(10-01-2019 12:13 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/hc-sp-amore-column-big-east-uconn-val-ackerman-20191001-20191001-wytozm6fqvdihpkbkqhojpiqgm-story.html

Terrific article on Val Ackerman and UConn's return to the Big East. Some tidbits below.

"There’s no traffic on the extra mile. It reinforces that, in order to do things you hope will make a difference, they usually take a lot of works and sacrifices. Things don’t just happen. Not a lot of people are willing to put in those extra bits of sweat.”

"There had been casual conversations through the years, but UConn’s move from the American Athletic Conference to the Big East, finalized in June, came together quickly, suddenly." This only highlights that the final straw for UConn in the AAC was the TV deal details - it matches up on timeline.

"With UConn football going independent, the agreement has strong language regarding commitment to basketball vs. football. “We wanted to make sure UConn has the same commitment as our schools, where basketball is the sun, moon and stars,” Ackerman says. “It was our way of making sure of their wanting to stay a member of the conference long term.” This highlights that while UConn is a public school it is still a like-minded fit in the current Big East for being a basketball-first school. Nice to see the league protected and UConn's new athletic vision clear and sound.

I cannot wait for UConn to join next year. The league will continue to take big steps forward into the future.

(10-02-2019 08:13 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  UConn never wanted to be a member of the AAC and that is fully understandable. Being in the Big East simply makes sense, and I feel the Husky athletic program will shine in the BE.

It will be interesting to see which of the five Midwest-based teams UConn develops the best rivalry with.

There are only a handful of university athletic programs that have very unusual situations and, thus, can go the route UConn has chosen. The Huskies are blessed in that respect.

(10-02-2019 08:46 AM)MU in MKE Wrote:  

(10-02-2019 08:13 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  UConn never wanted to be a member of the AAC and that is fully understandable. Being in the Big East simply makes sense, and I feel the Husky athletic program will shine in the BE.

It will be interesting to see which of the five Midwest-based teams UConn develops the best rivalry with.

There are only a handful of university athletic programs that have very unusual situations and, thus, can go the route UConn has chosen. The Huskies are blessed in that respect.

I agree, it'll be interesting to see how things form over the first couple years of UConn being back. How the games play out, who's dominant (or if teams are equal), personalities of players clashing will shape things to come.

I know quite a few UConn fans and that is how they became one of my favorite teams in the mid 2000's until the breakup of the old version of the Big East. When the announcement of coming home was first made, a lot of them had an attitude that they were coming back to all the "little sister" schools and they'd be the big boy on the block.

While those attitudes have dissipated quite a bit, if UConn fans don't buy into the current culture of the conference (a lot of rooting for each other as long as it doesn't affect our own team), I can see them having a lot of heated rivalries and becoming the black sheep of the conference.

(10-02-2019 06:09 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  I mean, we have conference history with 2 of those Midwest schools. Marquette was my favorite addition when the Big East added the CUSA5. Obviously I'm gonna root for them over the likes of Wisconsin or any AAC team. Likewise with Xavier over Cincy.

Interesting fact: We were about to announce a home and home series with Butler starting this year, but then the Big East talks heated up and they held off on the announcement.

(10-02-2019 06:09 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  I mean, we have conference history with 2 of those Midwest schools. Marquette was my favorite addition when the Big East added the CUSA5. Obviously I'm gonna root for them over the likes of Wisconsin or any AAC team. Likewise with Xavier over Cincy.

Interesting fact: We were about to announce a home and home series with Butler starting this year, but then the Big East talks heated up and they held off on the announcement.

(10-03-2019 10:45 AM)scoscox Wrote:  

(10-02-2019 06:09 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  I mean, we have conference history with 2 of those Midwest schools. Marquette was my favorite addition when the Big East added the CUSA5. Obviously I'm gonna root for them over the likes of Wisconsin or any AAC team. Likewise with Xavier over Cincy.

Interesting fact: We were about to announce a home and home series with Butler starting this year, but then the Big East talks heated up and they held off on the announcement.

UConn fans will finally have their eyes opened to see through the lies of the bearcats

Val Ackerman Wrote:We wanted to make sure UConn has the same commitment as our schools, where basketball is the sun, moon and stars. It was our way of making sure of their wanting to stay a member of the conference long term.

(02-27-2020 03:33 PM)Bogg Wrote:  Little bit of news out of UConn last night, as Fox and SNY agreed on a deal for SNY to get 18 women's games a year. Good for UConn and good for the other women's programs in the Big East that should get additional TV time.

Also....

...interest starting to rebound in year 2 of Hurley. Would be great to get that number back up over 10k soon.

(02-27-2020 04:01 PM)Nameless Wrote:  Great to see Fox and SNY worked something out. Hoping the football deal is done soon too, I'm anxious to see the details

(02-27-2020 04:19 PM)stever20 Wrote:  

(02-27-2020 04:01 PM)Nameless Wrote:  Great to see Fox and SNY worked something out. Hoping the football deal is done soon too, I'm anxious to see the details

interesting that it's only for the women's games.... Don't think anything yet for Men's basketball....