"After more than half a decade of petty tweets and late-night road games at Tulsa, UConn appears to be leaving the American Athletic Conference sometime this coming week to join the new Big East. While the impending move benefits a handful of UConn’s top sports, no other program benefits from this move as much as the men’s basketball team."

https://www.theuconnblog.com/2019/6/23/1...dan-hurley


Hahaha they do know this is not the same Big East. They still have to travel to the Mid-West a lot. Complaining about late games at Tulsa well you got to play Creighton. I know they'll have more NE games now but still there is no Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, etc just a bunch of small Catholic schools spread out from the NE to the Mid-West. UConn will be the only public school and will really only have two big conference games a year in Georgetown and Villanova as there is no Syracuse or Louisville on the schedule.

Are two home games against Georgetown and Villanova that much greater than games against Cincinnati or Memphis?

Grass is not always greener

(06-24-2019 07:34 AM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  "After more than half a decade of petty tweets and late-night road games at Tulsa, UConn appears to be leaving the American Athletic Conference sometime this coming week to join the new Big East. While the impending move benefits a handful of UConn’s top sports, no other program benefits from this move as much as the men’s basketball team."

https://www.theuconnblog.com/2019/6/23/1...dan-hurley


Hahaha they do know this is not the same Big East. They still have to travel to the Mid-West a lot. Complaining about late games at Tulsa well you got to play Creighton. I know they'll have more NE games now but still there is no Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, etc just a bunch of small Catholic schools spread out from the NE to the Mid-West. UConn will be the only public school and will really only have two big conference games a year in Georgetown and Villanova as there is no Syracuse or Louisville on the schedule.

Are two home games against Georgetown and Villanova that much greater than games against Cincinnati or Memphis?

Grass is not always greener

I really didn't expect UConn to blow up their football program over it (some things indicate maybe they don't realize they've killed football?) but there is sizably less travel for UConn in the Big East. (I'd never looked at it, somehow I compared their AAC travel to their Old Big East travel, and it wasn't very different. But like you said, the Big East is different now.)

Three trips are a wash--they still go to Philadelphia, Cincinatti, and Omaha/Wichita.
They add Chicago, Milwaukee and Indianapolis for Memphis, East Carolina and Tampa. A little bit of savings there, but trivial--maybe an hour less in the air, maybe not.
Washington for Orlando is a sizable improvement--nonrevenue sports will bus trip to Washington.
But they add New York City, northern New Jersey and Providence, for Dallas, Houston and Tulsa. Huge differences there.

Yes, Syracuse and Louisville (don't overrate Pitt, Notre Dame too much) are not in the Big East UConn returns to. But UConn fans are used to seeing the C7 as Big East teams, as major conference opponents. At worst, DePaul is a school who plays big time schools, like ECU playing Duke or Vanderbilt in football.

I can only conclude that the UConn basketball donor base is in revolt, and the angry donor base is a nostalgic bunch.

Big East as a whole has a better perception than the AAC...and that isn't going to change. THis is true for the top and bottom of the conference, esp. with UCONN add/delete.

At the bottom:
St. Johns, Providence, Seton Hall, etc. are MUCH > brand/perception vs ECU, USF, Tulane and Tulsa. Anybody who disagrees is being willingly ignorant.

The to top:
Nova, UCONN, Gtown, and XU are >/= in brand/perception on the whole vs the sum of UH (just recently started doing something), UC (ncaa flame out U), Memphis, and Temple.

Plus, the Big East alone helps this perception. They didn't pay the AAC $88M or whatever it was for that name 'just because'. Sure its not the same Big East of old, but the name has cache.

This is a great move for UCONN (hoops). They are in a better perceived league and now its even MORE SO because they were the biggest basketball brand in the AAC. If there was any doubt as to perception Big East vs AAC prior to the move, that doubt has been resolved.

The AAC will be under the Big East perception wise moving forward. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

If one team in the AAC rises up and all of a sudden goes to four stragiht final fours, it will just be seen as "Memphis in CUSA". It won't raise the conference above the Big East.

Better accept this now.

(06-24-2019 08:11 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  Big East as a whole has a better perception than the AAC...and that isn't going to change. THis is true for the top and bottom of the conference, esp. with UCONN add/delete.

At the bottom:
St. Johns, Providence, Seton Hall, etc. are MUCH > brand/perception vs ECU, USF, Tulane and Tulsa. Anybody who disagrees is being willingly ignorant.

The to top:
Nova, UCONN, Gtown, and XU are >/= in brand/perception on the whole vs the sum of UH (just recently started doing something), UC (ncaa flame out U), Memphis, and Temple.

Plus, the Big East alone helps this perception. They didn't pay the AAC $88M or whatever it was for that name 'just because'. Sure its not the same Big East of old, but the name has cache.

This is a great move for UCONN (hoops). They are in a better perceived league and now its even MORE SO because they were the biggest basketball brand in the AAC. If there was any doubt as to perception Big East vs AAC prior to the move, that doubt has been resolved.

The AAC will be under the Big East perception wise moving forward. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

If one team in the AAC rises up and all of a sudden goes to four stragiht final fours, it will just be seen as "Memphis in CUSA". It won't raise the conference above the Big East.

Better accept this now.

Remember, UConn (nor Memphis) has not contributed to the AAC's improved metrics and NCAA Tourney entries and performance. There is reasonable hope that the AAC (upon adding a member like VCU, the resurgence of Memphis, pulling up laggards, continued success for Cincy and Houston, etc) will rival the BE. Perception lags reality, but eventually reality shapes perception.

(06-24-2019 08:11 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  Big East as a whole has a better perception than the AAC...and that isn't going to change. THis is true for the top and bottom of the conference, esp. with UCONN add/delete.

At the bottom:
St. Johns, Providence, Seton Hall, etc. are MUCH > brand/perception vs ECU, USF, Tulane and Tulsa. Anybody who disagrees is being willingly ignorant.

The to top:
Nova, UCONN, Gtown, and XU are >/= in brand/perception on the whole vs the sum of UH (just recently started doing something), UC (ncaa flame out U), Memphis, and Temple.

Plus, the Big East alone helps this perception. They didn't pay the AAC $88M or whatever it was for that name 'just because'. Sure its not the same Big East of old, but the name has cache.

This is a great move for UCONN (hoops). They are in a better perceived league and now its even MORE SO because they were the biggest basketball brand in the AAC. If there was any doubt as to perception Big East vs AAC prior to the move, that doubt has been resolved.

The AAC will be under the Big East perception wise moving forward. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

If one team in the AAC rises up and all of a sudden goes to four stragiht final fours, it will just be seen as "Memphis in CUSA". It won't raise the conference above the Big East.

Better accept this now.

I shall miss you most.

(06-24-2019 07:34 AM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  "After more than half a decade of petty tweets and late-night road games at Tulsa, UConn appears to be leaving the American Athletic Conference sometime this coming week to join the new Big East. While the impending move benefits a handful of UConn’s top sports, no other program benefits from this move as much as the men’s basketball team."

https://www.theuconnblog.com/2019/6/23/1...dan-hurley


Hahaha they do know this is not the same Big East. They still have to travel to the Mid-West a lot. Complaining about late games at Tulsa well you got to play Creighton. I know they'll have more NE games now but still there is no Pitt, Syracuse, West Virginia, etc just a bunch of small Catholic schools spread out from the NE to the Mid-West. UConn will be the only public school and will really only have two big conference games a year in Georgetown and Villanova as there is no Syracuse or Louisville on the schedule.

Are two home games against Georgetown and Villanova that much greater than games against Cincinnati or Memphis?

Grass is not always greener

Nice tradeoff killing ur FBall program and any reasonable chance at the ACC or B10 in order to get a few Bball games against Georgetown and. NOVA

(06-24-2019 08:38 AM)Tiger1983 Wrote:  

(06-24-2019 08:11 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  Big East as a whole has a better perception than the AAC...and that isn't going to change. THis is true for the top and bottom of the conference, esp. with UCONN add/delete.

At the bottom:
St. Johns, Providence, Seton Hall, etc. are MUCH > brand/perception vs ECU, USF, Tulane and Tulsa. Anybody who disagrees is being willingly ignorant.

The to top:
Nova, UCONN, Gtown, and XU are >/= in brand/perception on the whole vs the sum of UH (just recently started doing something), UC (ncaa flame out U), Memphis, and Temple.

Plus, the Big East alone helps this perception. They didn't pay the AAC $88M or whatever it was for that name 'just because'. Sure its not the same Big East of old, but the name has cache.

This is a great move for UCONN (hoops). They are in a better perceived league and now its even MORE SO because they were the biggest basketball brand in the AAC. If there was any doubt as to perception Big East vs AAC prior to the move, that doubt has been resolved.

The AAC will be under the Big East perception wise moving forward. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

If one team in the AAC rises up and all of a sudden goes to four stragiht final fours, it will just be seen as "Memphis in CUSA". It won't raise the conference above the Big East.

Better accept this now.

Remember, UConn (nor Memphis) has not contributed to the AAC's improved metrics and NCAA Tourney entries and performance. There is reasonable hope that the AAC (upon adding a member like VCU, the resurgence of Memphis, pulling up laggards, continued success for Cincy and Houston, etc) will rival the BE. Perception lags reality, but eventually reality shapes perception.

I don't disagree with you. That being said, college athletics is all about perception, not reality. The talking points already coming out by the media remind me of the points we heard when the Big East 2005-2012 blew up-- Syracuse was trash during those years and Pitt/Rutgers were mediocre, however the narrative nationally quickly became that Cincinnati and USF were not as good as those schools in football (despite dominating them head to head).

(06-24-2019 08:11 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  Big East as a whole has a better perception than the AAC...and that isn't going to change. THis is true for the top and bottom of the conference, esp. with UCONN add/delete.

At the bottom:
St. Johns, Providence, Seton Hall, etc. are MUCH > brand/perception vs ECU, USF, Tulane and Tulsa. Anybody who disagrees is being willingly ignorant.

The to top:
Nova, UCONN, Gtown, and XU are >/= in brand/perception on the whole vs the sum of UH (just recently started doing something), UC (ncaa flame out U), Memphis, and Temple.

Plus, the Big East alone helps this perception. They didn't pay the AAC $88M or whatever it was for that name 'just because'. Sure its not the same Big East of old, but the name has cache.

This is a great move for UCONN (hoops). They are in a better perceived league and now its even MORE SO because they were the biggest basketball brand in the AAC. If there was any doubt as to perception Big East vs AAC prior to the move, that doubt has been resolved.

The AAC will be under the Big East perception wise moving forward. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

If one team in the AAC rises up and all of a sudden goes to four stragiht final fours, it will just be seen as "Memphis in CUSA". It won't raise the conference above the Big East.

Better accept this now.

Basketball blows compared to football. Land grant, flagship school forced to play in the tiny religious school league.

(06-24-2019 08:52 AM)Sellular1 Wrote:  

(06-24-2019 08:11 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  Big East as a whole has a better perception than the AAC...and that isn't going to change. THis is true for the top and bottom of the conference, esp. with UCONN add/delete.

At the bottom:
St. Johns, Providence, Seton Hall, etc. are MUCH > brand/perception vs ECU, USF, Tulane and Tulsa. Anybody who disagrees is being willingly ignorant.

The to top:
Nova, UCONN, Gtown, and XU are >/= in brand/perception on the whole vs the sum of UH (just recently started doing something), UC (ncaa flame out U), Memphis, and Temple.

Plus, the Big East alone helps this perception. They didn't pay the AAC $88M or whatever it was for that name 'just because'. Sure its not the same Big East of old, but the name has cache.

This is a great move for UCONN (hoops). They are in a better perceived league and now its even MORE SO because they were the biggest basketball brand in the AAC. If there was any doubt as to perception Big East vs AAC prior to the move, that doubt has been resolved.

The AAC will be under the Big East perception wise moving forward. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

If one team in the AAC rises up and all of a sudden goes to four stragiht final fours, it will just be seen as "Memphis in CUSA". It won't raise the conference above the Big East.

Better accept this now.

Basketball blows compared to football. Land grant, flagship school forced to play in the tiny religious school league.

As opposed to a New England land grant, flagship school being forced to play in a Texas-based, Southern directional league?

I can promise you that nobody's going to look at the 20-21 schedule and panic when they realize Syracuse and BC aren't on it. Everyone's very aware of who the team is going to be playing and the majority are very happy about it at least on the basketball side of things. There's 40 years of history between UConn and the five East Coast BE teams, that doesn't go away overnight.

(06-24-2019 07:34 AM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  Are two home games against Georgetown and Villanova that much greater than games against Cincinnati or Memphis?

Around here? Yea, it is (although Cincy's done a good job of turning into as much of a rivalry as there was/is for us). Don't discount the Tournament, having MSG back by itself might be half the overall appeal or more.

(06-24-2019 08:47 AM)wavefan12 Wrote:  Nice tradeoff killing ur FBall program and any reasonable chance at the ACC or B10 in order to get a few Bball games against Georgetown and. NOVA

There was no reasonable chance at either of those conferences anymore, that specifically was just a question of how long the fans and administration wanted to keep lying to themselves.

(06-24-2019 09:02 AM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(06-24-2019 08:52 AM)Sellular1 Wrote:  

(06-24-2019 08:11 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  Big East as a whole has a better perception than the AAC...and that isn't going to change. THis is true for the top and bottom of the conference, esp. with UCONN add/delete.

At the bottom:
St. Johns, Providence, Seton Hall, etc. are MUCH > brand/perception vs ECU, USF, Tulane and Tulsa. Anybody who disagrees is being willingly ignorant.

The to top:
Nova, UCONN, Gtown, and XU are >/= in brand/perception on the whole vs the sum of UH (just recently started doing something), UC (ncaa flame out U), Memphis, and Temple.

Plus, the Big East alone helps this perception. They didn't pay the AAC $88M or whatever it was for that name 'just because'. Sure its not the same Big East of old, but the name has cache.

This is a great move for UCONN (hoops). They are in a better perceived league and now its even MORE SO because they were the biggest basketball brand in the AAC. If there was any doubt as to perception Big East vs AAC prior to the move, that doubt has been resolved.

The AAC will be under the Big East perception wise moving forward. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

If one team in the AAC rises up and all of a sudden goes to four stragiht final fours, it will just be seen as "Memphis in CUSA". It won't raise the conference above the Big East.

Better accept this now.

Basketball blows compared to football. Land grant, flagship school forced to play in the tiny religious school league.

As opposed to a New England land grant, flagship school being forced to play in a Texas-based, Southern directional league?

You gotta lay in your own bed, just seems stupid to kill your football program to play in a mediocre basketball league.

It is what it is. UConn made the decision that football is a lost cause and they aren't getting in the P5. Once you make that decision, the Big East is clearly a better option for UConn. It's their region, with teams they played forever and it has been a better basketball conference. Is giving up on football and the P5 the right move? That's the bigger question.

Bottom line is that UConn admin and fans decided they are a basketball school, and they don't really care about football. I get it. I just wonder how much money they wasted with that effort since they moved to FBS, b/c football is going to die on the vine. But they were doing so poorly anyway, I don't suppose it matters.

They're so bad, even CUSA and the Fun Belt are reportedly not interested in their football. I think they should go back to FCS.

But...I hold no ill will toward them. I understand why they're doing it. Just glad it's not my school. But a southern school that has been playing football for 107 years has a whole different attitude about college football than does a school in CT that started FBS in 2002.

Good luck. There is nothing wrong with trying to be Villanova.

Said it before, the Big East is a fine basketball league; but that is all it is. It is not the Big East from the 90s and 00s. I think the perception stated by a poster here of BE vast superiority is way overstated. The American is on the upswing: Memphis, number 1 class; Wichita regaining form; Houston top 10 team; Temple and Cincinnati great programs with new coaches. Our bottom tier teams also have better coaching and of course the USF improvement. Would I want Temple in the new Big East over the American? Not in a million years.

(06-24-2019 08:11 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  The AAC will be under the Big East perception wise moving forward. And there is nothing anybody can do about it.

If one team in the AAC rises up and all of a sudden goes to four stragiht final fours, it will just be seen as "Memphis in CUSA". It won't raise the conference above the Big East.

Better accept this now.

This was already a given regardless of whether holier than thou UConn was in our league

The final nail that drove UCONN to the Big East was the horrible new ESPN deal AAC just signed. It is beyond horrible for UCONN when AAC packaged all the tier-3 rights with that deal. While tier-3 rights and coverage are worth nothing for most AAC schools, it is worth a ton for UCONN. For years, UCONN literally had its own media channel in SNY reaching 14M homes. The new AAC deal did not consider UCONN's concerns or requirements. I have said in the past many times if UCONN retains its own tier-3 rights outside the AAC media deal, UCONN would have stayed.

Big East will get a huge upgrade in basketball with the addition of UCONN. UCONN will get to return to the Garden for the Big East tournament. The Big East tournament is a tradition UCONN fans really really missed. MSG and NYC are UCONN's second home for both exposure and recruiting. It does not matter if St John's suck, but playing in NYC regularly is a huge deal for UCONN basketball. Big East's annual payment in the media deal isn't far off from AAC's payment, and it will get a boost due to the addition of UCONN. UCONN will also get a nice payment for its tier-3 rights.

I believe UCONN was spending around $7M a year just to travel around for all of its teams in the AAC. In the Big East, that cost should come down quite a bit.

UCONN football will suffer if it can't find a home. However, going indy isn't the end of the world. UCONN can get to schedule nearby opponents to save traveling cost. Also, UCONN will get its own SNY deal for football coverage if it can't work out something with FOX. By going indy, it might give UCONN a chance to rebuild its own football brand while playing more opponents UCONN fans care about. It is also a big FU from UCONN to ESPN that have screwed UCONN over repeatedly.

Is this the perfect situation? No, it is not. We are still waiting for all the details, but it is a path where UCONN has much more control over its future vs. in the AAC where ESPN pretty much controls all.

I still believe the American needs to go and look at C-USA version 1. Charlotte, Marquette, St. Louis, and DePaul provided basketball support to Louisville, Memphis, and Cincinnati. Why can’t this league look into VCU and Dayton. To a lesser extent St. Louis as well.

Short term this stinks for SMU and the American. Long term, it is actually great for SMU as it moves us up in the pecking order for whenever the Big XII splits and the best of the rest invite the top of the American. Now SMU just needs to start showing results on the gridiron so that we can get back with what's left of the SWC.

Honestly, good luck joining UMass in the NE Independent Pod of Glory and reminiscing about the days Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt, and BC were in the same league as you

The reality is that UCONN doesn't fit into the AAC or the Big East (or really any other league). Time will tell regarding this decision, but I'm not the least bit mad about being proactive for once and losing that putz, Aresco, for good.