UCONN to the Big East

[lbodel]

Looks like UConn has seen enough with the American conference, which never seemed to be a good fit.

I think it's good for college basketball as hopefully UConn will get back to being a good program. I also think it could help "shore up" the Big East as that conference has been somewhat inconsistent beyond Villanova. But the program has to get back to where it was.

I'd guess that football will go independent and it certainly isn't a "vote a faith" in the program.

https://www.courant.com/sports/ucon...0190622-qgewcp6jhvd5fd4lenxr5vnncm-story.html

 

[Purdue85]

Looks like UConn has seen enough with the American conference, which never seemed to be a good fit.

I think it's good for college basketball as hopefully UConn will get back to being a good program. I also think it could help "shore up" the Big East as that conference has been somewhat inconsistent beyond Villanova. But the program has to get back to where it was.

I'd guess that football will go independent and it certainly isn't a "vote a faith" in the program.

https://www.courant.com/sports/ucon...0190622-qgewcp6jhvd5fd4lenxr5vnncm-story.html

The Big East was a great idea back in the day (the 80's).

Since then, it's a conference in search of an identity.

 

[BoilerAndy]

The Big East was a great idea back in the day (the 80's).

Since then, it's a conference in search of an identity.

It also had the power of ESPN behind it, which also isn't the same now as it was with all of the other available networks.

UCONN and the Big East should both benefit from this.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

The Big East was a great idea back in the day (the 80's).

Since then, it's a conference in search of an identity.

Absolutely. But they’ve been strong. I think they were higher ranked than the B1G 2 out of the last 3 years.

Their recent identity has really been a small Catholic private school (x-Butler), so I don’t think UConn helps that. So I guess we will see.

 

[TwinDegrees2]

Absolutely. But they’ve been strong. I think they were higher ranked than the B1G 2 out of the last 3 years.

Their recent identity has really been a small Catholic private school (x-Butler), so I don’t think UConn helps that. So I guess we will see.

All full members of the Big East are private institutions, and all are Catholic except for Butler (which is nonsectarian though founded by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Butler was origionally a spin off from a small college called Bethany College in Bethany West Va.

 

[JohnHoosierr]

Uconn moving back to the big east is huge for that program. Other than Kevin Ollie's fluke title with Calhoun's players, they haven't been relevant since Calhoun left. Not sure they'll be able to get back to that level unless they can find coach as special as Jim, but this move will surely help them.

 

[jmohlman]

It also had the power of ESPN behind it, which also isn't the same now as it was with all of the other available networks.

UCONN and the Big East should both benefit from this.

You’re totally right, this should benefit both, ESPN will be good to a team from its home state

 

[jmohlman]

All full members of the Big East are private institutions, and all are Catholic except for Butler (which is nonsectarian though founded by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Butler was origionally a spin off from a small college called Bethany College in Bethany West Va.

Thanks for that, I thought all along that Butler was a Catholic institution, Jesuit. I had no idea.

 

[purdueplayer]

Where UCONN is at right now, I don’t think it does much for the big east. It’s eh

 

[IndyResident16]

Where UCONN is at right now, I don’t think it does much for the big east. It’s eh

Will immensely help with their recruiting. Will once again be able to recruit NYC, the city most associated with the Big East. That has been UConn’s problem ever since joining the AAC.

 

[purdueplayer]

I would say coaching was their biggest problem but I still don’t think it will make a huge difference. The big east really isn’t that big after Villanova

 

[Chi-Boiler]

The interesting thing from a Purdue perspective is on the football side, where UConn will become an independent at least for the near term. We play a home and home with them at some point in the next bunch of years. I'm not sure what years the games are. It should help these games to be more winnable for Purdue, but if we are at all more of a national player at that time (like we all assume) it probably won't help us.

 

[TwinDegrees2]

Thanks for that, I thought all along that Butler was a Catholic institution, Jesuit. I had no idea.

I have inside info J...I'm dating a grad of Bethany whose late husband was a prof at Butler. And those Disiples of Christ folks are rennovating their on campus pub in Bethany....

 

[lbodel]

The interesting thing from a Purdue perspective is on the football side, where UConn will become an independent at least for the near term. We play a home and home with them at some point in the next bunch of years. I'm not sure what years the games are. It should help these games to be more winnable for Purdue, but if we are at all more of a national player at that time (like we all assume) it probably won't help us.

I'm not sure that game could be more winnable than it already us. UConn is a sad football program...

 

[lbodel]

You’re totally right, this should benefit both, ESPN will be good to a team from its home state

The Big East has a contract with Fox Sports actually.

 

[lbodel]

I would say coaching was their biggest problem but I still don’t think it will make a huge difference. The big east really isn’t that big after Villanova

The Big East has been wildly inconsistent, but I would say it's been a pretty solid conference overall.

The problem is consistency - which you can point to several conferences on, not just the Big East.

Villanova and Xavier have really carried the conference most consistently.

The very beginning, Creighton and Butler were pretty solid programs. They've both have been teetering on not being as good as they once were. Providence as well to a degree (fell off last year though).

Then you have programs like Marquette and Seton Hall which were struggling in the beginning, but very recently have resurfaced to become good again. But hardly anything proven/consistent.

Then there's programs like St. John's and Georgetown. Georgetown more so was consistently good for a long time, but has really been stuck in a hole. St. John's looked more promising, but the program had some messiness this offseason.

Overall, there just hasn't been a lot of consistency. You look at the Big Ten in the last 10 years....for the most part, Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, Ohio State...have been good.

For the Big East, the "top tier" just has not been very consistent at all and coaching turnover certainly hasn't helped.