I grew up in Connecticut and remember when Uconn couldn't even get in state talent to attend Uconn. Fortunately for me I was redeemed and ended up a Syracuse fanatic. As much as I've despised Uconn over the years I have to agree that taking RU over Uconn is something I'd rather not have seen. Some of the greatest BE games of the past several decades were SU vs. Uconn matchups.
As much as Calhoun comes across as a pompous arrogant condescending tough guy, he did carve out a program that has won 3 National Championships and was a component in what had made the Big East the best basketball conference in the land. Even as a fierce and sometimes hated rival, Uconn is forever inexorably linked with Syracuse within the context of the once great Big East. It's because of that kinship that although I'd like to revel in their misfortune, I feel sympathy to some extent.
Not only are they faced with the passing of the era in which Calhoun brought them to National prominence, they are witnessing the disintegration of the conference in which their legacy evolved.
It won't be long and we as Syracuse fans will be seeing the transition from the Boeheim era but at least we have secured ourselves inside of a conference which will certainly be among the best if not the best in the Nation.
However all this realignment business ends up, I don't doubt that I'll always look back on the halcyon days of the Big East as the most exciting college basketball of my lifetime. I'll remember taking the train down to the City from New Haven with my buddies and walking across the street to MSG for a full day of BE tourney basketball. WOW! I'm grateful for the continuity of our program and as a big time Orange fan... I feel for Uconn and their fans at the same time.
