UConn and the Big 12

[Scooch]

We already have a lot of history with UConn football in a short span . Their first D1 coach played his college football as QB at Syracuse ( Randy Edsell ) and then their is Coach P . In any event , the BIG12 said they would announce their decision before the season .

A lot? The things you listed are semi-interesting "did you knows". They're not the basis for anything resembling a rivalry. We have more history with Colgate, maybe we should lobby Greensboro to get them in the ACC?

Snark aside, the B12 isn't adding UConn unless they're going to 16 teams. And even if they do add them, my point of view is: enjoy. In a world where the ACC was bold and implemented an expansion plan to truly try and lock down the northeast/east coast, UConn could have been a part of that. In reality, whatever. I live in CT so selfishly it'd be nice to have my home state be in the conference I follow. But it really doesn't matter.

 

[CousCuse]

Interesting. You look at UConn like I look at Maryland. Irrelevant to college athletics, and can't stand seeing ESPN make UVA crush that basketball team in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Boring. Would much rather play some other more interesting program that is at least challenging. Then again Ohio State was just as bad. Maybe change it to an ACC-SEC challenge to be more interesting.

And Edsall got involved at Maryland too.

You are in the heart of conference team concentration , losing Maryland didn't affect you much .

 

[Btstimpy]

You are in the heart of conference team concentration , losing Maryland didn't affect you much .

Losing Maryland didn't affect us at all. UVA's rivals are North Carolina and Virginia Tech. There was never any energy around the games with Maryland.

What's interesting is that West Virginia in the Big XII is affecting us much more than Maryland in the Big Ten. There are a ton of WVU fans in the Richmond area of Virginia. It is once in a blue moon that I even see a Maryland fan. WVU would be good in the ACC because of all of their local rivalries. They don't have one with UVA, but they do with Virginia Tech. I guess if I was in the Washington, DC area I'd see more Maryland stuff, but not where I am.

 

[JHarris44]

Losing Maryland didn't affect us at all. UVA's rivals are North Carolina and Virginia Tech. There was never any energy around the games with Maryland.

What's interesting is that West Virginia in the Big XII is affecting us much more than Maryland in the Big Ten. There are a ton of WVU fans in the Richmond area of Virginia. It is once in a blue moon that I even see a Maryland fan. WVU would be good in the ACC because of all of their local rivalries. They don't have one with UVA, but they do with Virginia Tech.

WVU is also a historic rival of Syracuse. There's even a trophy: "The Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy is the trophy that went annually to the winner of the game. It was introduced in 1993 and is named after former WVU football player and Syracuse head coach Ben Schwartzwalder, who died in April of that year."

 

[Btstimpy]

WVU is also a historic rival of Syracuse. There's even a trophy: "The Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy is the trophy that went annually to the winner of the game. It was introduced in 1993 and is named after former WVU football player and Syracuse head coach Ben Schwartzwalder, who died in April of that year."

WVU would be a good fit for the ACC IMO. They also have a rivalry with Pittsburgh. But the ACC watched them walk away to the Big XII. It's one of the reasons I'm bringing up Connecticut. The ACC is possibly going to watch them walk away to the Big XII too. Will we regret that down the road? I sort of regret not having WVU.

Based on most of the response here there isn't much support at all for Connecticut. If the closest members to UConn geographically don't want them, then there isn't much chance that the members further away will be motivated to support them.

 

[CousCuse]

WVU is also a historic rival of Syracuse. There's even a trophy: "The Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy is the trophy that went annually to the winner of the game. It was introduced in 1993 and is named after former WVU football player and Syracuse head coach Ben Schwartzwalder, who died in April of that year."

And that trophy is now resting comfortably in the Syracuse trophy case , where it belongs .

 

[CousCuse]

WVU would be a good fit for the ACC IMO. They also have a rivalry with Pittsburgh. But the ACC watched them walk away to the Big XII. It's one of the reasons I'm bringing up Connecticut. The ACC is possibly going to watch them walk away to the Big XII too. Will we regret that down the road? I sort of regret not having WVU.

Based on most of the response here there isn't much support at all for Connecticut. If the closest members to UConn geographically don't want them, then there isn't much chance that the members further away will be motivated to support them.

You really can't go by a skewed message board . One question , if the BIG12 adds UConn and Cincy , will their basketball conference be more highly rated than the ACC ? I don't see a weak team in that mix .

 

[JHarris44]

WVU would be a good fit for the ACC IMO. They also have a rivalry with Pittsburgh. But the ACC watched them walk away to the Big XII. It's one of the reasons I'm bringing up Connecticut. The ACC is possibly going to watch them walk away to the Big XII too. Will we regret that down the road? I sort of regret not having WVU.

Based on most of the response here there isn't much support at all for Connecticut. If the closest members to UConn geographically don't want them, then there isn't much chance that the members further away will be motivated to support them.

I vaguely remember there being academic questions surrounding WVU and that played a factor in why they went to the BIG12 and not the ACC. I, for one, would rather have UCONN in the ACC than Wake.

 

[bnoro]

You really can't go by a skewed message board . One question , if the BIG12 adds UConn and Cincy , will their basketball conference be more highly rated than the ACC ? I don't see a weak team in that mix .

Baylor? K State? Texas Tech? TCU? Oklahoma St?

All of those teams are weak and once in a while make a tournament which they usually lose early on in.

 

[CousCuse]

Baylor? K State? Texas Tech? TCU? Oklahoma St?

All of those teams are weak and once in a while make a tournament which they usually lose early on in.

Baylor , TTech and OkSt are not my idea of weak teams KST isn't bad , I'll give you TCU . Those teams are as good or better than the bottom of the ACC.

 

[Btstimpy]

I vaguely remember there being academic questions surrounding WVU and that played a factor in why they went to the BIG12 and not the ACC. I, for one, would rather have UCONN in the ACC than Wake.

I think it was more timing than anything else. Louisville and WVU are similar academically.

The ACC only wanted to add 2 at a time. That's how the ESPN contract was structured for making adjustments. Then the Notre Dame situation created an odd number.

 

[Scooch]

I think it was more timing than anything else. Louisville and WVU are similar academically.

For sure. The ACC turned their nose up at WVU because of academics (among other things). But when Maryland left and the choice came down to Lousiville and UConn, academics didn't matter so much anymore.

That being said, despite SU's history with WVU, if the Big 12 had never added them and the ACC had a choice between them and Louisville, I would've gone with UL. Much more upside.

 

[baggerbob]

I think my issue is that I'm valuing more than college football, and that's against the grain. The ACC does a lot of other stuff well, and the ACC Network is certain to showcase more of this other stuff. ACC football is the best its ever been right now. So I wasn't as concerned about a football power.

I understand UConn's role in College Football. They have less than 15 years in FBS. And you're right. In the Northeast for college football there is Notre Dame and Penn State. No one else drives much outside of their living alumni, and no one else packs large stadiums or sends large crowds to bowl games in the entire region, not just New England.

The ACC has a piece of Notre Dame. That carries the water for the ACC somewhat in the fall. But I'm not sure much of New England or the northeast for that matter watches the other Notre Dame sports passionately in the region. The ACC has winter and spring to worry about too. It could be worse though. The ACC could be stuck with Rutgers who doesn't bring football, and they don't bring anything else. I'm glad we passed on that for sure.

Boston College had Doug Flutie in football, and nothing in basketball, they have never been a power in either football, or basketball. Penn St, Pitt, Syracuse have always been the best schools thru the years in eastern football, and Syracuse, and Pitt were good in basketball in the Big East.

 

[JoeCollege]

Boston College had Doug Flutie in football, and nothing in basketball, they have never been a power in either football, or basketball. Penn St, Pitt, Syracuse have always been the best schools thru the years in eastern football, and Syracuse, and Pitt were good in basketball in the Big East.

I dunno. Henry Hill, Jimmy Conway, and Morrie Kessler had something going at Boston College. Morrie said it was beautiful.

 

[bnoro]

Baylor , TTech and OkSt are not my idea of weak teams KST isn't bad , I'll give you TCU . Those teams are as good or better than the bottom of the ACC.

Ok St was atrocious last season. Baylor always gets destroyed in the first or second round of the NCAAs. Texas Tech is generally not good. KState has been horrendous since Frank Martin left.

 

[Toga]

Dude, if you can't find a reason to hate Boston College then I don't know what to say to you.

Didn't CTO once call out Father Leahy to his face?

 

[Btstimpy]

Boston College had Doug Flutie in football, and nothing in basketball, they have never been a power in either football, or basketball. Penn St, Pitt, Syracuse have always been the best schools thru the years in eastern football, and Syracuse, and Pitt were good in basketball in the Big East.

Ok. So we have two of the three best schools through the years in eastern football with Syracuse and Pittsburgh. And we have a scheduling deal with Notre Dame. Penn State is off limits, so we're perhaps set in the east.

I see a hole in the Southeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Delaware, South Jersey area. Perhaps we keep an eye on Temple to see if they can continue this momentum in football that they seem to be having, build their new stadium, etc. for consideration down the road. They don't have a strong football history, but then again neither does Rutgers.

 

[HtownOrange]

They don't have a strong football history, but then again neither does Rutgers.

Rutgers had one, and only one, thing going for them; they were fortunate to have been geographically located relatively close to the largest US media market (of which they are not a true part of). If Rutgers had been 150 miles away from NYC, they probably would never have received a B1G invite. As it is, they have to play some conference games in Yankee Stadium as part of their deal to join the B1G in spite of the fact that they are less than an hour away! Yankee Stadium seats roughly the same as Rutgers home stadium. Plainly speaking, the B1G knows Rutgers has no fan support in NYC.

I was at the Rutgers R*vals site a few months ago following a link provided and saw a thread about who was going to make the trip to Yankee Stadium, I was surprised at how many "dedicated" fans would not go in to Yankee Stadium, less than an hour away! I live just outside of Houston, to get to downtown where I used to work too that long if I beat traffic!

 

[HtownOrange]

I thought Clemson was Syracuse's rival???

I understand where you're coming from but no one is going to tune in to watch UConn play Syracuse in football. For that matter no one is going to watch Clemson play UConn either. I get that they offer basketball credibility but that's about it. As much as I like Wake Forest people, they don't offer much at all in revenue sports, same with BC. The conference does not need another nonfactor school.

We are, your fans just won't admit it...yet! Seriously, we started good with the Bowl victory, but our recent history has been sketchy. If we get what we think we have in HCDB, this game could become a good, making four solid teams in the division.

If it does become a good game, we could battle for who wears orange at the next game with the loser wearing some horrible color: Oregon's highlighter yellow, neon green, hot pink, Purple (I kid), you get the idea.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Ok St was atrocious last season. Baylor always gets destroyed in the first or second round of the NCAAs. Texas Tech is generally not good. KState has been horrendous since Frank Martin left.

The B12 isn't very good in the NCAAT. Even adding UConn and Cincy they are below the ACC since we won our title. And the majority of those come from UConn.

ACC- 13
B12- 9

4- UConn, UNC
3- Duke, Louisville
2- Kansas, SU
1- GA Tech, Okie State, Oklahoma, West Virginia

 

[wvlax]

Big 12 expansion update.

Big 12 expansion update: What comes after interviews? Which 3 schools are getting the most attention? | SportsDay

 

[gbo]

I think it was more timing than anything else. Louisville and WVU are similar academically.

The ACC only wanted to add 2 at a time. That's how the ESPN contract was structured for making adjustments. Then the Notre Dame situation created an odd number.

Partly true but from what I've read it seems like Clemson and FSU pushed hard for Louisville since WVU was turned away. Neither Clemson or FSU wanted a strictly basketball school.

 

[Moontan]

Partly true but from what I've read it seems like Clemson and FSU pushed hard for Louisville since WVU was turned away. Neither Clemson or FSU wanted a strictly basketball school.

IIRC, TGD* was the one to initially promote Louisville.


* previous athletic director at SU

 

[Moontan]

IIRC, TGD* was the one to initially promote Louisville.


* previous athletic director at SU

Here is an article with related info.

 

[gbo]

Here is an article with related info.

I had no idea. Glad it worked out and we didn't get stuck with UConn.