(09-11-2020 12:43 PM)cuseroc Wrote: (09-11-2020 12:22 PM)jedclampett Wrote: (09-11-2020 11:28 AM)chess Wrote: (09-10-2020 08:06 AM)jedclampett Wrote: (09-09-2020 08:15 AM)bill dazzle Wrote: ...quite frankly — and admittedly I'm biased because I root for the Bearcats — losing Cincinnati because of its one-two hoops/football punch and its very respectable academics (med school and strong endowment, for examples) would have been worse for the American than having lost UConn.
You're not biased in this statement. You're 100% correct.
Losing Cincy would have been 10 times worse for the conference than losing UConn.
UConn FB actually detracted from the conference since 2015, and the only reason why they became "elite" in MBB was because they repeatedly and wantonly violated the NCAA recruiting rules, until they got caught.
Let's be fair, though. UConn is a modern basketball blue-blood.
You've made it clear that it doesn't matter a whit to you that UConn only achieved their so-called "blueblood" status by cheating.
That's your view, and you're entitled to your opinion, but if schools are just going to get away with cheating, and are still going to be considered admirable "blue bloods," then college sports is not worth watching, in my view.
My beliefs are that all the schools cheat at some point and time whether its football or bb and even the non revenue sports to a lessor degree, maybe. The schools that keep getting caught are just bad at cheating.
It may be true that most schools have violated NCAA rules at some point in their history. It's similar to the reports that most married spouses cheat on their spouses at some point in their lives.
So would you also agree with these statements: (?)
"My beliefs are that all married persons cheat on their partners at some point and time. The husbands or wives that keep getting caught are just bad at cheating."
"My beliefs are that all college students cheat to get better grades at some point and time. The students that keep getting caught are just bad at cheating."
A blithe statement like that, by a husband or wife, or by a college student or graduate, would come across to most people as an indication or hint that a person who makes such a statement may well be trying to justify a history of cheating on their own spouse, or in college.
Why? Because most people who have haven't cheated would consider such statements to be (a) overly cynical and (b) over-generalizations.
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Thus, while you may not have been trying to justify cheating in college sports, your statement, above, tends to come across that way.
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Most fans are opposed to cheating, on the FB field, or when NCAA rules are violated. The NCAA authorities who evaluate and sanction rule violations are functioning on behalf of the majority of fans who don't want to see the game ruined by cheating scandals.
It's kind of similar to public attitudes about organized crime. There is a segment of the population that accepts organized crime and even gets a kick out of it when a mobster gets away with major offenses. However, the majority are glad to see mobsters brought to justice, just like the majority of cfb and cbb fans want the violators of NCAA rules to be sanctioned.
Keeping it simple, the fans of teams a, b, c, d, e, f, g, & h want to see school "x" be sanctioned and penalized for a significant NCAA rule violation, because to let school "x" get away with their violations would result in having their teams being dominated in future conference action.
Another reason why cheating in college sports is disrespected is that higher education is supposed to motivate young people to develop honest skills and to eschew cheating. From the standpoint of professors, parents, and future employers, a young person who is found to have gotten ahead in school by cheating is considered to have major character flaws.
Cheating in higher education (e.g., hiring someone to take the SAT for a student) can even be considered a criminal offense, and it can prevent a graduate from a medical or law school from becoming a licensed professional.
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That's why UConn BB's decades of recruiting violations have tarnished the University and its teams in an enduring way.
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Moreover, it is incorrect to suggest that UConn has had the best MBB program of all the teams in the AAC:
Number of seasons that teams have finished in the AP Final Top 25:
Cincinnati: 25 (beginning in 1950)
UConn: 16 (beginning in 1953)
Memphis: 16 (beginning in 1956)
Based on the AP Final 25 rankings, if there is a "blueblood" BB school in the AAC, it is Cincinnati, not UConn.