Pitino says UConn to ACC the dumbest thing he's ever heard

[mattp]

http://www.zagsblog.com/2011/09/27/pitino-calls-uconn-to-acc-dumbest-thing-hes-ever-heard/

i know it'll be unpopular to say, but i largely agree with him.

 

[JaYnYcE]

Why do you largely agree with him?


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[junglehusky]

It is kind of ridiculous if we leave one BCS conference for another. But that's not why we would leave.

 

[gars44]

I can't speak for Mattp, but I agree with him. First, football. If [big if, understood] but if the remaining teams hold pat, and add a few, we will have a football conference better than we had with Syracuse and Pitt, without any danger of losing our BCS bid. We can establish our own identity and not be in the ACC, not become a BC or a Wake Forest, but maintain our own identity. The ACC would "work" for us too, without question, I'm not blind - but so would a re-constituted BE with TCU, and some of the other schools I've mentioned, including the Air Force Academy and Annapolis. It works, and it is a big tent alliance that preserves the AQ.
Basketball: Uconn is now the size of a Kansas in basketball. Thanks to Jim Calhoun. In a new big east, either a 12/20 format, or 12 alone, Uconn can continue to dominate and win championships. We need a new bb facility, everyone sees that clearly now, but we can continue to win big. When UCLA was winning all those championships, the Pac was not a powerful conference. The power was always in the south east. No one cared that the Pac was not the strongest conference. All they cared about was UCLA. Why would we risk oblivion by joining the ACC for basketball? Nothing to gain, much to lose.

 

[The Funster]

I mostly don't agree with him. It's OK for Pitt and Syracuse to leave because they want something different? What the hell does that mean? Is he saying they left to get out of UConn's shadow? I do agree with him on BC, though. BC has regressed and I don't think the arrival of the other two teams in 2014 will halt that slide.

 

[mattp]

Why do you largely agree with him?

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the big east has been good to us,and we've been good for the big east. it's where our identity is. if we' go to the ACC we'll be their BC version 2.0. if we went straight to the ACC in 2003 we'd be a poor man's NCState in football, instead we played in the Fiesta Bowl last year. i love the BE bball tournament. The Big East is a very even conference in football so it provides us with more opportunity, so i like our chances of playing in a BCS bowl better here than there. as far as bball, we basically are the face of BE bball, now more than ever with Cuse gone. why give that up?

the only reason i'd want to leave is either for the Big Ten, which is a conference that means a lot more than just athletics, or if i genuinely thought the BE would lose it's autobid, and i'm not worried about that at all.

 

[Murph]

I don't understand why he thinks it's okay for 'Cuse to leave, but not us.

 

[Dann]

i think he shoul shutthefuckup
shut
the

up

-blackbush

 

[JaYnYcE]

With the recent departures and the rumor mill running wild nowadays, you don't see the big east losing it's autobid a possibility? What makes you think we will be able to keep it?


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[JaYnYcE]

Adding Air Force doesn't do it for me, I'm sorry


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[noeynox]

With the recent departures and the rumor mill running wild nowadays, you don't see the big east losing it's autobid a possibility? What makes you think we will be able to keep it?

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+1.

There is an article on ESPN that the SEC is looking to remove the two BCS bid per conference rule. Which current BCS conference is most likely to have to sacrifice their bid? The writing is on the wall on this. Air Force, Navy and Temple are supposed to ensure our BCS bid?

Come SEC take NC State and/or VA Tech. New MARKETS for you, since we keep hearing this is about markets.

 

[gars44]

the big east has been good to us,and we've been good for the big east. it's where our identity is. if we' go to the ACC we'll be their BC version 2.0. if we went straight to the ACC in 2003 we'd be a poor man's NCState in football, instead we played in the Fiesta Bowl last year. i love the BE bball tournament. The Big East is a very even conference in football so it provides us with more opportunity, so i like our chances of playing in a BCS bowl better here than there. the only reason i'd want to leave is either for the Big Ten, which is a conference that means a lot mroe than just athletics, or if i genuinely thought the BE would lose it's autobid, and i'm not worried about that at all.

If I may also add (sorry for the verbosity), it IS our identity. It get's lost in the morass of the ACC. Look, the Northeast is never going to be pre-eminent in football. There is never, ever going to be a northeastern version of TX/OK, or Auburn/Al, or Mich/Ohio State. Just not going to happen. BC/Syr is not going to rival that. Maybe Pitt can get it going with Penn State again, I don't know. If Penn State will even play them. Maybe they can get to "back yard brawl" status, which was never all that much anyway. So this idea of a northern ACC wing that will rejuvenate northeast "rivalries" is decades away, at best, and delusional at worst.
We join the ACC and we are immediately relegated to Wake Forest status. Yes, we are in, but where are we? We we would be irrelevant in a largely irrelevant conference. I would rather be in a renegade conference knocking off the big boys because we try harder and work harder - like Temple has been doing, like Boise State, like Va Tech (pre-ACC and still today) BYU, TCU, teams that are hungry. Hungry. Syracuse and Pitt are not hungry. Wake Forest and Virginia are not hungry. Even FSU is not hungry anymore. Miami is homogenized milk. So, let's just go out there and KICK A__ in a conference of misfits and renegades. You know who was hungry? Jim Calhoun was hungry. And he still is.

 

[IMind]

+1.

There is an article on ESPN that the SEC is looking to remove the two BCS bid per conference rule. Which current BCS conference is most likely to have to sacrifice their bid? The writing is on the wall on this. Air Force, Navy and Temple are supposed to ensure our BCS bid?

Come SEC take NC State and/or VA Tech. New MARKETS for you, since we keep hearing this is about markets.

That's fine but the last thing the BCS can afford to do is to become less exclusive. They're in deep as it is with all the controversy, etc. Can you imagine the political crapfest that will occur if the BCS takes away access?

 

[mattp]

i think TCU+anybody is better than Pitt+Cuse on the field in football. why would they take away our autobid when we just improved our product? plus the BCS is under a lot of pressure to become more inclusive, not less. do you really think the BCS wants more heat on it from Congress? i don't, so i don't think they'll tell the congressmen of 8 or 9 states that their state's public schools are having their funding cut

 

[BugsyCT]

I don't agree with Pitino's comments at all. As much as this situation stinks, if we go to the ACC we're in a much more stable situation. We have no idea what's going to be left of the BE whether we stay or not, and there's definitely no guarantee it would hang onto any BCS status. Since it looks like the B12 is staying in place any BE/B12 merger looks out the window. So who exactly will the BE add then to keep them a viable football conference? Is Pitino even paying attention to what's happening? We're not the only BE school looking to jump ship right now.

Not to mention - what will he say if UofL bolts like the rumors swirling around are indicating?

 

[IMind]

Oh and Pitino should STFU... Of course Louisville is exempt from this because....

It's not about basketball... if it were just about basketball we'd stay w/o much of an issue.

 

[mattp]

I don't understand why he thinks it's okay for 'Cuse to leave, but not us.

i don't think he's saying it's not okay, just that it doesn't make sense. from the way i read it he's saying 'cuse left b/c they were becoming marginal and needed to make a change due to their heading in the toilet. we're peaking right now, so why jump ship? that's the way i read it anyhow. kind of like how Mizzou or aTm would be crazy not to take a SEC membership, but Texas would be crazy to leave the B12. on the field Texas rules the roost and when you rule the roost you don't need to move

 

[gars44]

I don't agree with Pitino's comments at all. As much as this situation stinks, if we go to the ACC we're in a much more stable situation. We have no idea what's going to be left of the BE whether we stay or not, and there's definitely no guarantee it would hang onto any BCS status. Since it looks like the B12 is staying in place any BE/B12 merger looks out the window. So who exactly will the BE add then to keep them a viable football conference? Is Pitino even paying attention to what's happening? We're not the the only BE school looking to jump ship right now.

Not to mention - what will he say if UofL bolts like the rumors swirling around are indicating?

Yeah, you're right, if it all falls apart, then there is no choice. There is nothing to choose. He's talking about choosing stability for the big east. Every one has to choose it, however. Not one more defection. If everyone jumps, then the choice is no longer in our control. If Louisville and WVA jump, the choice becomes easy. Pitino is talking like a man who still has choices, which at this point we all do. We can hang tough. If we do that, we're fine. Now, if it breaks apart, then we have nothing to even think about. I wish there was a leader on the football side like Pitino.

 

[The Funster]

If I may also add (sorry for the verbosity), it IS our identity. It get's lost in the morass of the ACC. Look, the Northeast is never going to be pre-eminent in football. There is never, ever going to be a northeastern version of TX/OK, or Auburn/Al, or Mich/Ohio State. Just not going to happen. BC/Syr is not going to rival that. Maybe Pitt can get it going with Penn State again, I don't know. If Penn State will even play them. Maybe they can get to "back yard brawl" status, which was never all that much anyway. So this idea of a northern ACC wing that will rejuvenate northeast "rivalries" is decades away, at best, and delusional at worst.
We join the ACC and we are immediately relegated to Wake Forest status. Yes, we are in, but where are we? We we would be irrelevant in a largely irrelevant conference. I would rather be in a renegade conference knocking off the big boys because we try harder and work harder - like Temple has been doing, like Boise State, like Va Tech (pre-ACC and still today) BYU, TCU, teams that are hungry. Hungry. Syracuse and Pitt are not hungry. Wake Forest and Virginia are not hungry. Even FSU is not hungry anymore. Miami is homogenized milk. So, let's just go out there and KICK A__ in a conference of misfits and renegades. You know who was hungry? Jim Calhoun was hungry. And he still is.

There is a lot of merit in this post.

And if I felt UConn had better control of it's own destiny I'd be advocating for it myself. But that's the thing: UConn doesn't have control. A bunch of big football powers, schools and conferences, have a larger hand in our fate than we do.

 

[SAMCRO]

With the recent departures and the rumor mill running wild nowadays, you don't see the big east losing it's autobid a possibility? What makes you think we will be able to keep it?

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If WVU, UL, and UC leave, and TCU never shows up, we will lose the AQ status - not any question about it. If we keep the remaining teams together, TCU joins, and we add Navy and Air Force just for football, our overall league ranking goes up (I agree adding the acadamies is not ideal, but it would not hurt us FB-wise). Syracuse has been really, really bad these past 5 years, and Pitt has been only decent, not great. TCU trumps Pitt significantly, and both Air Force and Navy are big ranking upgrades over Syracuse.

Of course, this is all assuming the BCS sticks with the current criteria in gauging conferences to be worthy for the AQ status. If they do, using the last 3 years (2011 would be included in the 4 year review cycle) the Big East (including TCU's ranking -which we'd get) is currently ranked higher than both the B10 and the ACC. It would go SEC, P10, B12, BE, B10, ACC, and then MWC.

The 3 criteria the BCS looks at is:
(1) Average ranking of a conferences highest ranked team over a 4 year period - Big East is ahead of the ACC over the past 3 years.
(2) Average confernce ranking using the BCS computers - Big East is ahead of the B10 here (not even including TCU) over the past 3 years.
(3) Total # of teams finishing in the top 25 of the Final BCS rankings. It is weighted by the total # of schools each league has, the weighted result actually puts the Big East ahead of the B12, P12, and the ACC over the past 3 years.

So our AQ status is as solid if we do end up holding together, unless the BCS flips the script and changes the guidelines/qualifications.

 

[ZooCougar]

Pitino better get on the same page as his AD.

 

[upstater]

That's fine but the last thing the BCS can afford to do is to become less exclusive. They're in deep as it is with all the controversy, etc. Can you imagine the political crapfest that will occur if the BCS takes away access?

It's not a constraint though. They are simply removing the constraint. So it's not a limitation. They're allowing the bowls and BCS formula t decide who gets a bid instead of AQs. It's the opposite of limitation, but effectively it makes life difficult for everyone else.

 

[SAMCRO]

Pitino's ramblings are those of a man who desperately wants to keep the BE together, and for UL to remain a part of it. If the tables were turned, and it was UConn and Pitt in the ACC, and SU looking to move, Pitino would have said the same thing about Cuse. I predict that if UL does move west and join the B12, Pitino will not be coaching their hoop team much longer. He is an east coaster, and the east coast is where he wants to be involved. He also knows he loses a big edge in recruiting some of the NYC kids.

 

[gars44]

It's not a constraint though. They are simply removing the constraint. So it's not a limitation. They're allowing the bowls and BCS formula t decide who gets a bid instead of AQs. It's the opposite of limitation, but effectively it makes life difficult for everyone else.

It's a return to pre-BCS. Let the bowls and conferences do what they want. Forget about formulas. Before they had BCS formulas, bowls would make deals with conferences and independents, and they would invite. Completely without constraints. Anyone want to return to that system? Let them invite whoever they want? Listen, when the big dog rolls over, the little dogs have to scramble. We will be fine as long as they maintain the charade that is the BCS - and we're in it - in some form or other, which we will be in a properly re-constituted Big East.

 

[CTMike]

Pitino's comments are based on nostalgia for a basketball focused past, not the reality of where the Big East (or UConn, for that matter) is today or where they are heading.

Like it or not, UConn made a significant commitment to football. It's not about to bail on that commitment. The success story that he praises for the basketball team ain't gonna happen for the football team with the Big East the way it is heading. Simple as that. UConn aspires for greatness, the Big East is aspiring for survival right now. The ACC (or Big Ten, take your pick) offer more opportunities for greatness.