AAC and UConn Denial

[SJHooper]

Just poked over to the Boneyard (UConn forum) to get a pulse and get some laughs. Whoever said UConn fans are Yankees fans who only know how to say "But, but...we won the championship years ago!" was spot on. UConn fans are completely blinded by their denial. They are in complete shock. Up is down and down is up. Kind of like when you get caught in a wave that crashes down on you and disorients you to the point where you don't know which way is up. They will say they won a ring while in the AAC. Hah! Gotcha! We still got it! Uh...except Ollie did it with Calhoun's players. Lavin inherited a great team at St. John's and beat tons of top 5 teams. Sometimes it's not the coach, but the players you inherit. They will never admit Ollie inherited Calhoun's players, but whatever. They also won't admit gravity is real. UConn deserves credit where credit is due, they are a storied program that really had a great run. Unfortunately for them, that run is over. They know it whether consciously or not, and that is why their anger has reached this level. First they argued the Big East was nothing special. Where are the top 10 teams? Hah! Gotcha! Now we have 3 top 10 teams. 4 ranked total. 40% of our league is ranked. Pshh! Well, they might be top 10 but but...they are not great programs they are only decent! How many rings have they won? UConn fans are kings of moving the goal posts. They will say "Hah! You can't kick a 50 yard FG!" then we make that FG with room to spare and they say "Yeah well, bet you can't make a 75 yard FG!". It's useless even arguing with them. If you think top 10 teams (some who were unranked in preseason) did not earn their ranking at this point, you are not worth the trouble.

Their argument now is that the BE doesn't do anything in the tourney. They have a point so far. But what they don't tell you is that the NCAA tourney is a complete crap shoot. It's the playoffs. Make the playoffs and anything can happen. You can be the best team in the regular season then have 1 off game and your run is over. The Cardinals won the WS as a wildcard in 2006. The Mets were better by leaps and bounds. My point? The best teams don't always win. Look at SJ vs. Cuse. Cuse is way better than us talent wise, but we were red hot and won. Cuse had an off game. This is why you can't throw out the regular season and only pay attention to the tourney results. So yes, we do need to make some kind of noise every so often in the tourney, but it's not like we need 3 teams in the Final Four to get respect. UConn = New York Giants. Regular season they are up and down. A few nice wins but nothing crazy. Then the playoffs come and they get scorching hot and go all the way. That's what UConn did. They act like they bushwacked through the entire NCAA dominating everyone. The NCAA tourney is about seeding, matchups, and luck. There's no rhyme or reason why George Mason made the Final Four once. FGCU in the Elite 8? There are cinderellas every year that prove luck is a big factor. Proof the best teams don't always win. It's a single elimination tournament with zero room for error. It's funny how they hate St. John's so much but got stomped by us at MSG in 2011 and taken down by us yet again in 2012. We beat them the last 2 times. St. John's was in the top 15 at some point twice in the last 5 years with tons of ranked wins. We are not what we once were, but 1985 was not our only success. Once we have an actual team on the court we will make noise i.e. next year or the year after.

UConn is on a sinking ship and all they can do is cry as they look at their precious rings from their Big East past while we are laughing from the shore drinking champagne. Their ring from their year in the AAC was also from the Big East from Calhoun's players. They have yet to do anything without their Big East influence being a part of it. The real cut from Big East ties happened after they last won their championship with Calhoun's kids. So now we will see what they do without that tradition. The Big East was expected to be a mid major failure and it has shocked people into remaining one of the premier conferences in basketball. We are a Maserati and the AAC is a Toyota. They can argue those cars are the same, but we just roll our eyes and laugh. Glad to be in such a good conference with like-minded members! Cheers.

[MUPanther]

Well, the Big East did have 4 schools in the round of 32 and Xavier did make the Sweet 16. The league was judged by what Villanova did not do last season.

[notkirkcameron]

UConn should be a cautionary tale (along with UMass, USF, and to a lesser extent, Temple) for any school that wishes to upgrade their football program.

The riches of FBS football are there...for some, but it's not always a happy ending. To quote the Good Book (Catholic school conference), "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" UConn, Cincinnati, and Temple's basketball programs are all down, playing substandard competition all because of the hunt for mediocre football.

[NovaBall]

UConn is a dead man walking in that hot mess of Conference of Americans. I caught a little of their game against Tulane recently, what a depressing image. It looked like one of those cupcake OOC games where nobody cared or was interested and should have only been aired on interweb stream.

Shame too. They really built up a nice program off the backboard of the Big East and the major media markets in their region. I don't expect them to go back to their pre-Big East days, but I do think that Cincy in C-USA under Huggins is their new plateau.

A smart move for them would be to every year use 5 of their OOC slots for the 5 east coast big east teams, home away series, and make sure two of those games are weekends in jan or feb. That way they retain some connection with the northeast instead of being relegated to the conference of americans outposts.

[DudeAnon]

Their fans are ass-hats. But like I have said previously they are really in a win-win situation. They can wait out conference realignment hoping to get a spot. If they are picked, they win. If not, they can jump back to the Big East. Their program and fanbase can endure the next 5 years in the AAC at the least.

[stever20]

UConn is a dead man walking in that hot mess of Conference of Americans. I caught a little of their game against Tulane recently, what a depressing image. It looked like one of those cupcake OOC games where nobody cared or was interested and should have only been aired on interweb stream.

Shame too. They really built up a nice program off the backboard of the Big East and the major media markets in their region. I don't expect them to go back to their pre-Big East days, but I do think that Cincy in C-USA under Huggins is their new plateau.

A smart move for them would be to every year use 5 of their OOC slots for the 5 east coast big east teams, home away series, and make sure two of those games are weekends in jan or feb. That way they retain some connection with the northeast instead of being relegated to the conference of americans outposts.

You do understand that Cincy in C-USA under Huggins got a #1 seed- and would have gone far had it not been for a bad injury....

[BEhomer]

I take issues when all these programs that leave BE act as if they are above the conference. They say they made the league what it is. While true to an extent there is no denying BE made them who they are.

And the history tells you those who left don't achieve the level of success they enjoyed in the BE.

[NovaBall]

Jim Boeheim understood the importance of hitching their rural outpost brand to the major northeast corridor markets with st john's, nova and Georgetown. Say what you will about Boeheim, but he never wanted to leave the Big East, and I think it was because he knew the importance of the affiliation and not just sentimental reasons.

[ChelseaFriar]

A smart move for them would be to every year use 5 of their OOC slots for the 5 east coast big east teams, home away series, and make sure two of those games are weekends in jan or feb. That way they retain some connection with the northeast instead of being relegated to the conference of americans outposts.

They won't give PC a home/away series. We are beneath them (even though we basically split games with them during their good years).

They will look to Georgetown, Villanova and St. John's. They are bigger brand names and sit in better recruiting areas.

[NovaBall]

A smart move for them would be to every year use 5 of their OOC slots for the 5 east coast big east teams, home away series, and make sure two of those games are weekends in jan or feb. That way they retain some connection with the northeast instead of being relegated to the conference of americans outposts.

They won't give PC a home/away series. We are beneath them (even though we basically split games with them during their good years).

They will look to Georgetown, Villanova and St. John's. They are bigger brand names and sit in better recruiting areas.

They would be idiotic not to give PC a home/away series. It is an easy trip for their fans. PC plays in a fantastic venue close to their fan base. PC has a media package where you could probably get that game on BIG FOX if they did it on a weekend. And it would generate more local buzz in southern new England than every single one of their Conference of Americans games.

I do think Nova is starting up a series with UConn next year. But UConn is the needy one in this situation. Not because the program is struggling, but rather because they are becoming geographically isolated. College sports are inherently regional and you have to establish the ties in your region to keep the program strong.