GoldenWarrior11
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Ackerman/UConn Article
https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-men...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.
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10-01-2019 12:13 PM |
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UConnHusky
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
(10-01-2019 12:13 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote: https://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-men...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.
UConn fans are counting the days. On top of returning home to the Big East, it will be nice to have more than three basketball playing schools within 1000 miles of us... especially schools that are historical rivals.
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10-01-2019 04:07 PM |
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bill dazzle
Craft beer and urban living enthusiast
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
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.
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10-02-2019 08:13 AM |
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MU in MKE
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
(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.
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10-02-2019 08:46 AM |
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HuskyU
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
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.
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10-02-2019 06:09 PM |
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bill dazzle
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
(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.
I feel most UConn fans will buy into the Big East. True, some are disappointed that an ACC invite has yet to materialize and some are concerned about the football situation. Still others likely wonder if being a member of this version of the BE will be as exciting as it was being in the league when it had more top-notch programs than any other conference in the nation. And those concerns make sense.
But at this stage in the UConn athletics evolution, BE for all sports but football and football as an indy ... it's the best route. And most Husky fans will be appreciative of this opportunity.
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10-02-2019 09:08 PM |
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bill dazzle
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
(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.
Good point. I feel the UConn vs. Marquette rivalry will get heated quickly. Two outstanding programs. Wish I could say the same thing about that Chicago program based in Lincoln Park and that I've followed since the late 1980s.
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10-02-2019 09:14 PM |
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GoldenWarrior11
Heisman
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
Our very first game in the Big East was a home game against #2 UConn, which Marquette won 94-79. Steve Novak went for 41 points. The next year, Marquette ended UConn's 31 game home winning streak (UConn was #24).
I loved playing UConn. Is it 2020 yet?
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10-03-2019 09:06 AM |
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scoscox
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
(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
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10-03-2019 10:45 AM |
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UConnHusky
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
(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
We now clearly see the lies of the Bearcats. In the last 20 years:
Cincinnati:
0 Elite 8 appearances
2 Sweet 16 appearances
Xavier:
3 Elite 8 appearances
7 Sweet 16 appearances
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10-03-2019 01:11 PM |
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scoscox
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
UConn fans visiting the Cintas Center for the first time and realizing they've been lied to for years about the premiere team in Cincinnati
(This post was last modified: 10-03-2019 01:52 PM by scoscox.)
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10-03-2019 01:51 PM |
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Native Georgian
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
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.
Okay, she didn’t “write” it, she said it, but still that’s a profound way to phrase it, about the intensity of the Big East’s hoops-first-last-and-always frame of mind.
Big East basketball and UCONN basketball (men’s and women’s) will definitely thrive together. Will be fun to watch how that develops.
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10-07-2019 08:50 PM |
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Bogg
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
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.
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02-27-2020 03:33 PM |
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stever20
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
(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.
just looking at conference games-
last year- 82,379 in 9 games. So avg of 9153
this year- 81,374 in 8 games. So avg of 10,172
11.1% jump up this season.
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02-27-2020 03:47 PM |
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Nameless
1st String
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
Great to see Fox and SNY worked something out. Hoping the football deal is done soon too, I'm anxious to see the details
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02-27-2020 04:01 PM |
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stever20
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
(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....
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02-27-2020 04:19 PM |
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Nameless
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RE: Ackerman/UConn Article
(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....
What do you mean, men's basketball games on SNY? Personally I don't think it matters too much to the fan base if the men are on SNY or not. It was usually only games against garbage opponents early in the season on SNY for the men anyways. I personally would prefer they're on FS1/2 as it is looking increasingly likely I'll be living out of the area SNY is available in.
They were the women's main network, and they produced a lot of extra programming revolving around them, hence why it was important we kept a partnership going with them.
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03-02-2020 10:13 PM |
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