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UConn's Problem

Mike A. S.

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What is UConn's problem this year?! Will they turn it around in time for the big dance?
 

jontaejones

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What is UConn's problem this year?! Will they turn it around in time for the big dance?

If they get it together and make a big push a CBI invite might be in the cards.

UConn needs to get into another conference. They're quickly slipping from borderline blueblood into has been irrelevancy.
 

redseat

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They are too focused on playing basketball instead of stealing laptops? :D:noidea:

all kidding aside it seems like all teams are "struggling"
 

ericd7633

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Drop football(or return to FCS status) and join the Big East. Playing the likes of Central Florida, South Florida, Tulsa, Tulane and East Carolina aren't going to help them. And hell even the teams that are good in the conference now like SMU(5 tournament appearances in 50 years) and Houston(3 tournament appearances in 30 years) have been largely irrelevant, and have been for a while.

Honestly the American Conference is somewhat of a joke, it's filled with schools, specifically basketball programs who don't want to be in it. Uconn/Cincy(Big East or ACC) Temple(A-10) or basketball programs that shouldn't be in the same conference as those three like East Carolina, Tulane, Central Florida.

Just look at what Uconn lost in terms of who they are playing.

They went from playing Louisville, Georgetown, Marquette, Pitt, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Villanova, West Virginia, St. John's, and Seton Hall every year to playing East Carolina, Central Florida, Tulsa, Tulane, Houston, SMU. Such a huge downgrade.
 

tducey

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They are 7 and 9 so far. Really disappointing for a program that's usually good. Let's see if they can pick it up as the season goes on.
 

The Q

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The conference is not the problem with this team.

They just got blown out by Houston, and blew significant leads to Georgetown and SMU...and lost to Wagner and Northeastern (when healthy!).

Obviously losing 3 key players to injury has hurt, and there's zero depth.

But a big part of the problem is the seniors.

Purvis is shit. Just horribly overrated on D and a succubus on offense. Turns it over way too much and takes far too many bad shots. He also can't dribble, like at all.

Brimah is basically the same player he was his freshman year. And can't stay on the court due to foul trouble. When he's on the floor uconn is actually a pretty solid team. But they're awful with him off the floor.

Adams is learning the PG spot on the fly right now, and there's no real backup PG.

And their best player tore his ACL like 8 minutes into the Oklahoma St game.

So a lot of it is injuries. And the seniors not progressing, and guys like Durham and Jackson not playing up to their hype (although jackson is starting to come on strong).

None of these have anything to do with the AAC. This was probably the greatest recruiting class in UConn history (at the time of recruitment).

UConn flat out doesn't have the booster money to be huge players in recruiting like the other blue bloods do.
 

ericd7633

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The conference is not the problem with this team.

They just got blown out by Houston, and blew significant leads to Georgetown and SMU...and lost to Wagner and Northeastern (when healthy!).

Obviously losing 3 key players to injury has hurt, and there's zero depth.

But a big part of the problem is the seniors.

Purvis is shit. Just horribly overrated on D and a succubus on offense. Turns it over way too much and takes far too many bad shots. He also can't dribble, like at all.

Brimah is basically the same player he was his freshman year. And can't stay on the court due to foul trouble. When he's on the floor uconn is actually a pretty solid team. But they're awful with him off the floor.

Adams is learning the PG spot on the fly right now, and there's no real backup PG.

And their best player tore his ACL like 8 minutes into the Oklahoma St game.

So a lot of it is injuries. And the seniors not progressing, and guys like Durham and Jackson not playing up to their hype (although jackson is starting to come on strong).

None of these have anything to do with the AAC. This was probably the greatest recruiting class in UConn history (at the time of recruitment).

UConn flat out doesn't have the booster money to be huge players in recruiting like the other blue bloods do.

I would agree the conference isn't the problem with THIS particular team, but it's going to drag the program down to the point it may not ever be the same IMO. The team is travelling across country to play Tulane, Tulsa, Central Florida, Houston, SMU etc. that's not good for business.

I do understand the team has dealt with injuries this year, and if not for that they may have been a bubble team, but Calhoun had them as a top 10 program in the 90's and 2000's. I'm just not sure they'll ever get back to that point.
 

jontaejones

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The conference is not the problem with this team.

They just got blown out by Houston, and blew significant leads to Georgetown and SMU...and lost to Wagner and Northeastern (when healthy!).

Obviously losing 3 key players to injury has hurt, and there's zero depth.

But a big part of the problem is the seniors.

Purvis is shit. Just horribly overrated on D and a succubus on offense. Turns it over way too much and takes far too many bad shots. He also can't dribble, like at all.

Brimah is basically the same player he was his freshman year. And can't stay on the court due to foul trouble. When he's on the floor uconn is actually a pretty solid team. But they're awful with him off the floor.

Adams is learning the PG spot on the fly right now, and there's no real backup PG.

And their best player tore his ACL like 8 minutes into the Oklahoma St game.

So a lot of it is injuries. And the seniors not progressing, and guys like Durham and Jackson not playing up to their hype (although jackson is starting to come on strong).

None of these have anything to do with the AAC. This was probably the greatest recruiting class in UConn history (at the time of recruitment).

UConn flat out doesn't have the booster money to be huge players in recruiting like the other blue bloods do.

It's not the problem with this year's team.

But it could be a problem going forward. If they were in the ACC for example, they'd be UConn and they'd be in the ACC, similar to Louisville, except Louisville still has Pitino and UConn no longer has Calhoun. They'd be able to recruit at a top level for quite some time.

There's a danger that now that they're in the AAC and don't have Calhoun that they might slip. I think they'll be OK, but it would be in their best interest to switch.

Louisville eventually got out of Conference USA and into the Big East/ACC and it was huge for them.
 

The Q

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I would agree the conference isn't the problem with THIS particular team, but it's going to drag the program down to the point it may not ever be the same IMO. The team is travelling across country to play Tulane, Tulsa, Central Florida, Houston, SMU etc. that's not good for business.

I do understand the team has dealt with injuries this year, and if not for that they may have been a bubble team, but Calhoun had them as a top 10 program in the 90's and 2000's. I'm just not sure they'll ever get back to that point.

It's not the problem with this year's team.

But it could be a problem going forward. If they were in the ACC for example, they'd be UConn and they'd be in the ACC, similar to Louisville, except Louisville still has Pitino and UConn no longer has Calhoun. They'd be able to recruit at a top level for quite some time.

There's a danger that now that they're in the AAC and don't have Calhoun that they might slip. I think they'll be OK, but it would be in their best interest to switch.

Louisville eventually got out of Conference USA and into the Big East/ACC and it was huge for them.

You both understand UConn doesn't want to still be in the AAC right?

All this ACC realignment crap is Notre Dame and BC's fault.
 

ericd7633

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You both understand UConn doesn't want to still be in the AAC right?

All this ACC realignment crap is Notre Dame and BC's fault.

Of course I understand that. Which is also part of the problem. They're in a league they don't want to be in because the other member institutions are particularly bad at running basketball programs. Like I said earlier, the only programs that are probably fine with where they currently stand is everybody but Uconn, Cincy and Temple. All those other programs are used to being in a mid major basketball conference. Uconn and Cincy are not.

And I'm of the thinking that Syracuse, and Pitt leaving probably hurt more because if they hadn't left, my guess is ND wouldn't have either. But ND didn't want to be stuck playing all the current AAC schools.
 

The Q

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Of course I understand that. Which is also part of the problem. They're in a league they don't want to be in because the other member institutions are particularly bad at running basketball programs. Like I said earlier, the only programs that are probably fine with where they currently stand is everybody but Uconn, Cincy and Temple. All those other programs are used to being in a mid major basketball conference. Uconn and Cincy are not.

And I'm of the thinking that Syracuse, and Pitt leaving probably hurt more because if they hadn't left, my guess is ND wouldn't have either. But ND didn't want to be stuck playing all the current AAC schools.

ND wouldn't commit to the BE, that's why the future waves of defection (after BC, Mia, VT) happened.

And now BC is just being petty because the state of CT tried to actually make them uphold their contractual obligations to the BE. Calhoun had zero interest in playing BC after the defection.
 

ericd7633

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ND wouldn't commit to the BE, that's why the future waves of defection (after BC, Mia, VT) happened.

And now BC is just being petty because the state of CT tried to actually make them uphold their contractual obligations to the BE. Calhoun had zero interest in playing BC after the defection.

Well obviously ND wasn't going to commit to being a full member. They had the best of both worlds, which is now what they have in the ACC agreement. I do root for ND(2nd favorite team in basketball) and I do miss playing the likes of Nova, Georgetown and WVU and for sure the old Big East tournament. But being able to have them play Duke, & UNC yearly makes up for that. Uconn doesn't have that, which I think could be a problem moving forward, just beyond this year.
 

The Q

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Well obviously ND wasn't going to commit to being a full member. They had the best of both worlds, which is now what they have in the ACC agreement. I do root for ND(2nd favorite team in basketball) and I do miss playing the likes of Nova, Georgetown and WVU and for sure the old Big East tournament. But being able to have them play Duke, & UNC yearly makes up for that. Uconn doesn't have that, which I think could be a problem moving forward, just beyond this year.

This is probably UConn's last hurrah at FB. If they don't turn it around, they very well could move FB to 1AA, or go independent (like UMass and just play a bunch of teams that pay them money to get their brains beat in) and move to the Big East.

Doesn't really solve the University's issues entirely, but it's good for basketball.
 

ericd7633

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This is probably UConn's last hurrah at FB. If they don't turn it around, they very well could move FB to 1AA, or go independent (like UMass and just play a bunch of teams that pay them money to get their brains beat in) and move to the Big East.

Doesn't really solve the University's issues entirely, but it's good for basketball.

I would love to see Uconn move to the Big East in basketball.

And I won't pretend to know the financials or issues at Uconn, but did the University need football to become an FBS type of program in the first place?
 

The Q

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I would love to see Uconn move to the Big East in basketball.

And I won't pretend to know the financials or issues at Uconn, but did the University need football to become an FBS type of program in the first place?

My guess is they saw the big money train coming in and wanted to get on it.

Clearly it hasn't worked out the way they'd hoped.

but i don't think anyone foresaw the type of realignment we've seen so far in FB.

FBS is a football term so yes they would need FB for that. Football was about increasing revenues and expanding the national brand.

But by 2019/2020 they may be back to 1AA right back where they started 20 years ago.
 

ericd7633

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My guess is they saw the big money train coming in and wanted to get on it.

Clearly it hasn't worked out the way they'd hoped.

but i don't think anyone foresaw the type of realignment we've seen so far in FB.

FBS is a football term so yes they would need FB for that. Football was about increasing revenues and expanding the national brand.

But by 2019/2020 they may be back to 1AA right back where they started 20 years ago.

Right, there was no way of knowing this was type of realignment going to happen. Just really sucks for what happened to the basketball program.
 

The Q

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Right, there was no way of knowing this was type of realignment going to happen. Just really sucks for what happened to the basketball program.

Again, i don't think the AAC has had anything to do with the failures of the program the last 3 years. They've had some really strong recruits come here during their time in the AAC (Hamilton, Adams, the highly ranked 2016 class). They are just aren't putting it together. Perhaps there will be long term effects, but they still have more titles than anyone else since 99. And a coach who already has a NC of his own.
 

jontaejones

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The AAC could have been and still could be decent.

They've just had horrible fortune. Memphis and Josh Pastner and Larry Brown and SMU both miserably failed when the upside was big. Cincy is a good program. Temple is solid if unspectacular.

But UConn belongs in a better conference. They're UConn!

I would love to see them back in the Big East. DePaul can take a hike. They're absolutely worthless.

I would say the most likely scenario is after years of begging on hands and knees the ACC, Big 12 or Big 10 lets them in.
 

The Q

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The AAC could have been and still could be decent.

They've just had horrible fortune. Memphis and Josh Pastner and Larry Brown and SMU both miserably failed when the upside was big. Cincy is a good program. Temple is solid if unspectacular.

But UConn belongs in a better conference. They're UConn!

I would love to see them back in the Big East. DePaul can take a hike. They're absolutely worthless...

when was the last time DePaul was relevant?

when Q Rich and McPherson were running around throwing oops?
 

ericd7633

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Again, i don't think the AAC has had anything to do with the failures of the program the last 3 years. They've had some really strong recruits come here during their time in the AAC (Hamilton, Adams, the highly ranked 2016 class). They are just aren't putting it together. Perhaps there will be long term effects, but they still have more titles than anyone else since 99. And a coach who already has a NC of his own.

I certainly think there's more to it for particularly this season, the main one being injuries, obviously. I just don't think the AAC schedule is very conducive for them either. Just look at their upcoming schedule: @ SMU, vs. ECU, @ USF, vs. Tulane, @ Cincy, vs. USF, @ Central Florida, vs. Memphis, @ Temple, @ Houston, vs. SMU.

I think they'll be able to recruit just fine, as they've shown, but I think the margin for error for them has greatly been reduced.
 
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