Teams I love

1. Alabama...mainly for football...the crimson tide is my second team after the Mountaineers...I guess I just got sucked because of all the football tradition/sucess they had when I was a kid

2. North Carolina...mainly for bball...pretty much the same reasoning as Bama for football

3. Army/Navy....both schools reprsent the history and tradition of Eastern football to me..I watch them both on TV as much as I can

4. Temple...I could care less about Temple football but I do follow Temple hoops...after Pitt, Temple is probably WVUs best rival in basektball and I try to check in and see how there doing from time to time

5. East Carolina....great fan base and I had a ton of respect for there old coach Steve Logan...I wish there football program could finally put the pieces back together so they could get into the BE

Schools I hate

1. Duke...aside from my fondness for Carolina...Duke was the school that patched enough "no"votes together to keep WVU out of the ACC in the 1960s

2. Notre Dame...I hate the arrogance and the Holier then thou attitude that comes from South Bend...also I can't stand the way the BE office lets ND leach off of BE football

3. Boston College...One of the schools that preached loyalty to the BE and to the bball onlys when the football schools talked of forming an all sports league...but when the ACC came calling suddenly all that loyalty and tradition didn't mean that much

4. Penn St....A long time rival of WVU who won't give the Mountaineers the time of day for a football series unless Penn St gets a 2 for 1

5. Virginia.....the rich blue bloods of the tide water love to look down there noses at there poor mountain couisns to the west....the last two times the football teams have played UVA has put on a halftime "perfomance" that highlights sterotypes of Applachin culture


Jackson

MHSCard Wrote::laugh: I love how both the Memphis and ECU fans think USF stole "their" slot to the Big East. It's just funny, personally I think that Memphis has much more reason to be upset but ECU might actually have a legit claim in the reality of the situation.

I don't ***** and moan about USF "stealing" anything. I do however hate the way their fans conveniently forget that they were incredibly lucky and that if they were located anywhere other than Florida they wouldn't have received even a passing thought. As a program, they have little to offer other than a Florida address and "potential", which in their case means "we're banking on them actually becoming something".

The only program that I really dislike, boarderline hate is Kentucky. I actually get joy from them losing. Therefore, they are in a league of their own.

So to fill out my top 5 would be:
#1 UK..

and in no particular order,

2. Memphis - because I really don't like Cal or their AD. RC Johnson seems to be a real tool. It also bugs the hell out of me that UM basically sat on its hands w/out improving its facilities for years and then when the shakeup comes all of the sudden they are in a mood to invest. That said, I respect Memphis being that they were long time conference mates and I wouldn't mind seeing them in that capacity again once RC and Cal are gone.

3. USM - A good football rival that should have been even better. I'm still stunned that the series basically ended 3 seasons ago. CUSA really (once again) dropped the ball. USM bothered me on the facility front the same as Memphis, renovations to the "Rock" should have happened 10 years ago, not this year. I also couldn't stand USM for their crappy basketball arena and fan support not to mention the fact that they might as well be a junior college in the eyes of the academic world. Accredidation probation reflects badly on those you associate with no matter how hard you try to play it off.

4. ECU for multiple reasons. Because they never should have been admited to the league in the first place. Because they are idiots for firing Logan. Because you need an indian guide and a pack mule to find their campus after you get off the plane. Because their basketball arena is a crackerjack box. Because their basketball fans are by far the worst in CUSA, no class, reportedly taunted francisco garcia about his dead brother. Have been a bust in both major sports and kill your SOS. Fans believe that college baseball actually counts for something.

5. Duke. Because everyone else does.


Teams I like:

1. WVU - I think we have the makings of a respectful rivalry with the eers. The rivals board has the wittiest fans on the web bar-none and they have been very welcoming to the Cards. Oh yeah, that was a hell of a basketball game.

2. UC- This may surprise some but I respect Huggs and I respect UC's commitment to try and improve their lot. Good investment in facilities and have shown they will bite the bullet and fire a marginal coach (Minter) in hopes of hiring a better one and improving. My wish for UC is that they be extremely active in growing their fan base. There is no excuse for the poor football attendance. If Pitt can draw 50,000-60,000 for games on occation so should UC be able to. They face the same issues but Pitt can regularly put 45k in the stands. I love to play and beat UC but I always pull for them OOC.

3. UCONN - Because they just get it done. I mean they are a flagship institution so it takes a bit of luster off of their investment but by gawd when they commit to a sport they do it first class and I respect that. Lookinsg forward to watching them rise as the football power in the northeast region. Are you still playing BC in football?

4. Notre Dame - I'm an Irish Catholic with dad originally from MA.

5. I can't come up with a 5th. So I'll say this; no one comes close to Louisville in my heart.

There's only one problem with the rise of UConn as the football power of the region, they produce little talent in state. If Rutgers has a winning season this season, PSU, WVU, Conn, BC, UVA, UMD, Miami, and ND will all be very hard pressed to get some of the top recruits that they normally get with ease. They will get some of the usuals but it'll be a true battle with dear old Rutgers and more than ever will choose to stay home and continue building the a rising power. All it takes is a 7-4 season from us this year and Greg Schiano will prove why many believe him to be one of the top 10 recruiters in the country. He'll have a considerably easier time picking and choosing NY, PA, NJ, and FL talent.

Quote:brista21 Posted on Jun 20 2005, 08:57 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's only one problem with the rise of UConn as the football power of the region, they produce little talent in state. If Rutgers has a winning season this season, PSU, WVU, Conn, BC, UVA, UMD, Miami, and ND will all be very hard pressed to get some of the top recruits that they normally get with ease. They will get some of the usuals but it'll be a true battle with dear old Rutgers and more than ever will choose to stay home and continue building the a rising power. All it takes is a 7-4 season from us this year and Greg Schiano will prove why many believe him to be one of the top 10 recruiters in the country. He'll have a considerably easier time picking and choosing NY, PA, NJ, and FL talent. 

I understand the optimism, Brista, but this is probably Schiano's last season to prove himself. If he doesn't get the Scarlet Knights bowl eligible, he's in trouble.

And the key to Rutgers season is the first three games. Lose any of those three and I believe it will be tough for your guys to finish 6-5.

But if there is a season for hope, this one is it.

Best of luck with Illinois.

Cheers,
Neil

brista21 Wrote:There's only one problem with the rise of UConn as the football power of the region, they produce little talent in state. If Rutgers has a winning season this season, PSU, WVU, Conn, BC, UVA, UMD, Miami, and ND will all be very hard pressed to get some of the top recruits that they normally get with ease. They will get some of the usuals but it'll be a true battle with dear old Rutgers and more than ever will choose to stay home and continue building the a rising power. All it takes is a 7-4 season from us this year and Greg Schiano will prove why many believe him to be one of the top 10 recruiters in the country. He'll have a considerably easier time picking and choosing NY, PA, NJ, and FL talent.

I understand Brista and I hope you do well this year but Ive taken a 'when I see it I'll believe it' approach with Rutgers. Last season I really followed the Knights and the NH loss blew me away.

L-yes Wrote:

brista21 Wrote:There's only one problem with the rise of UConn as the football power of the region, they produce little talent in state. If Rutgers has a winning season this season, PSU, WVU, Conn, BC, UVA, UMD, Miami, and ND will all be very hard pressed to get some of the top recruits that they normally get with ease. They will get some of the usuals but it'll be a true battle with dear old Rutgers and more than ever will choose to stay home and continue building the a rising power. All it takes is a 7-4 season from us this year and Greg Schiano will prove why many believe him to be one of the top 10 recruiters in the country. He'll have a considerably easier time picking and choosing NY, PA, NJ, and FL talent.

I understand Brista and I hope you do well this year but Ive taken a 'when I see it I'll believe it' approach with Rutgers. Last season I really followed the Knights and the NH loss blew me away.

I'm just hoping that Phil Steele is right and last year's squad massively underacheived. Isn't it amazing how year in and year out us Rutgers fans are optimistic that this year is the year and then in our disappointment we remain loyal and say that it's going to happen someday. We've been waiting for a long time for a really good season when's our turn? The Red Sox finally won the World Series, can we finally end our Bowl drought? I know we can and will someday, I just hope that someday is finally here.

L-yes Wrote:Because they are idiots for firing Logan.  Because you need an indian guide and a pack mule to find their campus after you get off the plane.  Because their basketball arena is a crackerjack box.  Because their basketball fans are by far the worst in CUSA, no class, reportedly taunted francisco garcia about his dead brother.    Fans believe that college baseball actually counts for something.

Because they never should have been admitted to the league in the first place.

We clearly added to the conferences image in football or we would have never gotten in. CUSA was struggling at it's inception. We had our own TV deal and bowl tie in with the Liberty and were thriving at that point. We beat out the CUSA competition the first two years and tied the third year. I wouldn't say you let us in as much as we force your hand because the first few years and letting the team on the outside go to your marquee bowl. You guys weren't exactly carrying the torch for CUSA football in the mid 90's at that point. You had a 1 win season as well and a couple of 5 to 6 win season. Every program from USC to Oklahoma to Louisville and ECU hit stretches where they are down, but if you have things in place you can get back up.

I also wouldn't say we were a "bust" once we got into CUSA. In our first 5 years we won 34 games and in CUSA went to 3 bowl games and overall were 21-11 in CUSA. We didn't hurt you in football beating teams like Texas Tech in a bowl and upsetting a top 10 Miami team.


"Because they are idiots for firing Logan."

We were preseason top 25 in 2001 and went 6-6 including all close losses in which we lost big leads including blowing a 30 point lead to Marshall in the bowl game (you can still see that on ESPN Classic). The next season we let Duke break a 20 game losing streak on us, and went 4-8 (with a couple of good wins top 25 TCU, 8 win bowl winner Tulane, but some blow out losses). I think it is still very debatable on Logan, but I am thrilled to have Holtz.

"Because you need an indian guide and a pack mule to find their campus after you get off the plane. "

Different strokes for different folks. I like the small college town experience myself. Everything in Greenville revolves around ECU and the students, and ECU is consistently voted one of the most fun college experiences and places to go to school.

Your team flys charter right into the Greenville airport, and as far as the fans flying into RDU its about a one our drive from Raleigh on a 4 lane major highway where you can go 70mph. How is that trip to West Virginia going to be if you think ours was bad?

"Because their basketball arena is a crackerjack box."

We can get 8,000 in there, and it gets loud with the very crazy. The students really have embraced the new league and the "Minges Maniacs" is the largest organization on campus and really show up and are loud and right on the court and rock the crackerjack box.

Duke the best program in the world's place only holds a little over 9,000, and it is the toughest place to play period. Did you ever consider that maybe that has helped get them to the point they are at??? We are creating a similar environment, and I think we were the toughest place to play in CUSA according to the CUSA coaches. It really has helped us take down big time teams. Personally I would rather see a game in that environment than a 20K arena anyday. I have been to the Dean Dome and RBC for UNC and NCSU. It really doesn't compare in environment it is a blast to see a game in Minges, although small everything else in there is first class. Our fans are hungry and we have averaged 6,000 a game for a season while in the CAA and 5800 a couple of years ago for a losing team. We are getting closer and progressing as a program and the support will be there when we win..

"Because their basketball fans are by far the worst in CUSA, no class, reportedly taunted francisco garcia about his dead brother."

Key word "reportedly" I think that is a myth myself, we have some pretty upstanding folks in the media and if it happened they would have reported it. It was never substantiated and from this pirate if it did happen I am truely embarrassed and ashamed. I think some things come out of UL that get blown way out of proportion. Like the "bird incident" this season. That was just an excuse to blow our doors off after the moronic stunt Thompson pulled with the timeouts the year before. The courier had pictures and there were like 3 players standing mid feild during warm ups they weren't even looking at the UL players.


"Have been a bust in both major sports and kill your SOS"

In the early days of UL and CUSA we thought the same thing about you guys, especially when we were playing in the Minor league baseball stadium, before you built the Pizza joint, and when Crum was "Crum"bling away.

<a href='http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=10&Z=16&X=3050&Y=21144&W=1&qs=%7cLouisville%7cKY%7c' target='_blank'>http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp...isville%7cKY%7c</a>

You talk about facility improvements you guys were playing in these digs 6 years ago.

"Fans believe that college baseball actually counts for something"

Funny I have been watching it on ESPN for the last week and a half guess someone else cares too, and when you sale 3,000 tickets to 25-30 games if can be profitable to the university. We have teams in CUSA that can't draw 3,000 in basketball currently. Heck South Florida drew less than our baseball team for basketball last year.

cardtopper Wrote:Old flames die hard.

Are you telling us something or are you waiting for Jerry Springer to "tell your secret"? :laugh:

brista21 Wrote:

L-yes Wrote:

brista21 Wrote:There's only one problem with the rise of UConn as the football power of the region, they produce little talent in state. If Rutgers has a winning season this season, PSU, WVU, Conn, BC, UVA, UMD, Miami, and ND will all be very hard pressed to get some of the top recruits that they normally get with ease. They will get some of the usuals but it'll be a true battle with dear old Rutgers and more than ever will choose to stay home and continue building the a rising power. All it takes is a 7-4 season from us this year and Greg Schiano will prove why many believe him to be one of the top 10 recruiters in the country. He'll have a considerably easier time picking and choosing NY, PA, NJ, and FL talent.

I understand Brista and I hope you do well this year but Ive taken a 'when I see it I'll believe it' approach with Rutgers. Last season I really followed the Knights and the NH loss blew me away.

I'm just hoping that Phil Steele is right and last year's squad massively underacheived. Isn't it amazing how year in and year out us Rutgers fans are optimistic that this year is the year and then in our disappointment we remain loyal and say that it's going to happen someday. We've been waiting for a long time for a really good season when's our turn? The Red Sox finally won the World Series, can we finally end our Bowl drought? I know we can and will someday, I just hope that someday is finally here.

We in Memphis feel your pain. Keep the faith, you guys will get there.

USF finished in the BCS Top 25 just a couple of years ago and has some good victories. USF is just as viable a member as UCONN who was born into a BCS conference situation.

Love Cincy
Like Louisville, Memphis, anyone who plays Xavier, The Big East, CUSA, UCLA, Miami Fla.
Dislike Ohio State... academically cheats and pays players in several sports, Many UK basketball fans not the team, although school caught paying players several times, Hawaii football coach June Jones what a Disgrace., Duke
I do not like to use this word.... BUT.....Hate.... Xavier ......school, several players, team, especially administration who continue to cover up all problems and mostly the FANS!

CyberBull Wrote:USF finished in the BCS Top 25 just a couple of years ago and has some good victories. USF is just as viable a member as UCONN who was born into a BCS conference situation.

I must say that you've bowled me over with your extensive list of facts.

It makes no difference, you are in a BCS conference adn others aren't. You are there as a gift and have done absolutely nothing on the field, on the court or at the ticket booth to deserve being there, but you are there.

Better lucky than good in this case - that is the entire list of facts as to why USF is in a BCS conference.

CyberBull Wrote:USF finished in the BCS Top 25 just a couple of years ago and has some good victories. USF is just as viable a member as UCONN who was born into a BCS conference situation.

(UConn earned the Big East invite with their basketball and because they had been a long time member, and with the new stadium they built as well)

According to Coach Logan, South Florida while they were starting up their program and making the moving up to D1a significantly rolled back academic standards, and were taking all kinds of players that other schools couldn’t/wouldn’t under the excuse of they needed the players because they just started their program.

Looking over your roster even now you still have many players that originally signed with SEC and ACC schools that apparently never qualified or flunked out but were brought in by USF. Now that it has been a couple of years since the move, I wonder just how long this “take anyone good

MHSCard Wrote::laugh: I love how both the Memphis and ECU fans think USF stole "their" slot to the Big East. It's just funny, personally I think that Memphis has much more reason to be upset but ECU might actually have a legit claim in the reality of the situation.

I don't think they stole anything - they were invited by the BE conference.......which, as a Memphis fan, I think will turn out to be a mistake......Florida kids aren't going to flock to USF just because now they are in a BCS conference, but instead the top kids will say, "Hey, I can go to either Miami or FSU and play in one of the top 2 or 3 football conferences or go to Florida and do the same." - I think Miami going to the ACC solidified the big three even more......will they get all of the Florida kids? No, and some top guys will still choose to go elsewhere, but I think the shakeup benefitted Miami, FSU, and Florida even more than it benefitted USF as far as recruiting top Florida preps is concerned......

HoopDreams Wrote:

MHSCard Wrote::laugh: I love how both the Memphis and ECU fans think USF stole "their" slot to the Big East.&nbsp; It's just funny, personally I think that Memphis has much more reason to be upset but ECU might actually have a legit claim in the reality of the situation.

I don't think they stole anything - they were invited by the BE conference.......which, as a Memphis fan, I think will turn out to be a mistake......Florida kids aren't going to flock to USF just because now they are in a BCS conference, but instead the top kids will say, "Hey, I can go to either Miami or FSU and play in one of the top 2 or 3 football conferences or go to Florida and do the same." - I think Miami going to the ACC solidified the big three even more......will they get all of the Florida kids? No, and some top guys will still choose to go elsewhere, but I think the shakeup benefitted Miami, FSU, and Florida even more than it benefitted USF as far as recruiting top Florida preps is concerned......

Nobody in their right mind would think that USF would get the same recruits as the big three. With BE association it is solidly in place to be the 4th school of choice among Floridians staying home. Whether Levitt takes advantage or not is open to debate.

TexanMark Wrote:

HoopDreams Wrote:

MHSCard Wrote::laugh: I love how both the Memphis and ECU fans think USF stole "their" slot to the Big East.  It's just funny, personally I think that Memphis has much more reason to be upset but ECU might actually have a legit claim in the reality of the situation.

I don't think they stole anything - they were invited by the BE conference.......which, as a Memphis fan, I think will turn out to be a mistake......Florida kids aren't going to flock to USF just because now they are in a BCS conference, but instead the top kids will say, "Hey, I can go to either Miami or FSU and play in one of the top 2 or 3 football conferences or go to Florida and do the same." - I think Miami going to the ACC solidified the big three even more......will they get all of the Florida kids? No, and some top guys will still choose to go elsewhere, but I think the shakeup benefitted Miami, FSU, and Florida even more than it benefitted USF as far as recruiting top Florida preps is concerned......

Nobody in their right mind would think that USF would get the same recruits as the big three. With BE association it is solidly in place to be the 4th school of choice among Floridians staying home. Whether Levitt takes advantage or not is open to debate.

agree.....in fact, I think it benefits other established BE programs more than USF as far as recruiting the state of Florida, which IMO, is the main reason they were added......I know UL recruits Florida quite a bit and I am sure other BE schools will follow suit.....

StillJonesing Wrote:

L-yes Wrote:Because they are idiots for firing Logan.  Because you need an indian guide and a pack mule to find their campus after you get off the plane.  Because their basketball arena is a crackerjack box.  Because their basketball fans are by far the worst in CUSA, no class, reportedly taunted francisco garcia about his dead brother.    Fans believe that college baseball actually counts for something.

Because they never should have been admitted to the league in the first place.

We clearly added to the conferences image in football or we would have never gotten in. CUSA was struggling at it's inception. We had our own TV deal and bowl tie in with the Liberty and were thriving at that point. We beat out the CUSA competition the first two years and tied the third year. I wouldn't say you let us in as much as we force your hand because the first few years and letting the team on the outside go to your marquee bowl. You guys weren't exactly carrying the torch for CUSA football in the mid 90's at that point. You had a 1 win season as well and a couple of 5 to 6 win season. Every program from USC to Oklahoma to Louisville and ECU hit stretches where they are down, but if you have things in place you can get back up.

I also wouldn't say we were a "bust" once we got into CUSA. In our first 5 years we won 34 games and in CUSA went to 3 bowl games and overall were 21-11 in CUSA. We didn't hurt you in football beating teams like Texas Tech in a bowl and upsetting a top 10 Miami team.


"Because they are idiots for firing Logan."

We were preseason top 25 in 2001 and went 6-6 including all close losses in which we lost big leads including blowing a 30 point lead to Marshall in the bowl game (you can still see that on ESPN Classic). The next season we let Duke break a 20 game losing streak on us, and went 4-8 (with a couple of good wins top 25 TCU, 8 win bowl winner Tulane, but some blow out losses). I think it is still very debatable on Logan, but I am thrilled to have Holtz.

"Because you need an indian guide and a pack mule to find their campus after you get off the plane. "

Different strokes for different folks. I like the small college town experience myself. Everything in Greenville revolves around ECU and the students, and ECU is consistently voted one of the most fun college experiences and places to go to school.

Your team flys charter right into the Greenville airport, and as far as the fans flying into RDU its about a one our drive from Raleigh on a 4 lane major highway where you can go 70mph. How is that trip to West Virginia going to be if you think ours was bad?

"Because their basketball arena is a crackerjack box."

We can get 8,000 in there, and it gets loud with the very crazy. The students really have embraced the new league and the "Minges Maniacs" is the largest organization on campus and really show up and are loud and right on the court and rock the crackerjack box.

Duke the best program in the world's place only holds a little over 9,000, and it is the toughest place to play period. Did you ever consider that maybe that has helped get them to the point they are at??? We are creating a similar environment, and I think we were the toughest place to play in CUSA according to the CUSA coaches. It really has helped us take down big time teams. Personally I would rather see a game in that environment than a 20K arena anyday. I have been to the Dean Dome and RBC for UNC and NCSU. It really doesn't compare in environment it is a blast to see a game in Minges, although small everything else in there is first class. Our fans are hungry and we have averaged 6,000 a game for a season while in the CAA and 5800 a couple of years ago for a losing team. We are getting closer and progressing as a program and the support will be there when we win..

"Because their basketball fans are by far the worst in CUSA, no class, reportedly taunted francisco garcia about his dead brother."

Key word "reportedly" I think that is a myth myself, we have some pretty upstanding folks in the media and if it happened they would have reported it. It was never substantiated and from this pirate if it did happen I am truely embarrassed and ashamed. I think some things come out of UL that get blown way out of proportion. Like the "bird incident" this season. That was just an excuse to blow our doors off after the moronic stunt Thompson pulled with the timeouts the year before. The courier had pictures and there were like 3 players standing mid feild during warm ups they weren't even looking at the UL players.


"Have been a bust in both major sports and kill your SOS"

In the early days of UL and CUSA we thought the same thing about you guys, especially when we were playing in the Minor league baseball stadium, before you built the Pizza joint, and when Crum was "Crum"bling away.

<a href='http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?T=4&S=10&Z=16&X=3050&Y=21144&W=1&qs=%7cLouisville%7cKY%7c' target='_blank'>http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp...isville%7cKY%7c</a>

You talk about facility improvements you guys were playing in these digs 6 years ago.

"Fans believe that college baseball actually counts for something"

Funny I have been watching it on ESPN for the last week and a half guess someone else cares too, and when you sale 3,000 tickets to 25-30 games if can be profitable to the university. We have teams in CUSA that can't draw 3,000 in basketball currently. Heck South Florida drew less than our baseball team for basketball last year.

West Virginia is a flagship University. ECU is the flagship of a state that doesnt exist. Seriously, ECU is directional option 5 in a state saturated by the ACC. ECU and Eastern Kentucky U are on the same plane in my book. After all it was only a few short years ago you were members of the Colonial Athletic Association.

StillJonesing Wrote:[quote="CyberBull"] USF finished in the BCS Top 25 just a couple of years ago and has some good victories. USF is just as viable a member as UCONN who was born into a BCS conference situation.

(UConn earned the Big East invite with their basketball and because they had been a long time member, and with the new stadium they built as well)

According to Coach Logan, South Florida while they were starting up their program and making the moving up to D1a significantly rolled back academic standards, and were taking all kinds of players that other schools couldn’t/wouldn’t under the excuse of they needed the players because they just started their program.

Looking over your roster even now you still have many players that originally signed with SEC and ACC schools that apparently never qualified or flunked out but were brought in by USF. Now that it has been a couple of years since the move, I wonder just how long this “take anyone good

Excuse me the "Liberty bowl Coalition" which included ECU and all the other CUSA teams. Every one knew CUSA was being formed even at that time. I think the conference had been in the works for 2 maybe 3 years at that point. We won that coalition the first two years 94 and 95. In 1996 the first year of CUSA we had the individual tie in with the Liberty Bowl. They would take either ECU or the CUSA champion which were the exact same teams of the coalition.

We were very close again that year and went 8-3 with wins over Miami, S. Carolina and NC State. A 7-4 Houston got the bid maily I think because we had the previous two years and I am sure the bowl despite the fans we brought, were ready to see a new team for interest reason. At this point I think with the individual tie in and they streak we were putting together of winning seasons CUSA had to add us.

It is a good story and I like telling it.