**Latest news on UConn / Big 12 rumors....**

[the Blades]

Hmmm. So what do the "stay in the Big East" Uconn fans say to this ? And what happens if Uconn says no and Yormark takes St John's ( for MSG/NYC exposure ) and tells Uconn I'm gonna grab G-town and Nova too for the kill ? Would all those fans who think the Big East (not) is why Uconn got good in MBB again, still love the BE then ?
(PS. Uconn's exit fee from the Big East is at least double or more -$30 mil, than all other BE schools because we have an FBS FB team, SMH!)

 

[the Blades]

So much for that ACC dream.....( they wanted to expand west ), SMH ! Everyone but Uconn, a top 20 school, 5 time NC hoops & 11 time WBB, 2 time BE football champ right in their atlantic coast footprint ! ...... or as former Uconn beat writer for the JI, SNY etc, puts it below.... but every mediocre AD in the country is fine for what is the now P-4:

 

[the Blades]

And then there were 4 ........

View embedded media

Torres on Forde's "the poor PAC-12 story"... and I personally think someone will come and bail out Stanford and Cal, they always do protect certain schools (everyone but Uconn)

 

[the Blades]

And then there were 4 ........

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Stanford and Cal have really gotten hosed............left out of the party.

 

[the Blades]

Stanford and Cal have really gotten hosed............left out of the party.

Maybe those 2 elite academic schools should go the same route as Uconn and Notre Dame. Join a high level hoops conference ( the WCC with Gonzaga/ St Mary's) and go Indy in football. Probably the last thing they want to be in, is a conference with a bunch of commuter schools like the MWC or the AAC.
I did read the ACC rumor for some PAC schools until the whole thing imploded..... Though it seems like those 2 are more like Ivy League schools and haven't show the same intensity for sports as alot of others in the PAC

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Though it seems like those 2 are more like Ivy League schools and haven't show the same intensity for sports as alot of others in the PAC

Stanford has had a number of elite athletic programs over the years including women's basketball, men's baseball, and men's golf (Tiger Woods), and they have had some success in football (John Elway and others and a fairly recent good run), but it's true they have never been a consistent top 25 top team in football. I think Stanford and Cal will end up indy or as you say, in a conference with St. Mary's and similar academics-first west coast schools. What is a shame is that with the collapse of the Pac 12, between Stanford and Cal, the San Francisco market is invisible in the P-5 landscape. My sister lives out there, is a huge sports fan and is very upset about this as she roots for the Stanford and Cal teams. Also, there is a ton of money out there in Silicone Valley, it's the tech industry (which my sister also works in) and there are zillions of Stanford and Cal grads with big bucks, so I do not fully understand how they allowed this to happen. Maybe they are more concerned with making money than with the fates of their alma maters.

 

[the Blades]

Also, there is a ton of money out there in Silicone Valley, it's the tech industry (which my sister also works in) and there are zillions of Stanford and Cal grads with big bucks, so I do not fully understand how they allowed this to happen. Maybe they are more concerned with making money than with the fates of their alma maters.

Well from what I've read those two really had no interest in the Big 12 because of academics (Uconn would have been the #1 school academically in the Big 12 if you read Tony A's intel report) So it seems like they were Big 10 or bust but they don't have the athletic pull of the 4 that got the invite (UCLA, USC, Oregon, WASH). Because of that their choices are limited unless the ACC wants 2 west coast members. I'd guess the WCC ( they have no FB) for olymipics sports and some nice Indy scheduling opportunities in football like Notre Dame.

Hell as we've seen... things can go pretty nicely picking up Indy games vs. (P-4's) in OOC and those 2 could pick up alot of H & H's vs. the PAC schools that left if they go that route.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

There is something to be said for some of the opinions expressed in this article. Following the money often sounds like a great idea, but here is the other side of it:

It'd Be The Greatest Basketball Conference Of All Time, But UConn Joining The Big 12 Would Be The Single Dumbest Part Of Conference Realignment

I've given up on conference realignment. It's just going to keep happening and it has been happening far longer than the last 2-3 years. Remember when Syracuse, Pitt, Boston College and Miami were in ...

www.barstoolsports.com

I think these opinions are shared by many, and they should be respected, especially since there is no Swami among us who knows where CR is going, except the Grand Swami, who isn't sharing any opinions on this subject.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Hell as we've seen... things can go pretty nicely picking up Indy games vs. (P-4's) in OOC and those 2 could pick up alot of H & H's vs. the PAC schools that left if they go that route.

Exactly. Don't join them- BEAT THEM! Ditto for UConn. Does anyone remember what Jesse Owens did at the 1936 Olympics to shatter Hitler's mythical notions of Aryan Supremacy? In many ways this is an opportunity to do the same thing. Most Germans thought Aryans were supreme, just like fans and media think P-5 is supreme. And maybe the Germans are supreme when it comes to engineering cars and dishwashers, LOL. But Jesse Owens shattered the notion that they were superior to American athletes. And UConn and Stanford can do the same thing for Indy football.

 

[the Blades]

There is something to be said for some of the opinions expressed in this article. Following the money often sounds like a great idea, but here is the other side of it:

It'd Be The Greatest Basketball Conference Of All Time, But UConn Joining The Big 12 Would Be The Single Dumbest Part Of Conference Realignment

I've given up on conference realignment. It's just going to keep happening and it has been happening far longer than the last 2-3 years. Remember when Syracuse, Pitt, Boston College and Miami were in ...

www.barstoolsports.com

Sorry KSTW,, but anyone who uses this line in a article has no right to waste bandwith on the internet or needs to stay in their lane..

"all that said, the single dumbest thing for me would be UConn basketball joining the Big 12."

As some one who knows way more about this than this tool, as a donor and someone who's sat on a think tank with the Parker Agency for Uconn's FB coaching search, he needs to STFU. As Dave Benedict says "it complicated " So these simpletons with their Uconn needs to stay put in the Big East and stay poor could end up destroying half the Athletic dept. ( though as I said a million times, right now BE and Indy FB is as good as it gets)

And it won't be football that will be shut down despite what the uniformed bafoons think, because where do they think millions in record breaking donations ($116 mil last year) 3 years in a row come from ? .....it's not the swimming, lacrosse or golf teams. ( every last FB seat has a $5 surcharge that no other sport has and most season TIX have huge donations tied in too)

I get the hopeless romantics view of their glory days and the 3-4 games a year at MSG ( you think you coulnd't do that OOC in the Big 12 or the ACC ?) but at the end of the day the bills have to be paid, so in DB I trust not some nobody pushing a internet narrative......JMHO !

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Further to my last post I should note I came across this reading Owens' wiki:

In an article dated August 4, 1936, the African-American newspaper editor Robert L. Vann describes witnessing Hitler "salute" Owens for having won gold in the 100m sprint (August 3):

"And then;… wonder of wonders;… I saw Herr Adolph [sic] Hitler, salute this lad. I looked on with a heart which beat proudly as the lad who was crowned king of the 100 meters event, get an ovation the like of which I have never heard before. I saw Jesse Owens greeted by the Grand Chancellor of this country as a brilliant sun peeped out through the clouds. I saw a vast crowd of some 85,000 or 90,000 people stand up and cheer him to the echo."

 

[the Blades]

PS another ridiculously uniformed line in that article....
"I actually respect the shit out of them for saying **** football, we're going back to the Big East for basketball."

WRONG.......The move back to the Big East was because of 3 things, that are way over this guys head.

1. Uconn had a 6 year payout plan (to about 2019) of a 3 way split of exit fees with USF and Cincy, of around $105 million paid to us by some of the very Big East teams we rejoined. So Uconn had to wait for it's $$$.

2. The AAC was always doomed to lose it's top schools and brands which it did, Uconn, Cincy, Houston and UCF. (while Aresco also wanted to steal away Uconn's $Mil contract with SNY)

3. Uconn's FB schedule was immediately upgraded by playing INDY .

Uconn's Indy schedule has home and homes series vs. teams like Cuse, BC, Army, Maryland, NC St., Wake Forest, Duke, UNC, Purdue, Indiana and even Ole Miss, which is way better than any AAC schedule would've been.

Plus the one off games that are paying about the same money that the AD was getting from the entire ESPN all-sports TV contract in the the AAC. at almost $2 mil a game ( vs. Ohio St, TENN, Clemson, Michigan etc.)

These people are so frucking clueless..................PS THE WRITER is a Kentucky grad, need I say more ?

 

[the Blades]

in DB I trust

I should also add In Jim Mora too, look at the offers from the schools JM beat out yesterday,
Uconn commit post 12 even with no P-4. It might be time to suck it up like Jesse and give Notre Dame a run in the Indy standings

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

These people are so frucking clueless..................PS THE WRITER is a Kentucky grad, need I say more ?

As painful as those quotes may have been to read, and unfortunately, these opinions are those of many fans and media nationally. Also, unfortunately these perceptions= reality.

I felt it necessary to inject that into the thread although I completely understand and agree with many of your points, Blades.

I also believe UConn has to do what Jesse Owens did- make believers of others that these mythical notions are just that- MYTHS. That's why Jesse Owens was the most important athlete of the 20th Century as far as deconstructing myths of the many in sports.

I also should note that Jesse defied the NAACP leadership at the time. They wanted Jesse and Jewish athletes to no show and boycott the Olympics. Jesse thought that was unpatriotic. He put his country and his manhood before everything else. In the end everyone was glad he went to Germany and won those 4 golds.

 

[the Blades]

As painful as those quotes may have been to read, and unfortunately, these opinions are those of many fans and media nationally. Also, unfortunately these perceptions= reality.

I felt it necessary to inject that into the thread although I completely understand and agree with many of your points, Blades

But to me it's not KSTW, because these quotes are based on jealousy and hate that sports fans have no problem spewing from their mouth while trying to keep others down for their own benefit. And to put others in there place verbally ( or where they think Uconn belongs in this case, SMH!) ....When they can't actually beat us on the court or field ( see 2 BE FB champs in a BCS/P-5 conference). Especially vs. Uconn who's continues to beat their same BS national narrative over and over....



So despite you thinking it's OK to give their views a platform in the discussion, to me is no difference than allowing a KKK member a platform for their views on something like racism. You think they're spewing these thoughts because they like Uconn ? There not....it's mostly because these national loudmouths hate Uconn's success or guys like Calhoun and Geno !

That's just the way I view it and I like our conversations in this alternate reality called the internet ......but like Morgan Freeman says "you want to end racism... stop talking about it" .

 

[the Blades]

I also believe UConn has to do what Jesse Owens did- make believers of others that these mythical notions

YES ...Uconn/ Notre Dame football, I see no barriers to become their equal on the field ! Uconn FB is actually 1-0 vs them already ....( now with the CFB playoff access, we have to work on that)

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

That's just the way I view it and I like our conversations in this alternate reality called the internet ......but like Morgan Freeman says "you want to end racism... stop talking about it" .

View embedded media

I totally agree with Morgan Freeman (who along with James Earl Jones has one of the greatest voices of any actor ever that is and has been high in demand). However, another unfortunate REALITY is that the media incessantly discusses racial issues and this only serves to stoke racists. This is another unfortunate reality of the world in which we live. I do not try to run from these realities, I rather recognize them for what they are and do not let them control my own life.

BTW, and I say this on a very personal note, because the issue disturbs me profoundly. I am a white man. The first 30 years of my life I only dated white women, because that is who society told me to date, and I was not intelligent or mature enough to know better. The second 30 years of my life I dated women of all colors and races, and the best girlfriend I ever had was a black woman. That relationship, which lasted years, only ended when she wanted a child, and I did not. During our years together, we had exactly one conversation about race, which only came about in a discussion about politics, something we usually never talked about. I also try not to let politics leach into my posts, which I feel is against board rules, but in my mind, CR is very much like the issue of race, and exclusivity. It's all about Country Clubs, and allowing some people in and keeping some people out- regardless of how deserving they are of membership. CR is a microcosm of the racial issue, which is the only reason I brought up Jesse Owens. It's a form of discrimination, and it is to be fought exactly the same way Jesse fought it. GO OUT AND BEAT THEM.

Another sports icon, Tom Watson, married a Jewish woman. Back in the 1980s I recall he refused a membership invitation to some Kansas City Country Club that would not allow Jewish members. I believe that Country Club changed its policies, because of who Tom Watson was and what he accomplished on the golf course. I say this: go out and do what Jesse Owens did and what Tom Watson did, UConn. WIN! It's much sweeter than joining them.

 

[the Blades]

BTW, and I say this on a very personal note, because the issue disturbs me profoundly. I am a white man.

KSTW, I think your a good guy from knowing you on this message board but as Morgan Freeman said to Dan Rather, this is way to much information for me personally,

Yours truly Blades, respect.

 

[the Blades]

But back to CR...this is crazy if true. So they haven't even played in a conference yet but already want to dictate the rules, SMH !

 

[the Blades]

Arizona State AD Says 'I'm Not Going' to Travel To West Virginia After Big 12 Move

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Cal Football Coach on Pac 12 Demise:

Cal's Wilcox: Pac-12 exits 'sad,' likely preventable

Cal football coach Justin Wilcox, who played in the Pac-10 and has spent much of his career in the Pac-12, called the recent departures of five teams to other conferences "shocking, "sad" and likely preventable.

www.espn.com

 

[the Blades]

Cal Football Coach on Pac 12 Demise:

Torres puts out an interesting video regarding alot of the stuff we've talked about.

He's sees Wash St and Oregon St, as feasible in going to the MWC, but can't see how the PAC-4 have many options of bringing schools in. Mostly with Stanford and CAL being to elitist academically and would have no interest in joining or poaching schools from the MWC, AAC. Same reason they really didn't want the Big 12. But these 2 "west coast Ivies" thought this could never happen to them.

CAL in particular with all the P-5 money has one of the biggest AD deficits in the country while just floating along collecting checks. He mentions some Indy stuff, especially for Stanford (like Norte Dame who is their annual FB rival) and WCC (for olympic sports) as possible options.

The deeper dig he points out, as you mentioned a bunch KSTW, are these schools like BC who've just been riding along cashing paychecks ( he also mentions Rutgers, Vandy, Northwestern and even Cuse who's not done much) and when the schools, like Florida St recently, or the bigger brands get sick of carrying these schools for the same cut of the pie. And the PAC-4 being a precautionary tale, of it becoming contraction, not expansion, in the future for those who continue as "do-nothing free loaders".

PS. he mentions Uconn being " kicked out" of the Big East. But actually the Catholics, bought theirself out and left, with the paid for BE name and the MSG tourney contract in NYC. Plus the Catholic 7 gave up all other exit fee $$ from the others that left Pitt, WVU, Cuse, Rutgers Ville, etc. That's how Uconn, USF and Cincy ended up with $105 mil to split...... I wonfer what exit fees the PAC-4 are are getting from the defectors ?

 

[the Blades]

One more on these schools eating each other alive..............

“Once USC and UCLA went to the Big Ten (last year), I knew this was all going to happen,” former Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said. “We now have total chaos.” The TV networks have less money to go around, and have come to realize that paying for Washington State and Oregon State doesn’t make sense when all they really want is Washington and Oregon."

Last line is ---How college sports got here is nobody’s fault because it’s everybody’s fault.

But my question is if these greedy frucks can do it to CFB, what's stopping them circling the wagons and do it to CBB too ?

 

[the Blades]

The deeper dig he points out, as you mentioned a bunch KSTW, are these schools like BC who've just been riding along cashing paychecks ( he also mentions Rutgers

The Atlantic's Stewart Mandel and Scott Dochterman Aug. 7, 2023
just went all in on Rutgers CR in todays article-----

"Rutgers’ time in the Big Ten has been a competitive and financial nightmare, compounded by a few salacious scandals. Entering its 10th season in the conference, the football team has gone 13-66 in league play. Meanwhile, despite astronomical increases in shared Big Ten revenue, the athletic department has racked up more than $250 million in debt, according to financial documents obtained by The Athletic and first reported by NJ Media."

Wow I didn't know these facts? And hoops hasn't been anything to write home about either ?
( Rutgers has 1 NCAA win in 9 years ) How can they be that bad with all this money ?

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

What I have been reading is that the TV revenue sharing is going to be tiered going forward meaning that the bottom feeder schools get a bottom feeder small slice of the revenue pie as opposed to the higher tiered schools. I think they will have no choice but to agree lest they be cast out of the conference like Temple was from the Big East.

 

[the Blades]

What I have been reading is that the TV revenue sharing is going to be tiered going forward meaning that the bottom feeder schools get a bottom feeder small slice of the revenue pie as opposed to the higher tiered schools. I think they will have no choice but to agree lest they be cast out of the conference like Temple was from the Big East.

Or better yet maybe it's time for a relegation system like in UK soccer overall for college sports.

Premier League: Who is being promoted and relegated in 23/24​

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Or better yet maybe it's time for a relegation system like in UK soccer overall for college sports.

I like that idea a lot. French basketball also has that same relegation model, and the team UConn just clobbered on Saturday (Le Cannet) is heading up a division, having won a championship at the division below. The Europeans have got it right. That whole model is based on proving it on the field, pitch or Court, not money.

 

[the Blades]

Torres on Forde's "the poor PAC-12 story"... and I personally think someone will come and bail out Stanford and Cal, they always do protect certain schools (everyone but Uconn)

You have to be kidding me, but I called it no Uconn for the ALANTIC COAST CONFERENCE (they need to stay in the Big East) but 2 fukin' mediocre west coasts schools LOL!...............THIS is getting to the point of being vindictive ! (ie. that scumbag Blumenthal leading that ACC lawsuit)

 

[the Blades]

Well yeah those 2 get an ACC invite on the other side of the country because they're snobby, but Uconn right smack in the ACC's footprint with top 20 academics with a great AD & multiple NC's get's to fuk off ! ...Like Uconn beat writer John Silver's posted.....can they keep moving the goal posts any more than they have on Uconn ?

 

[the Blades]

 

[the Blades]

Wow this clusterfuk wouldn't be complete without slick Rick !

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

View embedded media

I remember Blumenthal made even more inflammatory comments than this one. At the time, I thought his public statements were not helpful. In hindsight, with his various over the top rhetorical statements, he put his own political interest in being seen as the aggressive, take no prisoners AG (who later became a US Senator) ahead of UConn's long term interests. Which is a conflict of interest in the rules book of any attorney whether in government or private practice. While I understand that any attorney has to be seen as being aggressive in advocacy by the client, you just can't do that at the expense of the client's long term interests. You learn to pick your spots. This was a very public fight that he did not need to pick.

 

[the Blades]

I remember Blumenthal made even more inflammatory comments than this one. At the time, I thought his public statements were not helpful. In hindsight, with his various over the top rhetorical statements, he put his own political interest in being seen as the aggressive, take no prisoners AG (who later became a US Senator) ahead of UConn's long term interests. Which is a conflict of interest in the rules book of any attorney whether in government or private practice. While I understand that any attorney has to be seen as being aggressive in advocacy by the client, you just can't do that at the expense of the client's long term interests. You learn to pick your spots. This was a very public fight that he did not need to pick.

True, remember the biggest joke of Big Time Dick's "win" was the chump change payout of $1 mil, while making CT longtime enemies of the ACC.

 

[the Blades]

View embedded media

I wonder how he'd feel if the ACC's next move was plucking the NC from his new conference for running his mouth,

 

[the Blades]

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

This article discusses the impact of the PAC 12 demise on women's basketball in that conference:

How the Pac-12's demise impacts women's college basketball

With the Pac-12 crumbling, what happens to West Coast women's hoops giant Stanford? And how will realignment affect the new-look Big Ten and Big 12?

www.espn.com

 

[the Blades]

This article discusses the impact of the PAC 12 demise on women's basketball in that conference:

How the Pac-12's demise impacts women's college basketball

With the Pac-12 crumbling, what happens to West Coast women's hoops giant Stanford? And how will realignment affect the new-look Big Ten and Big 12?

www.espn.com

No offense to meaningless WBB, but who cares......

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

No offense to meaningless WBB, but who cares......

I think the point is not just about women's college basketball, but all college sports other than football- men's and women's. They are being dragged along for the ride. A lot of people are not looking at what the root cause of CR is. It is that NCAA football has long operated as an independent minor league for NFL football, with the NFL paying nothing for it and the TV networks now funding the revenue, of which most players see very little or nothing even with NIL. Because of that, it was a select few universities that made the Monopoly money on it. But they are not making money, or that kind of monopoly money, on just about every other sport, some of which lose money or just break even with sensible, geographically limited travel. Which is all the more reason why some of this CR makes no sense, and you have the tail wagging the dog. That article could have been written on any other college sport, like men's golf or women's field hockey.

Ultimately, I think a lot of these bigger low end P-4 schools may end up dropping a lot of sports for these reasons. It looks like we could be heading down that road.

 

[the Blades]

Ultimately, I think a lot of these bigger low end P-4 schools may end up dropping a lot of sports for these reasons. It looks like we could be heading down that road.

KSTW, this is a Uconn sports website, if you can't see that the single most important issue for the school and it's AD in the next decade is to get a seat with it's peers and now more than ever to have a chance to compete at the highest level, then I don't know what to tell you.

So seriously who gives a fuk about the Stanford WBB's program, go cry them a river on their website. People always cry about the poor student/athletes, but it's FB and men's BB, that bring in the huge majority of the $$$ so all these other kids can play sports, that bring in nothing.

We have to credit Geno and Uconn for bringing some revenue into his sport since the mid 90's, so again I can care less about Stanford, Cal or any of these other schools and their dire situations when you put it like that.

Since nobody in college has given a fuk about Uconn who' s done everything they can to compete, help try to advance and rebuild every conference they've been in. But have still been cut out. And it's been mostly just the opposite with the national fake news, opposing fans, etc... they shit talk them non-stop, to the level Notre Dame FB gets !

This isn't the Big 12 situation, in yesterdays twist. The issue at hand is that Stanford and Cal, 2 meaningless west coast programs are now in the running to steal a spot from Uconn being able to compete at the highest level in all sports vs. the very schools we've seen them build their entire AD with in the last 20-30 years at different points. ( Pitt, BC, Cuse, Notre Dame and also Va Tech, Miami, Ville )

But ultimately it's always seems for some weird reason that you like Uconn to be in the worse situation financially and to have the entire AD in places that they really don't fit as a flagship state university. Like when you were all about the AAC, and I joked about it with the meme below.

If that's the case you probably want Uconn to become Yale. So why even have a message board on this " recruiting site" for high level FOOTBALL and MEN'S BB ?.......which is exactly what the Uconn Report is....and for me means you want to just yell into thin air and Peace Out !