Why so much UCONN hate?

[HuskyU]

I've lurked here for quite a while. I finally decided to join to talk sports and feeling the need to defend my rooting interest. There is clearly a lot of animosity towards the AAC (some well deserved), but I'm surprised how much of it is towards UCONN. While we did ultimately jump ship and join the ranks of FBS football, to my knowledge, UCONN maintained a favorable relationship with the C7 upon our break-up.

The UCONN fanbase is not happy right now. I'm a huge UCONN fan (and yes, Men's and Women's hoops take precedence for me), but I'm a true fan that loves all things/all sports UCONN. I'm very happy to have a series with Georgetown and hope that the Villanova talks come to fruition (along with other past conference mates). At the same time, UCONN has always strived to compete at the highest level in every sport. I don't fault my Huskies for trying to bring football to that level.

Lastly, I will say that I am glad to see the Big East doing well. I also hope that we can get some more OOC scheduling with your programs, as I think it is in the best interest of college basketball and fans across the country. Good luck this season and all the best.

[billyjack]

I think many or most here, including me, would take UConn in a heartbeat as long as they gave up football.
Overall to me I think the Huskies were great conference mates for 35 years, but there are some solid reasons why fans might dislike UConn...

Some of those solid reasons for dislike:
- some of their fans on other sites are annoying and bash the Big East.
- some of their newer fans think Dr Naismith invented basketball in 1999.
- some think Calhoun bent the rules to win.
- some recall that UConn's President was being a pain, publicly campaigning for an ACC-invitation when we were supposed to show some solidarity as a conference, just before the split in December 2012.
- UConn won't agree to a true home-and-home with Providence.
- some of their fans that I work with talk for hours about the UConn women's hoops team, which I don't care about, and get mad when I yawn 10 minutes into the one-way discussion.
- some think college football is a waste of resources and truly think UConn is going down the wrong path.

Having said all that, I think only a couple of posters here were really hating on UConn, and they don't represent the great majority here.

[GumbyDamnit!]

BJack on point.

I've always hoped that somehow UCONN would make its way back to the BE nest. As a hoops fan and long time BE fan how could you not yearn to see those long time rivalries rekindled? Some of my best Nova hoops memories involve games vs UCONN.

I think the "hate" is rooted in a couple of things as BJack mentioned:

1. Calhoun was not a likeable guy and guys like him and Boeheim valued wins over program integrity. Players with questionable character (stealing laptops, etc) who went unpunished, whispers of impropriety on the recruiting trail, Calhoun just acting like a prick most of the time, etc. There has been none of that drama at all in the nBE. Quality schools with quality coaches recruiting exemplary student athletes. I like that.
2. Like it our not UCONN hitched their wagon to FB. Like Pitt, Cuse, L'ville they purposefully sacrificed what was the greatest BB in the country in pursuit of the almighty FB dollar. As a hoops fan it broke my heart what happened to the oBE and one thing is to blame: FB.
3. We compete in the same market for players. If Nova loses out on a recruit to SHU or Prov or SJU, there is solace in that the kid stays in the BE. It helps the overall strength of the conf, which benefits Nova indirectly. The BE has some juice again. With the exception of maybe DePaul every program is trending up. The same can't be said for the AAC, which is a good thing for us IMO. I want a stud HS player to recognize that the BE is THE premier hoops conference option in the Northeast (our recruiting sweet spot). And I want Nova to be THE premier hoops program in this same area. As of today I would say that the 3 other main competitors for that title are UCONN, Cuse and Gtown. So selfishly if we are a perennial T 10 and UCONN and Cuse continue to miss the tourney more and more, that helps us tremendously perception-wise.

[Noonzy]

Billy Jack, if you can find the post on the Providence Scout board by the Godfather about UConn please post it. That was a gem. It's about the UConn fans.

[NovaBall]

I don't hate uconn

I think it is sad to see them tarnishing their basketball brand in pursuit of low level fbs football.

[Friar82]

Here's a link to the Godfather's post...

http://friarblog.com/2009/01/30/74319473/


That aside:

1) I wouldn't trust a football school in the BE conference, ever again. UConn would need to shed football in order to come back
2) Furthermore, UConn would need to split the shares that it accumulated when the BE split, with the so called Catholic 7 which surrendered them
3) UConn fans would need to accept a lifetime ban from chanting U-C-O-N-N...UConn...UConn...UConn within a 5-mile limit of any opposing BE arena
4) UConn fans would need to stop dropping the "NC" reference in any discussion where opposing opinions are being shared. We don't care at this point, as we're all about the future - which is brighter than prospects in the AAC

[gosports1]

The ship has sailed for UConn. They are not coming back, They have no interest in that and quite frankly unless they put their FB in the patriot or colonial league we shouldnt be interested in them either as conference member

[whiteandblue77]

I've lurked here for quite a while. I finally decided to join to talk sports and feeling the need to defend my rooting interest. There is clearly a lot of animosity towards the AAC (some well deserved), but I'm surprised how much of it is towards UCONN. While we did ultimately jump ship and join the ranks of FBS football, to my knowledge, UCONN maintained a favorable relationship with the C7 upon our break-up.

The UCONN fanbase is not happy right now. I'm a huge UCONN fan (and yes, Men's and Women's hoops take precedence for me), but I'm a true fan that loves all things/all sports UCONN. I'm very happy to have a series with Georgetown and hope that the Villanova talks come to fruition (along with other past conference mates). At the same time, UCONN has always strived to compete at the highest level in every sport. I don't fault my Huskies for trying to bring football to that level.

Lastly, I will say that I am glad to see the Big East doing well. I also hope that we can get some more OOC scheduling with your programs, as I think it is in the best interest of college basketball and fans across the country. Good luck this season and all the best.

Thanks for posting! Believe me when I say that there isn't any UCONN hate (if so only from old rivalry hate) right now. I GUARANTEE if you asked any/all true Big East fans who actually graduated from said universities who we would love to have in or back (out of all the REALISTIC choices) UCONN would be the unanimous number 1 (of course there is still the Notre Dame pipe dream but I think that's a tad delusional). It's your compelling situation that is teasing us, and it's your own institution and AD who you need to be hating on right now, because if you wanted to join us you'd be in. Period. If you're not willing to sacrifice football dreams for Basketball greatness then you basically are rejecting the Big East and therefore asking for the said hate.

[adoraz]

I'll be frank here: I think it's smart for UConn to wait it out for 5 or so years as I think they have a decent shot at a P5 invite.

We're already into year 3 though. The AAC is a disaster in basketball and they cannot afford to wait it out much longer, especially if they aren't chosen by the Big 12 this year.

[billyjack]

Billy Jack, if you can find the post on the Providence Scout board by the Godfather about UConn please post it. That was a gem. It's about the UConn fans.

Man, that never gets old. Hilarious. Thanks for finding that friar82.


Edit: let me stress that the newer younger UConn fans are annoying. The older fans are sensible, the ones that remember like the Karl Hobbs and Vernon Giscombe years.