SU and UConn set to play at MSG this year

[IthacaMatt]

You lost all credibility with this last statement. We rarely compete with UConn? Do you follow recruiting at all?

2014: UConn really wanted McCullough
2015: UConn really wanted Richardson and Diagne
2016: UConn really wanted Battle

In the last 3 recruiting classes, we competed with UConn for literally half (4 of 8) of our commits.

And this 2017 class is extremely important, if we want to establish ourselves as the unquestioned NCAAB team in the Northeast. Losing these critical NYC kids to UConn or MD or whoever would not be a good look.

Hey, I'm sorry I "lost all credibility with you" over that statement. I take a much longer view than you. Over the years, the few big time recruiting battles we got into with them included Rudy Gay, a long time ago. Was UConn a finalist for any of those guys listed above? They might have wanted people, but I don't recall any of those guys being there at the end when their classes were decided.

If you look at who they have taken in their last 4 classes, I don't think there is a single one of those guys that we were after. That's what matters, not who makes somebody's early list when they list every top 50 player - especially UConn, where Ollie seems to put out 20 or more offers per year. We are much more selective in who we recruit. You see it in the number of offers we have outstanding; it's not very many. We focus on guys we identify and we stick to them for a long time. UConn casts a wider net; that doesn't mean that they get any better or any worse players than us. It's just what is.

So, no, I don't see many of their guys in their last 4 classes who were guys we really focused on.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Beating UConn on a big stage year after year goes a much longer way in solidifying us as the more prominent northeast program than pretending they don't exist and refusing to schedule them. As EastCoast said us not playing them wouldn't make that material of a difference on their national profile.

Schedule them, beat them, it's on a big stage, fun game to play in and sell to recruits who grew up watching the BE battles. We beat them as often as we have lately and then we tell Nick Richards, Hami Diallo, Jordan Tucker etc. if you want to stay close to home we're the big dog in the region and have proven it head to head. What's the problem with that?

As some have said, for the generation of people under 35 UConn is a big time program. People under that age don't care that they weren't good until the early mid 90's when growing up you've seen them win 4 titles. It's delusional to think just because we don't schedule UConn it will be this massive blow to their program.

And who seriously cares what other boards people go on? If you care then you take internet message boards way too seriously.

What does it gain us in recruiting? Again, I don't think it's a lot. UConn isn't in any talent hotbed. It's a small state. Most of the best players there are prep school kids. Is UConn any better long term than the people we will be playing every year in the ACC? How much TV coverage does UConn get from January until March? Not very damn much.

 

[cuseguy]

What does it gain us in recruiting? Again, I don't think it's a lot. UConn isn't in any talent hotbed. It's a small state. Most of the best players there are prep school kids. Is UConn any better long term than the people we will be playing every year in the ACC? How much TV coverage does UConn get from January until March? Not very damn much.

UConn recruits nationally.

SU is playing UConn because it's a great regional matchup against an old rival with an opportunity to play in NYC in what will be a highly watched game in the Northeast.

If SU wants to recruit players from the Northeast, it needs to play some games in the Northeast -- and not just Syracuse.

I see no problem playing UConn.

 

[EastCoast2]

Hey, I'm sorry I "lost all credibility with you" over that statement. I take a much longer view than you. Over the years, the few big time recruiting battles we got into with them included Rudy Gay, a long time ago. Was UConn a finalist for any of those guys listed above? They might have wanted people, but I don't recall any of those guys being there at the end when their classes were decided.

If you look at who they have taken in their last 4 classes, I don't think there is a single one of those guys that we were after. That's what matters, not who makes somebody's early list when they list every top 50 player - especially UConn, where Ollie seems to put out 20 or more offers per year. We are much more selective in who we recruit. You see it in the number of offers we have outstanding; it's not very many. We focus on guys we identify and we stick to them for a long time. UConn casts a wider net; that doesn't mean that they get any better or any worse players than us. It's just what is.

So, no, I don't see many of their guys in their last 4 classes who were guys we really focused on.

Hamidou Diallo
Nick Richards
Jordan Tucker
Mo Bamba

UConn is after all 4 of these guys hard, and so is SU. As I said before, if we want to be "New York's team", we need to win these recruiting battles against UConn. And yes, UConn is going to be top 5 for a lot of these players.

 

[Ward]

What does it gain us in recruiting? Again, I don't think it's a lot. UConn isn't in any talent hotbed. It's a small state. Most of the best players there are prep school kids. Is UConn any better long term than the people we will be playing every year in the ACC? How much TV coverage does UConn get from January until March? Not very damn much.

What? If you think I said we should play UConn so we can have more recruiting success in the state of Connecticut then I'm just going to assume you didn't read my post.

 

[HOFCeluck]

What does it gain us in recruiting? Again, I don't think it's a lot. UConn isn't in any talent hotbed. It's a small state. Most of the best players there are prep school kids. Is UConn any better long term than the people we will be playing every year in the ACC? How much TV coverage does UConn get from January until March? Not very damn much.

What does it matter if there is some ancillary benefit? The fact that it would be a good game is reason in and of itself.

 

[HOFCeluck]

Uh, no. We only got into the ACC a few years ago, like three if I'm not mistaken.

So no one was throwing dirt on them in 2001? Or 2007? Or 2010?

I stand corrected. I guess it was only 15 years.

 

[TexanMark]

So we are going into double digits of thread pages talking about this?

Sorry to break it to the UConn Bury Crowd...they have 4 recent Natty's, they are not going away. They are elite like us.

I hope this becomes an annual game in our home away from home (MSG). Cuse will win most of the time and we'll have the crowd majority. Huge advantage for our fans as lots of them live in NYC and not out at the end of a train line in suburban CT.

The 6 OT game, Calhoun, Boeheim, our fan base vs their fan base...great media exposure will drive this into must see tv. The best news is we go on and play Duke and the ACC and they play Memphis and AAC dregs.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Hamidou Diallo
Nick Richards
Jordan Tucker
Mo Bamba

UConn is after all 4 of these guys hard, and so is SU. As I said before, if we want to be "New York's team", we need to win these recruiting battles against UConn. And yes, UConn is going to be top 5 for a lot of these players.

Who's the last player we lost to Uconn that we really wanted?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Who's the last player we lost to Uconn that we really wanted?

Precisely. The last ones I can remember are Charlie Villanueva, the point guard they got when we had to settle for Josh Wright and the aforementioned Rudy Gay - for whom UConn paid his AAU coach something like $40,000 to host some event. Who are the others? Just go back and look at their commitments over the years, and ask yourself, how many of those were we finalists for? There are damn few. Doesn't mean UConn is not a good program with good players, but I don't think we have gone head-to-head for players very many times at all, and I've been following this stuff for a very long time

 

[Cusefan0307]

Precisely. The last ones I can remember are Charlie Villanueva, the point guard they got when we had to settle for Josh Wright and the aforementioned Rudy Gay - for whom UConn paid his AAU coach something like $40,000 to host some event. Who are the others? Just go back and look at their commitments over the years, and ask yourself, how many of those were we finalists for? There are damn few. Doesn't mean UConn is not a good program with good players, but I don't think we have gone head-to-head for players very many times at all, and I've been following this stuff for a very long time

My main problem EastCoast2's point of view is his posts insinuate that we are consistently losing recruiting battles against them because we aren't competing against them well right now.

We just beat them in a major tournament in December, are 8-2 against them in the last 10 and just made the final four. If anything, UConn fan's should be concerned about where they currently stand at the moment. Listen, I get they've won three National titles, since we won our last one, but this isn't 2005 anymore. They aren't playing top competition and they aren't on ESPN as much as they used to be.

 

[HOFCeluck]

point guard they got when we had to settle for Josh Wright

A J Price. I think we actually offered him, Wright, and Kyle Lowry at the same time and took the first to commit.

And it's still hilarious 10 years later how blatant UConn cheated to get Rudy Gay... And how their fans swear it was all on the up and up.

 

[OttoMets]

A J Price. I think we actually offered him, Wright, and Kyle Lowry at the same time and took the first to commit.

And it's still hilarious 10 years later how blatant UConn cheated to get Rudy Gay... And how their fans swear it was all on the up and up.

Gary Williams complained so bitterly that the NCAA banned exhibitions with AAU-affiliated teams.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Gary Williams complained so bitterly that the NCAA banned exhibitions with AAU-affiliated teams.

He hated traveling for recruiting. That's why he quit and why his teams at the end were rather average.

 

[orangefog]

My main problem EastCoast2's point of view is his posts insinuate that we are consistently losing recruiting battles against them because we aren't competing against them well right now.

We just beat them in a major tournament in December, are 8-2 against them in the last 10 and just made the final four. If anything, UConn fan's should be concerned about where they currently stand at the moment. Listen, I get they've won three National titles, since we won our last one, but this isn't 2005 anymore. They aren't playing top competition and they aren't on ESPN as much as they used to be.

They are the best and most sought after program by the P5 conferences. They have their choice of ACC, B1G and B12. They know how great they are, just ask them. I feel honored that they lower themselves to play us at a building that they apparently own. Afterall, MSG is closer to Storrs than it is to Syracuse. I really don't like this game, because we have no chance to win. I hope they show mercy.

 

[tentoesin]

Hello Oranges! Husky fan here. I’m surprised so many of you are so down on the idea of this game. I have some great memories of the Syracuse/UConn rivalry including our win at the 1990 BE Championship while I was a student, the 6 overtime game which is one of the best college basketball games I have ever seen, your win in the 2012 BE Tournament in a great, competitive low scoring game and our win in overtime in the 2011 BE Tournament en route to a championship among many, many others. It is an opportunity for our programs to continue this rivalry at the World’s Most Famous Arena, it is exposure in NYC, likely a national TV game, it will get great ratings and should be a heck of a lot of fun. It has to be an upgrade to another home game against Colgate for you guys I would think.

I see some of this other stuff in this thread that some of you are worried that giving UConn the tremendous opportunity to play a program of your unprecedented stature in a neutral court game would somehow prop up the degraded state of UConn’s basketball program. Why give a mid-major a game against the almighty Orange? Well, don’t worry yourselves about that. Neither program will be seriously affected either positively or adversely by our continuing a great college basketball rivalry. As fans we should just enjoy it and be happy that our ADs recognize that scheduling good out of conference opponents helps build a stronger resume for March and a stronger product to sell in order to continue the rich traditions that have been built. Just enjoy the game and the rivalry and don’t worry about long term implications that don’t actually exist. I’m looking forward to it and good luck!

 

[IthacaMatt]

Hello Oranges! Husky fan here. I’m surprised so many of you are so down on the idea of this game. I have some great memories of the Syracuse/UConn rivalry including our win at the 1990 BE Championship while I was a student, the 6 overtime game which is one of the best college basketball games I have ever seen, your win in the 2012 BE Tournament in a great, competitive low scoring game and our win in overtime in the 2011 BE Tournament en route to a championship among many, many others. It is an opportunity for our programs to continue this rivalry at the World’s Most Famous Arena, it is exposure in NYC, likely a national TV game, it will get great ratings and should be a heck of a lot of fun. It has to be an upgrade to another home game against Colgate for you guys I would think.

I see some of this other stuff in this thread that some of you are worried that giving UConn the tremendous opportunity to play a program of your unprecedented stature in a neutral court game would somehow prop up the degraded state of UConn’s basketball program. Why give a mid-major a game against the almighty Orange? Well, don’t worry yourselves about that. Neither program will be seriously affected either positively or adversely by our continuing a great college basketball rivalry. As fans we should just enjoy it and be happy that our ADs recognize that scheduling good out of conference opponents helps build a stronger resume for March and a stronger product to sell in order to continue the rich traditions that have been built. Just enjoy the game and the rivalry and don’t worry about long term implications that don’t actually exist. I’m looking forward to it and good luck!

The 1990 season put you guys on the map. It interrupted a period where we seemed to have finally turned the corner and started beating Georgetown to settle who was top dog in the conference, especially as Louie Carneseca began to decline. Jim Calhoun was always kind of a douche, in my opinion, and was a dirty recruiter. You stole Donyell Marshall away from us and cost us Jalen Rose, at a time that could have kept us on top of the Big East. It was only because of the cloud of probation hanging over us that you guys became relevant at all. You did kick our asses for a while, and you did rule the conference for a while. You do have a terrific program, but in my mind, your success came at our expense. I will always hold a grudge about that, as do quite a few people of my age group/generation of fans.

 

[tentoesin]

The 1990 season put you guys on the map. It interrupted a period where we seemed to have finally turned the corner and started beating Georgetown to settle who was top dog in the conference, especially as Louie Carneseca began to decline. Jim Calhoun was always kind of a douche, in my opinion, and was a dirty recruiter. You stole Donyell Marshall away from us and cost us Jalen Rose, at a time that could have kept us on top of the Big East. It was only because of the cloud of probation hanging over us that you guys became relevant at all. You did kick our asses for a while, and you did rule the conference for a while. You do have a terrific program, but in my mind, your success came at our expense. I will always hold a grudge about that, as do quite a few people of my age group/generation of fans.

Hi IthacaMatt,
I can understand not liking Calhoun and also not liking at the time that there was a "new kid" who was getting some attention if you will. But, this is still a good rivalry and there are still good reasons to have this game once in a while between our programs.
I'm always intrigued when people make statements that are absolute. Of all the myraid of things that would have to go into building a basketball program from a lower third major conference team to a national power from recruiting, hard work, great coaching, some luck, buy in from players, building a brand and on and on you really believe that: It was only because of the cloud of probation hanging over us that you guys became relevant at all?
That is kind of egocentric to an extent to think that one program's success was tied to something that happened to yours. Of course I understand programs vie for recruits and also play each other so they affect each other in that way. That said, let's assume that statement is true. You are misdirecting your grudge if that is the case. Your anger, or grudge if you will, should be directed at the person or people that got Syracuse's program put on probation in the first place. By your logic, had that not happened, Syracuse's program would have dominated the Big East throughout the 90s and 00s and UConn would have been...UMass for example.

 

[UConn76]

They are the best and most sought after program by the P5 conferences. They have their choice of ACC, B1G and B12. They know how great they are, just ask them. I feel honored that they lower themselves to play us at a building that they apparently own. Afterall, MSG is closer to Storrs than it is to Syracuse. I really don't like this game, because we have no chance to win. I hope they show mercy.

I like your train of thought... Well said..

 

[HOFCeluck]

Your anger, or grudge if you will, should be directed at the person or people that got Syracuse's program put on probation in the first place.

There's a buttload of irony here considering you guys will blame everyone under the sun for your APRban and CR problems.

Everyone but Uconn, obv.

 

[dasher]

I like your train of thought... Well said..

If only you had a board that you could go to that had fellow UConn fans...

 

[dasher]

Hi IthacaMatt,
I can understand not liking Calhoun and also not liking at the time that there was a "new kid" who was getting some attention if you will. But, this is still a good rivalry and there are still good reasons to have this game once in a while between our programs.
I'm always intrigued when people make statements that are absolute. Of all the myraid of things that would have to go into building a basketball program from a lower third major conference team to a national power from recruiting, hard work, great coaching, some luck, buy in from players, building a brand and on and on you really believe that: It was only because of the cloud of probation hanging over us that you guys became relevant at all?
That is kind of egocentric to an extent to think that one program's success was tied to something that happened to yours. Of course I understand programs vie for recruits and also play each other so they affect each other in that way. That said, let's assume that statement is true. You are misdirecting your grudge if that is the case. Your anger, or grudge if you will, should be directed at the person or people that got Syracuse's program put on probation in the first place. By your logic, had that not happened, Syracuse's program would have dominated the Big East throughout the 90s and 00s and UConn would have been...UMass for example.

Oh, and you can answer this question for us, why doesn't anyone want you? Face it flounder, if the AAC didn't have to take you, they wouldn't have.

 

[tee1222]

Oh, and you can answer this question for us, why doesn't anyone want you? Face it flounder, if the AAC didn't have to take you, they wouldn't have.

Flounder ripped it! I really needed that one today, thanks!

 

[Townie72]

I really don't get this nostalgia urge some have. Those that have this particular disease seem to think that somehow playing UConn keeps the rivalry alive.

Gentlemen and ladies, the rivalry is DEAD. It's a ex-rivalry.

This used to be a "great rivalry". It was great because the games meant something in the Big East races. Now its games played to cash in on nostalgia.

Of course, its better to play UConn than more Colgates. But there are a large number of schools we could play that are equally or more beneficial for our SOS in any year.

UConn and Georgetown have an extra incentive to want to play SU given their conference situations. They need the visibility more and they need to remind people of the good old days of the Big East.

I'd like to see us move on. Not try and relive the past.

But I don't blame SU or the other schools for trying to cash in on fans longing for the good old days.

 

[cuseguy]

I really don't get this nostalgia urge some have. Those that have this particular disease seem to think that somehow playing UConn keeps the rivalry alive. Gentlemen and ladies, the rivalry is DEAD. It's a ex-rivalry. This used to be a "great rivalry". It was great because the games meant something in the Big East races. Now its games played to cash in on nostalgia. Of course, its better to play UConn than more Colgates. But there are a large number of schools we could play that are equally or more beneficial for our SOS in any year. UConn and Georgetown have an extra incentive to want to play SU given their conference situations. They need the visibility more and they need to remind people of the good old days of the Big East. I'd like to see us move on. Not try and relive the past. But I don't blame SU or the other schools for trying to cash in on fans longing for the good old days.

Move on to what?

Playing more games with Georgia Tech, Florida State and Wake Forest?

Those games are meaningless to me -- as they should be to everyone.

The SU-Duke and SU-Carolina games will never live up to some of the great rivalries from the Big East days. Some will try to pretend they're as good, but they're kidding themselves.

I just can't too overly excited about a conference where a majority of the schools are located south of DC -- four in North Carolina -- and one that rotates its conference tourney location every other year. It's pathetic and weak.

And I think you fail to realize that a great majority of SU fans live in the NY metro, Philly and DC area. By playing these games -- against some of SU's regional rivals -- it's a great opportunity for these fans to see SU play.