forget duke vs UNC or Syracuse vs G-town

[dasher]

or any other match up. the two most hated rivals in college basketball is Xavier vs Cinn and I don't think it's all that close. Those teams hate each other.. They hate the coaches. there are always near fights or actually fights. Today, Cronin and one of the Xavier players exchanged greetings during the handshake line.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

I blame Skyline Chili

 

[raf4488]

 

[pearl31]

it's weird because Cronin always seems so composed over there on the sideline

 

[rocklloyd]

anyone on their team would fold Cronin in half.

 

[MSOrange]

That's nice of Mick to show such excellent leadership in a heated rivalry that's already been ugly in the past.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

I don't know much about Xavier, but Cincy always struck me as recruiting a lot of "marginal" student-athletes. Couple that with their style of play, and they can ugly things up pretty quick. These two teams share a city, recruiting territory, etc., so it makes sense they don't like each other.

Syracuse and Georgetown is pretty much dead at this point as far as heated rivalries go (I still hate Georgetown though). JTIII was too decent of a person, and they don't recruit the Michael Graham, Victor Page, Allen Iverson types anymore. Our team is almost always more finesse than scrap.

Duke and UNC are obviously pretty heated, but they tend to both recruit petulant, whiny brat types. I think their fans despise each other far more than the players.

 

[EastCoast2]

UK/UL is near the top. Those players don’t like each other. I remember the winter 2010 game when Boogie Cousins threw an elbow to a UL player’s face during a scrap for a loose ball. This was in the first couple minutes of the game.

 

[orangefog]

UK/UL is near the top. Those players don’t like each other. I remember the winter 2010 game when Boogie Cousins threw an elbow to a UL player’s face during a scrap for a loose ball. This was in the first couple minutes of the game.

Yeah, but Cousins does that to his teammates too.

 

[Trueblue25]

Im a big fan of Cronin



Also, theres no love lost between UVA and Cuse. Keep an eye on that matchup

 

[EastCoast2]

Im a big fan of Cronin



Also, theres no love lost between UVA and Cuse. Keep an eye on that matchup

Huh? UVA is almost the definition of class act in terms of coach, players, and fans. Not sure they're even eligible for fiercest rivalry just because they lack the "bottom of the barrel" portion of a fanbase that many schools have.

 

[EastCoast2]

Found it. It was Jared Swopshire that Cousins almost KO'd with an elbow that was definitely intentional. This is Laettner level stuff:

 

[two3zone]

Im a big fan of Cronin



Also, theres no love lost between UVA and Cuse. Keep an eye on that matchup

We have one guy on the roster from the final four run that knocked them off and don't know any other reason why they'd hate us or we'd hate them.

 

[Trueblue25]

Huh? UVA is almost the definition of class act in terms of coach, players, and fans. Not sure they're even eligible for fiercest rivalry just because they lack the "bottom of the barrel" portion of a fanbase that many schools have.

Im not saying it’s nearly comparable to rivalries like the one in Cincinnati. However its been the closest development we’ve had to a rivalry in years. We havent been competitive with louisville and duke will take much longer to develop that with.

 

[OrangeDW]

Im not saying it’s nearly comparable to rivalries like the one in Cincinnati. However its been the closest development we’ve had to a rivalry in years. We havent been competitive with louisville and duke will take much longer to develop that with.

We’ve got a nice rivalry going with Duke in terms of playing great, intense games that make for great TV and game experiences, but it will never be more than a secondary rivalry for them at best. Like Maryland in the late 90s-early 00’s. But to get there, we have to not only beat them head to head like we have been...we have to beat them out for some ACC titles. Otherwise they’re looking at us like we looked at a Marquette in the BE days- an annoyance who gives them trouble head to head but not a real threat in the big picture.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Im a big fan of Cronin



Also, theres no love lost between UVA and Cuse. Keep an eye on that matchup

Disagree.
We’ve played one meaningful game vs UVA and their fans are some of the classiest I’ve encountered.
Plus JB is a big fan of Tony Bennett and vice-versa. And except for maybe the Ralph Sampson era, they don’t have the pedigree to match ours so there’s no history there, and they’ve only been prominent over these last few years or so.
I’ve never heard a single Wahoo fan say a bad word about us, and there’s plenty of them here in charlotte.

 

[Trueblue25]

Disagree.
We’ve played one meaningful game vs UVA and their fans are some of the classiest I’ve encountered.
Plus JB is a big fan of Tony Bennett and vice-versa. And except for maybe the Ralph Sampson era, they don’t have the pedigree to match ours so there’s no history there, and they’ve only been prominent over these last few years or so.
I’ve never heard a single Wahoo fan say a bad word about us, and there’s plenty of them here in charlotte.

Rivalries dont have to be born of unprofessionalism, brawls and the such. Honestly, would be a little embarrassed if our team handled itself as UC and Xavier did.

 

[DoctorBombay]

Rivalries dont have to be born of unprofessionalism, brawls and the such. Honestly, would be a little embarrassed if our team handled itself as UC and Xavier did.

Fair enough. But, and i may end up eating my words at some point, but i just don’t see UVA as our ACC nemesis moving forward. OTOH, those blithering mouth-breathers at NC State seem a more likely choice.