Biggest rival?

[Trueblue25]

Pitt though.

Everything Pitt, I just loathe it

 

[Eric15]

Pitt though.

Everything Pitt, I just loathe it

Pitt is another school where I've never met anyone who is an actual fan of their teams. I know a ton of people from the Pittsburgh area, and many who went to Pitt. All of them are either exclusively pro sports fans or prefer Penn State.

 

[ORANGE OATH]

All these years later I still hate Uconn the most. I see us & Uconn on the upswing and expect the rivalry to only intensify into the future. Georgetown is a very close 2nd, but hasn't had the kind of national recognition it enjoyed in the past, so yeah, Uconn is our primary rival in basketball, at least to me.
Also, one only need count the number of times the name Uconn appears on our board to see the truth in this.
I know we had to move to the ACC because of $$$$$, but I miss the old Big East.
PS: I still don't like the ACC anywhere as much as I loved the OBE !
Times change, some of us don't I guess.

 

[Orangezoo]

All these years later I still hate Uconn the most. I see us & Uconn on the upswing and expect the rivalry to only intensify into the future. Georgetown is a very close 2nd, but hasn't had the kind of national recognition it enjoyed in the past, so yeah, Uconn is our primary rival in basketball, at least to me.
Also, one only need count the number of times the name Uconn appears on our board to see the truth in this.
I know we had to move to the ACC because of $$$$$, but I miss the old Big East.
PS: I still don't like the ACC anywhere as much as I loved the OBE !
Times change, some of us don't I guess.

Apparently someone upstairs felt bad for all the Knick fans who live in CT to help that mostly crummy fanbase get 4 titles. I agree - I loathe UConn and their full can of beer throwing fans outside the dome. It's definitely UConn at the top now since the Hoyas have been neutered.

I miss the OBE as well. We had it made with that setup from a performance standpoint plus the annual throwdown in the garden. Money and football rule the world though so here we are. We joined the ACC and then got sanctioned..

 

[HoustonCuse]

Pitt though.

Everything Pitt, I just loathe it

This is the single most accurate, succinct, and well thought out post I have seen on this entire site in the past 20 months.

 

[sufandu]

The Georgetown vs UConn discussion seems to be very much a discussion about our various ages.

 

[Trueblue25]

The Georgetown vs UConn discussion seems to be very much a discussion about our various ages.

It doesn’t necessarily need to be a vs each other discussion. They’re both our rivals. Both has unique characters and events involving Cuse that makes their specific rivalry unique. JB vs JT with G Town, and for example six in the city with Uconn.

Both get the blood boiling

 

[chugg21]

It doesn’t necessarily need to be a vs each other discussion. They’re both our rivals. Both has unique characters and events involving Cuse that makes their specific rivalry unique. JB vs JT with G Town, and for example six in the city with Uconn.

Both get the blood boiling

I'm in my mid 30s and Pitt and UConn are far and away the 2 that I despised most in BBall growing up. Now I don't even think we truly have a rival in either sport.

 

[Trueblue25]

I'm in my mid 30s and Pitt and UConn are far and away the 2 that I despised most in BBall growing up. Now I don't even think we truly have a rival in either sport.

If Pitt made the tournament and didnt suck as a program itd easily be them. They steal far too many from us and those games are more often than not very chippy. Especially at that hole of an arena where you can feel their mouth breathing students on top of you

 

[UpstateSM]

The Georgetown vs UConn discussion seems to be very much a discussion about our various ages.

I’m 23 and I don’t particularly hate Georgetown at all. I think that is partly due to a lack of interaction with their fanbase, though.

I didn’t HATE UConn until the 2018 game in MSG. I had been to a game in Gampel when I was a kid but I didn’t realize how big of dirt balls they were until that game. Doesn’t help that their coach is the clown that he is either.

But I 100000% hate Duke the most. Everything about them. Their fans, the coach, their chitty little gym, everything. Can’t stand them.

Virginia is creeping up there, too.

 

[chugg21]

I’m 23 and I don’t particularly hate Georgetown at all. I think that is partly due to a lack of interaction with their fanbase, though.

I didn’t HATE UConn until the 2018 game in MSG. I had been to a game in Gampel when I was a kid but I didn’t realize how big of dirt balls they were until that game. Doesn’t help that their coach is the clown that he is either.

But I 100000% hate Duke the most. Everything about them. Their fans, the coach, their chitty little gym, everything. Can’t stand them.

Virginia is creeping up there, too.

I certainly hate Duke the most as well but it doesn't really work when we're like 7th on the list of ACC teams that they care about. That kind of stops it from being considered a rivalry for me and why they aren't in the running.

 

[chugg21]

If Pitt made the tournament and didnt suck as a program itd easily be them. They steal far too many from us and those games are more often than not very chippy. Especially at that hole of an arena where you can feel their mouth breathing students on top of you

Was all those Dixon teams that I truly despised. Blair, Krauser, Knight, Page, Fields and many many more. Man I hated all of those guys a lot. Was always a battle whether they were actually good or not that year.

 

[ORANGE OATH]

I’m 23 and I don’t particularly hate Georgetown at all. I think that is partly due to a lack of interaction with their fanbase, though.

I didn’t HATE UConn until the 2018 game in MSG. I had been to a game in Gampel when I was a kid but I didn’t realize how big of dirt balls they were until that game. Doesn’t help that their coach is the clown that he is either.

But I 100000% hate Duke the most. Everything about them. Their fans, the coach, their chitty little gym, everything. Can’t stand them.

Virginia is creeping up there, too.

I understand the age thing and I'm sure it does play a large part on perspective. But in my opinion, conference titles have to be at risk when you play a true rival. This has not been the case with Dooke or NC, so I just don't feel any extra excitement other than having the Dome fuller than usual due in large part to media hype.
Cuse & Uconn were always in the hunt for a title. It simply hasn't been that way with Dooke or NC !
I feel the Dooke Fans lust after the North Carolina game, but Cuse is just another stop along the way, perhaps a stop with a large crowd, but a stop nonetheless !
PS: I also hate Dooke ! I just don't think they fear us the way a true rival does !

We should have never exited the Big East, but $$$$$$$$$$$ ruled then, as they do now !
I know the deed has been done, and there is no going back, but it was much more special than what we have now !
I will always be a Orange Fan till I draw my last breath, but the ACC is a poor cousin to what was !

 

[NKR1978]

The problems are that no one in the ACC cares about us accept Pitt, BC, Louisville and Notre Dame. NC State might not love us, but the other "rivalries" are pretty one sided aside from maybe Virginia.

That'll change if/when we start winning again.

 

[rrlbees]

Any answer besides Gtown is the wrong one.

 

[sufandu]

It doesn’t necessarily need to be a vs each other discussion. They’re both our rivals. Both has unique characters and events involving Cuse that makes their specific rivalry unique. JB vs JT with G Town, and for example six in the city with Uconn.

Both get the blood boiling

I agree, but clearly there are some that see one as the primary and others that see the other as primary. And it's largely divided by age.

 

[sufandu]

I’m 23 and I don’t particularly hate Georgetown at all. I think that is partly due to a lack of interaction with their fanbase, though.

I didn’t HATE UConn until the 2018 game in MSG. I had been to a game in Gampel when I was a kid but I didn’t realize how big of dirt balls they were until that game. Doesn’t help that their coach is the clown that he is either.

But I 100000% hate Duke the most. Everything about them. Their fans, the coach, their chitty little gym, everything. Can’t stand them.

Virginia is creeping up there, too.

Exactly. You are the ideal example of the point I was making.

You also bring up another point. We really don't have a great rival anymore. We lack so many of the ingredients required for one. The teams that guys like me and older hate, Georgetown and UConn, are no longer in the same league and we don't play them frequently enough. Duke is not and will never be our rival. That will always be UNC for them. Any hatred we have for them isn't mutual and that's a necessary component of a rivalry. We also lack sufficient history with any good ACC teams. We haven't been good enough since being in the league. A rivalry with any other former Big East team is a weak one because there hasn't been mutual success.

For us to ever have a great rivalry again we need to get good and beat another good team often enough for their fans to hate us and we need to hate them. A "Manley Fieldhouse is officially closed" moment would help hasten it.

 

[Briancuse]

It doesn’t necessarily need to be a vs each other discussion. They’re both our rivals. Both has unique characters and events involving Cuse that makes their specific rivalry unique. JB vs JT with G Town, and for example six in the city with Uconn.

Both get the blood boiling

I think it all depends on how old you are. I despised uconn more. I was really too young for the John Thompson days. I just remember being petrified seeing him on tv as a kid but I didn't really grasp the syracuse-gtown rivalry until I got older.

 

[LaggyJon]

The Georgetown vs UConn discussion seems to be very much a discussion about our various ages.

Probably true overall. Though, I'm 32, don't have memories of the classic JB/JT era, but it's still Georgetown for me. I worked at a firm that had a ton of Georgetown alums, and so I got tons of ribbing from them over the years. They were great guys, and bought me lots of tickets to Syracuse-Georgetown games, but the experience with them made the rivalry stronger to me.

Side story: I was at the Verizon Center to see the last game of the 2012-13 regular season against Georgetown. I was in a box with like two dozen Georgetown alums in my bright orange hoodie. That was the game that Cuse only scored 39 freaking points and lost by more than 20. The fact that I got zero ribbing, and mostly pitying looks, from the Georgetown fans after the first half somehow made that game even worse.

Three weeks later I watched them cut down the nets in the same arena against Marquette. That was much better.

 

[gmoney44]

I was 8 in 85 and that’s the first year I remember watching SU basketball. That game against Georgetown in the Dome that year was legendary. I have been hooked ever since.

Unfortunately somewhere in the late 90’s the Georgetown rivalry diminished and the UConn one started to rage. I wish we played them both every year. Playing those teams reminds me of when college basketball and SU were great.

The games since we moved to the ACC have lacked the juice of the old BE wars. Mostly because we have sucked in the regular season and ACC tournament. If we could string together a couple good seasons I’m sure that would change quickly.

 

[sufandu]

I was 8 in 85 and that’s the first year I remember watching SU basketball. That game against Georgetown in the Dome that year was legendary. I have been hooked ever since.

Unfortunately somewhere in the late 90’s the Georgetown rivalry diminished and the UConn one started to rage. I wish we played them both every year. Playing those teams reminds me of when college basketball and SU were great.

The games since we moved to the ACC have lacked the juice of the old BE wars. Mostly because we have sucked in the regular season and ACC tournament. If we could string together a couple good seasons I’m sure that would change quickly.

Yeah, playing them intermittently and for no stakes beyond bragging rights weakens things. When its for conference standings and you know you're going to see them regularly, maybe twice in the regular season and a third time in the conference tournament, things heat up.

We'll need to get good and stay good if we want anything like that to develop in the ACC.

 

[OrangeFair44]

Probably true overall. Though, I'm 32, don't have memories of the classic JB/JT era, but it's still Georgetown for me. I worked at a firm that had a ton of Georgetown alums, and so I got tons of ribbing from them over the years. They were great guys, and bought me lots of tickets to Syracuse-Georgetown games, but the experience with them made the rivalry stronger to me.

Side story: I was at the Verizon Center to see the last game of the 2012-13 regular season against Georgetown. I was in a box with like two dozen Georgetown alums in my bright orange hoodie. That was the game that Cuse only scored 39 freaking points and lost by more than 20. The fact that I got zero ribbing, and mostly pitying looks, from the Georgetown fans after the first half somehow made that game even worse.

Three weeks later I watched them cut down the nets in the same arena against Marquette. That was much better.

I feel you man. I was also at the gtown game in a box with my brother in law and a few random gtown fans... what an awful game. Then we went to that Marquette game (my first ncaa game) and it was total redemption, especially given how we demolished Indiana a few days prior.

Side note, i was also at the garden when uconn handed it to us. Even our rivalry games of recent haven't been great.

Suprised nobody has mentioned Lville. Seemed that was starting to bud into something before pitino left. Although I know it will never be as heated with them as UK.

 

[ORANGE OATH]

Based on fan vitriol for each other it definitely is UConn. If they joined the ACC today they would instantaneously be the biggest game on the schedule.

I hate Duke as much as anyone, but those games at the dome are full of fair weather fans and upstate NY Dukies who couldn’t find Durham on a map.

How true, well said !
PS: I also hate Dooke, but Uconn much more !!!!!

 

[AlaskaSU]

The fact that we have no annual rival games is detrimental to our recruiting. Rivalries create gravitas. Leaving the big east is the kiss of death. Another embarrassing football season and the program would not be worth saving. Would be time to go back to the big east. It is where we belong. Would love to put Nova back to second place.
Babers is as good of a coach as we will get. Our football doldrums are not his fault. We are in a deep hole and are seen by recruits as a basketball school. At what point do we throw in the towel?

 

[Fat tire 13]

For all of history, I would go Georgetown.

For my own personal highlight within the rivalry theme, it was beating UCONN at the dome in 2000 to remain undefeated. That UCONN team was so unlikable, especially El-Amin and Voshkul. They were ranked #1 to start the season after winning that title, and was so satisfying to bring them back to earth