If (when) the B1G expands again, would you be fine w/UConn?
After last night, being at the game, I think UConn could be a halfway decent program in the B1G.
I would say last night was probably 60/40 UConn fans.
They already have had more recent success than Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Purdue. As well as Rutgers and Maryland. They don't have the biggest stadium, but neither does northwestern and I think we can all agree they have a pretty damn good team after literally starting from nothing.
UConn has been this shitty and is this shitty because Randy Edsall skipped town at the perfect time and left Pasqualoni with pretty much nothing.
UConn has a national championship in basketball this decade, a dynasty in women's basketball and a hockey program which would boost the new B1G hockey conference's numbers. And by talking to some alums at the game yesterday, UConn is making a big push to get into the AAU.
It would also give East coast Michigan fans/alums more chances to see Michigan.
September 23rd, 2013 at 10:34 AM ^
September 23rd, 2013 at 11:03 AM ^
and may God have mercy on your soul.
September 23rd, 2013 at 11:29 AM ^
So I was at the Michigan UCONN game, live in CT and love the Wolverines. If Michigan were to come back to the "Rent" to play UCONN, I WOULD NOT GO! I hated the environment that they had. There was very little focus on the football, they had more advertisements and chessy activities on the field than football it seemed. They were clearly milking the event for every dollar they could. Even selling Michigan gear in the stadium! Some of the UCONN fans that I talked to were only there to see Michigan, not really cheer on their team. They only got excited when they thought there might be an upset. They have no football tradition and have no game engagement. The students must be bused to the arena, so there is very little college football feel. It's all very semi-pro. Talked to other Michigan fans who also said - never again will they step in that stadium.
As for their academic standards, just remember their mens basketball team recieved sanctions.
September 23rd, 2013 at 12:10 PM ^
Never ever in a trillion years.
September 23rd, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
Sorry in advance for the essay.
I'm not here to talk about how amazing UConn is - if I were a B1G fan, I wouldn't want UConn either, especially after adding the likes of Maryland and Rutgers. But there were some kind of absurd comments in this thread that I had to address.
1. UNC, Virginia, Duke, etc. would be better options for the B1G ... but they don't seem interested in leaving the ACC. I can't for the life of me figure out why not, but UNC especially seems to be set on keeping the ACC alive (they are pretty much the center of power in that conference, so they might not want to relinquish that by leaving).
2. As for UConn's stadium, it was built with the idea in mind that it could easily be expanded. UConn could add about 10-15,000 seats in an offseason if need be. Not gonna defend the stadium being off-campus, though - it absolutely sucked to have to drive there as a student.
3. By itself, I don't think UConn is a huge addition for the B1G. But when you add UConn to Rutgers and Penn State, the conference has a pretty solid footprint in NYC. There seems to be a battle going on between the ACC and B1G for NYC, and out of all the schools left, UConn has by far the biggest presence in the Big Apple. (Heck, UConn has more of a presence in NYC than Rutgers and Syracuse.)
4. I had to laugh at the poster who criticized UConn for being in the middle of nowhere. Uh, aren't most big state schools? What would you call Nebraska? Penn State? Yeah, Storrs is surrounded by pretty much nothing, but it's an hour from Boston and 2 hours from NYC. We're not talking about University Park here.
5. I also had to laugh at the poster who said he'd rather have Syracuse than UConn. Last year, SNY showed a Syracuse men's basketball game on tape delay ... so it could air a UConn's women's basketball game live.
6. UConn also would give the B1G a little bit of penetration into the Boston market. I live a half hour from Boston and get every UConn football, men's basektball and women's bball game on TV. Admittedly, though, college sports aren't big here at all.
Again, I'm not some naive UConn fan who thinks they're this great prize to be won - if we do get into the B1G, it will probably be because better options were not attainable. I just wanted to clarify a few misconeptions out there.