC to start with.

Stmpy, you are a royal ACC guy and I appreciate that. I don't have anything against UVA since I believe UVA was one of the schools along with UNC, Duke and Wake that wanted the Huskies.

However, comparing B1G taking to ACC taking Louisville is just ridiculous. B1G took RU because they wanted a new market and RU is similar in profile to other B1G schools. RU might suck in everything but they at least fit the profile. UL, on the other hand, has zero in common with ACC schools. They are a horrible academic school in a small market, not on the Atlantic coast, and is the distant second school in a poor state. I understand ACC did it out of fear and desperation. But, realignment is a long term marriage, not picking schools based on what have you done for me lately. Meanwhile, you got a school that fit every single ACC profile and you skipped us and leave us to die in the AAC while commuter schools like UL get a life boat? UL is a pig with a bright lipstick. They fudged their revenue by screwing over city of Louisviile with a shady lease. Did you know YUM center is $800M in debt and the bond that financed it is in junk status?

You can't blame UCONN fans for being bitter. We can't stand the ACC because of its short sightness and acting like the old BE. You guys also gave ND the old BE deal. The worst of it all is you guys let BCU blocked us and let their of an AD bragged about it to the media. Because of these moves, ACC is doomed to fail once sugar daddy ESPiN has no more use for it or when FSU get a better offer elsewhere. The fact that ACC s now made up of bunch of schools with not much in common is not a good thing either. In the ACC, only UVA and UNC are our peers. You can't fault us for wanting to go to a conference with many schools that are similar to us.

 

[HawkHusky]

Stmpy, you are a royal ACC guy and I appreciate that. I don't have anything against UVA since I believe UVA was one of the schools along with UNC, Duke and Wake that wanted the Huskies.

However, comparing B1G taking to ACC taking Louisville is just ridiculous. B1G took RU because they wanted a new market and RU is similar in profile to other B1G schools. RU might suck in everything but they at least fit the profile. UL, on the other hand, has zero in common with ACC schools. They are a horrible academic school in a small market, not on the Atlantic coast, and is the distant second school in a poor state. I understand ACC did it out of fear and desperation. But, realignment is a long term marriage, not picking schools based on what have you done for me lately. Meanwhile, you got a school that fit every single ACC profile and you skipped us and leave us to die in the AAC while commuter schools like UL get a life boat? UL is a pig with a bright lipstick. They fudged their revenue by screwing over city of Louisviile with a shady lease. Did you know YUM center is $800M in debt and the bond that financed it is in junk status?

You can't blame UCONN fans for being bitter. We can't stand the ACC because of its short sightness and acting like the old BE. You guys also gave ND the old BE deal. The worst of it all is you guys let BCU block us and let their of an AD brag about it to the media. Because of these moves, ACC is doomed to fail once sugar daddy ESPiN has no more use for it or when FSU get a better offer elsewhere.

Exactly. I'd love to share a conference with UVA, Duke, and UNC, but when I look at the ACC in its totality, I want nothing to do with it.

Go B1G or go home.

 

[whaler11]

I'll take the Big 10 and their money given the choice but come on.