Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="billsin01, post: 33741, member: 837"] I am absolutely with Orangefan and Janner on this one. A couple points: 1. Those who want UConn to die are kidding themselves. Life outside a major conference is entirely possible. Would it be harder for UConn to thrive without the BE? Yes. Harder still without Calhoun (eventually)? Yes. But I find it hard to believe they are going to wither and die the way most here want them to. Schools like Butler, Memphis, Gonzaga, etc have been extremely competitive for extended periods of time and UConn has a much stronger pedigree, particularly if it's playing in a conference that still includes the Marquettes, Cincy's (remember both thrived before joining the BE), SJU's, Gtown's ... 2. What is wrong with competition? I always thought the thing I liked most about the BE was that I generally cared about most games and felt like there were very few cupcakes for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure why people are so concerned with having other good teams join a conference with us. Plus, the Cuse only has 13 schollies. While it theoretically may be easier to get top flight players without a UConn and/or a Nova, we can't take em all and the rest will likely go to rivals -- no matter where we play. 3. Why would it not be appealing to essentially keep the old ACC hoops in tact with a southern division and add the bulk of the powers from the BE (Gtown, Nova, UConn, ND) and form a compelling northern division? Then you have basically every relevant east coast football program (save for Penn State and, perhaps, RU, perhaps WVU, though they may be a better fit in the SEC anyway) and almost ever major hoops program in the same region. I don't know but it seems to me it doesn't get more stable than that. 4. It balances the conference out geographically and adds some good rivalries (like UMD/G'town, as Janner pointed out; UConn/Duke/UNC; Nova/UMD). Also, I know this is a losing battle as I admit to being an ND apologist, but I love the venom people have for ND largely b/c they make the financial decisions that benefit their institution (sound familiar SU fans?) and because they came up with a marketing campaign ahead of its time a century ago and are by far the strongest brand (obviously not team or program, but brand) in college football. Folks love to say it's the "holier than thou" attitude, but I think it's largely just people being bitter that ND doesn't have to play by the same rules. [/QUOTE]

Verification: What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?