(04-13-2018 03:46 PM)UConnHusky Wrote:  

(04-13-2018 02:05 PM)hoops22 Wrote:  

(04-13-2018 01:48 PM)UConnHusky Wrote:  

(04-12-2018 02:00 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(04-11-2018 10:41 AM)NBPirate Wrote:  My point is the previous poster trying to disparage ECU by making the joke that we don't sponsor basketball. Did you read the thread?

He's probably too young to remember that before the Big East gifted UConn with a golden ticket to that league nobody knew that UConn played basketball (or anything else) either. And he's probably afraid that now that they are out of the Big East, it won't be long before the next generation of fans won't know that they do now.

I love your analysis of me based on me merely pointing out that Georgetown choked to Radford. Anyway, I am not young, so let us look at the facts:

1) UConn was a founding member of the Big East. Nobody "gifted UConn with a golden ticket"
2) The Big East was really good in the 80's with solid seasons from most members (notably Georgetown's championship in 1984 and Villanova's in 1985). However, the Big East wasn't TRULY great until UConn came along in the 90's and started winning like crazy in the age of ESPN and national coverage. That is what earned the league its long-term respect
3) The only school to win multiple national championships in the old Big East was UConn (Villanova's last two are in a league "called" the Big East, but the AAC is actually the old Big East with a new name)
4) Since we are out of the old Big East, I am worried that the next generation of fans will forget our past. However, the new Big East wouldn't guarantee anything. Look at Georgetown - they are also now a shell of their former selves.

The BE absolutely was a powerhouse in the late 80's. Six of nine teams in the league made the Final Four from 1985-89 and UCONN wasn't one of them. Let me know the next time a league has 67% of it's membership in the Final Four over a five year period. Five of those teams Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's, Providence, and Seton Hall remain in the BE today ( Syracuse was the other team). The Big East name is exactly where it belongs.

It is interesting to note that schools like Villanova, Georgetown, Providence, St John's, and Seton Hall all couldn't compete from the 90's to 2014 against schools like UConn, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Louisville, Pitt, West Virginia, etc. Now that those powerhouses are gone, Villanova is on fire again. The rest of the new Big East, though, is not nearly as good as the Big East was when it had the football schools nor as good as it was in the 1980's.

They can call it the Big East, but schools like Butler, Creighton, and Xavier are indicators that this isn't your father's Big East. Your papa's Big East was legit.

Yeah and of the six teams you mentioned, only Syracuse and W. Virginia made the tournament this year, while all three new teams in the current BE did, including No.1 seed Xavier. The league was better this year with the new teams then it would have been had everyone stayed. And I'm not trying to rub anything in, but if you take away the one year when you won with Calhoun's BE players, Xavier, Butler and Creighton have all been better then UCONN every single year since the split.