cuseguy
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Duke playing UConn at Izod
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longtimefan
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Didn't know that building was still doing business.
Hoo's That
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That game will serve two purposes -
1. It will allow Duke to play yet another "away" OOC game without actually playing an away game. I guess playing in Hartford would have been too close to actually playing an away game to suit the VLF.
2. The Duke students who go will be able to stay at home, save on hotel bills, see the 'rents, and get their laundry done before the game.
1. It will allow Duke to play yet another "away" OOC game without actually playing an away game. I guess playing in Hartford would have been too close to actually playing an away game to suit the VLF.
2. The Duke students who go will be able to stay at home, save on hotel bills, see the 'rents, and get their laundry done before the game.
The University of New Jersey at Durham is what my Tar Heel neighbors call Duke. Duke always plays a neutral site home game in New York City or the Izod Center. They played the UCLA, Gonzaga, Texas the last few years in the NYC area.
Col. Bleep
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Yes, it's a nice booking for the venue.
Otherwise, besides some college games, concerts, tractor pulls and a few other events Izod has become something of an empty barn.
Not as bad, though, as that absurd "American Dream"1 next door.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...-bowl-xanadu-american-dream-shopping/4456571/
1 They should apologize to Dusty Rhodes for that name.
senorpalmer
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But why would they try to "legitimize" ucon?
TV/press eyeballs on SU vs St. Johns or Duke vs UConn. To me, playing the Johnnies is a lose lose. SU is suppose to beat them and if St. Johns wins it's an upset, the 80's are gone and it's time to recognize that SU vs UConn are what people want and that includes recruits.
Duke is using UConn plain and simple. Good for UConn getting a great neutral site game with Duke, but Duke plays in the NYC area every year for a neutral site game they have played Texas 2x, Pitt, Gonzaga, UCLA, Temple, all in the past 6 years in these type of games. Duke looks for a good opponent to play them in the NYC area without Duke playing a return game.
Bayside44
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The guys that won the title for them were recruited for a very different situation and they pulled an inside straight. If Ollie can consistently pull in big time talent to travel thousands of miles for Friday night hoops he might be our era's John Wooden.
More importantly, I don't see what Duke's OOC has to do with us.
Bayside44
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Anyone can be a force when 19 year old kids can go to the NBA after a year of school and the field opens up. Duke will always play in NYC and Connecticut needs interesting games to get players. I still think their future if they are stuck in The A is more like Gonzaga than UNC. Pitino would say that he couldn't get kids at UL when they were C-USA because kids didn't want to play against the UAB's of the world. Don't see how this is any different.
I disagree with you on that Bayside. St. Johns has floundered for decades and schools like Duke, Michigan/(St), Kentucky and the like will see the benefits of playing UConn near or in NYC. I do agree with you that it's possible that playing in the AAC could hurt them nationally but if they are the big dog in a small pond AND playing big time schools OOC they could remain to be very good with shots at the title. Wanting/making something to just go away only works if everybody does it.
SUATO92
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One more time: What does UConn have to do with SU?
SU played a very entertaining group of teams last season and not having UConn on the schedule did not diminish that at all. I can't recall anyone saying "hey we're 25-0 but it's meaningless since we didn't play UConn." And for the love of god who cares if UConn wins 25 more basketball titles or falls off the table...not one of those titles helped to get them to a P5 conference so I hope they enjoy all those electrifying games against Tulsa.
By the way, you can catch UConn-Tulsa on one of the family of ESPN channels since you're such a big booster for that school in Connecticut. Just thought I'd help point you in the right direction to catch one of their games.
AlaskaSU
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Du
UCon's schedule is not defined by games against UAB. Conf USA teams did not play Duke in NYC. UCon will have a good OOC schedule and maintain their visibility. UCon's status is unique. They are not Gonzaga. What has Gonzaga ever won? Last year was critical for UCon's future. As a result, although there are no guarantees, they are likely to continue their success. Their recruiting is going well. Notre Dame in their football heyday is a better comparison than Gonzaga. Whether we play them or not is not going to have a material affect on their program. Do people still think that if we play them we are throwing them a lifeline? Football is another story. Their football team is likely doomed.
College basketball is heading for trouble. The NBA siphons off all the talent and eliminates any internal consistency for college teams. The quality of college teams is decreasing in comparison to the pros. As a result, fan support is increasingly limited to provincial allegiances. Regardless of talent, college bball always had a claim to long-standing traditional rivalries. These rivalries attracted the attention of large geographical based populations in a way not duplicated by the pros. College basketball is making a big mistake by eliminating rivalries like Cuse/UCon, Kansas/Missou, Texas/Texas Tech etc., which were a fundamental strength for the college game.
UCon's schedule is not defined by games against UAB. Conf USA teams did not play Duke in NYC. UCon will have a good OOC schedule and maintain their visibility. UCon's status is unique. They are not Gonzaga. What has Gonzaga ever won? Last year was critical for UCon's future. As a result, although there are no guarantees, they are likely to continue their success. Their recruiting is going well. Notre Dame in their football heyday is a better comparison than Gonzaga. Whether we play them or not is not going to have a material affect on their program. Do people still think that if we play them we are throwing them a lifeline? Football is another story. Their football team is likely doomed.
College basketball is heading for trouble. The NBA siphons off all the talent and eliminates any internal consistency for college teams. The quality of college teams is decreasing in comparison to the pros. As a result, fan support is increasingly limited to provincial allegiances. Regardless of talent, college bball always had a claim to long-standing traditional rivalries. These rivalries attracted the attention of large geographical based populations in a way not duplicated by the pros. College basketball is making a big mistake by eliminating rivalries like Cuse/UCon, Kansas/Missou, Texas/Texas Tech etc., which were a fundamental strength for the college game.
I actually care more about National Championships that conference affiliation. Conference affiliation is nice as a college administrator, but as a fan, I would rather win big games. I can honestly say that I think UCONN BB has been more exciting over the past 10 years than BC BB. They got tshirts when they cashed an ACC check, but we got 3 more places filled in our trophy case.
Last year, on the court, Tulsa was about as good as Georgetown or Miami.
I don't know. I remember the BC fans thought I was crazy saying UCONN will be in a BCS game before them. I was right.
I think UCONN will be in a New Year's Six before BC or SU. Why? It's an easier path to finish ahead of Central Fl, Houston, BYU than Clemson, Fl State & Va Tech.
For BC, SU & UCONN it comes down to who has the best coaching staff. We aren't going to stockpiling 5 star players or even more than a few 4 star players. It will be about evaluating talent, developing talent and executing. Coaching stuff.
If Shafer is better than Diaco and Addazio, SU will be the best.
Rutgers is a bit of a different animal. They are in the B1G and that's a game changer. If they get a great coach, they can keep him and they could get tons of 4 and 5 star players.
NashvilleOrange
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You don't really follow recruiting do you? The ACC has been better than the B1G in recruiting the last 3 years and it's not changing anytime soon. Syracuse has moved ahead of Rutgers in recruiting for the first time in about a decade. The Northeast is shifting and it's moving in BC and Syracuse's favor. UConn fans and their fascination with the Big 10 is hilarious; painting the conference to be a juggernaut is not going to get UConn in. Sorry.
Right.
Shafer >>> Flood
Simple equation. And, Duke was better than Michigan, Nebraska & Penn St last year. If you believe that will be the trend over the next 20 years, you have a point. However, it does seem to me that the playing field is tilted towards large state universities. The successful coach went from Vandy to Penn St, not the other way around.
If Shafer wins a couple NY 6 bowls, it will be hard to keep him. Maybe SU can pull it off. I think RU would have a better shot at keeping a special coach, that's all.
And, let's not kid ourselves, the B1G is a big deal. They print money and they have an enormous amount of influence over college FB. The ACC is NOT more powerful or prestigious from a FB perspective as the B1G.
NashvilleOrange
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I'm not so sure that it is tilted that way. Baylor, USC, Notre Dame, Miami, Vanderbilt, Stanford, even Northwestern have all had great recent success. A coach does well at RU? He's off to the SEC; their AD is way in the red and a partial B1G payment isn't going to help them retain coaches and catch up to the rest of the B1g. Cuse isn't the ultimate dream job but the idea that RU is some destination job is laughable. The idea that UConn is going to catch up hosting teams like Memphis and Tulane is also unrealistic.
Vandy is one of the lowest SEC jobs in a state where TN rules. Going to Penn State doesn't mean anything as PSU is a top 5 B1G job in a state with good HSFB.
Rutgers is going to be competing with Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State,Michigan State each year versus Syracuse having just Florida State and Clemson. Our program has way more history as our 2010 season was basically equal to their dream year of 2006 year.
Rutgers is going to rehire Schiano next year it's so obvious to how small potatoes they are.
Who was central Fl playing? Who did Utah play a few years ago or TCU or UCONN or Boise?
That's just silly. I really think 11-2 with win over a top 3 team is better than 8-5. Really.
Bayside44
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There are scores of early season tournaments in NYC. Those schools can and will play in them. Sometimes they will play UConn, sometimes not. Not sure what SJU has to do with that.
Our relevance in football was on the edge before the conference change, so we had to do creative things. UConn's spot in life isn't that different now.
