Posted on 04/08/2014 4:13:00 AM PDT by Biggirl
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Shabazz Napier walked slowly through the hallway of the stadium - the tears still drying, the twine from the cut-down net still hanging around his neck.
"Bittersweet. Bittersweet. Bittersweet," he said, over and over again.
Bitter because it's over. Sweet because UConn won it all after being left behind and told to go away.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Boooooooo!
So the sec got shut out..........................what a shame *snicker*
A win for the AAC conference.
Ironic to hear ESPN analysts blather on and on, in wonderment, about UConn’s rise from nothing in the past 25 years - all without recognizing that having ESPN in the same town is probably the single biggest factor in UConn’s rise.
That, and whatever marketing genius started calling the school UCONN and not Connecticut.
Proud UCONN grad here, congratulations to a fine team. It’s especially sweet to beat Calipari.
ESPN is in Bristol CT, 50 miles from UCONN. The school has been known as UCONN since at least the ‘50’s
I was generalizing to make a point, and you’ll shame yourself if you try and deny a couple of things. Both Bristol and Storrs are part of Greater Hartford - and there was no doubt that both the Hartford Whalers and Connecticut were sort of the “hometown teams” of the early ESPN staff. The culture of UCONN and ESPN are intertwined. That’s undeniable.
As far as the 50’s, nobody outside of the area knew about the moniker UCONN until ESPN made it famous in the 80s. To say otherwise is absurd.
I was hoping Wisconsin would get to the finals. I am glad for UCONN. The Kentucky team this year was boring. All they do is layups for most of the game. They can not perform jump shots, although they won their previous two games by scoring three’s in the final seconds. The rest of their points came from under the basket. Boring.
So what exactly is your point?
That ESPN assisted in the recruiting? OK. So what?
Lots of schools have recruiting edges that they use. It still has to get done on the court, doncha think?
It became University of Connecticut in 1939, by which time the nickname Huskies was already in use. Local use of UConn dates to then. Natural that outsiders like ESPN staff would adopt local usage whenthey moved there.
How many know the University of Minnesota’s ‘Ski-U-Mah’ shtick? Had ESPN based in Minneapolis, I bet everyone would know it by now.
First of all, I’m sorry you’re so paranoid as to think there was some kind of sinister point - some kind of way to try and detract from UConn. You should go back to bed for a couple more hours.
The point is that simply UConn, ESPN and The Big East grew up together and it all worked to help each institution. That’s a fact. To me, it’s interesting. It’s also interesting how Connecticut became UCONN in the past couple of decades - and in this era of marketing and image, I wonder how important that has been.
Sometimes the simple things make a huge difference. I remember when Clemson changed their logo to the simple Tiger Paw. Their athletic program took off. I just find it interesting. If you don’t, sorry…..you miss part of the richness of these things.
I do find it funny that Mike and Mike, at ESPN, can’t connect these dots. Then again, they miss a lot of dots.
Yes, I agree…that was my point…ESPN in a lot of ways made UCONN. There’s nothing wrong with that. Weather makes Southern Cal. Demographics makes Texas Longhorns. There are all kind of advantages…and little cold dreary NY bedroom Connecticut had no advantages…til they became UCONN and ESPN made them famous.
In 1959 I lived 10 miles from UCONN as it was known then. Don’t speak about things you know nothing about. The fact that you were unaware that it was known as UCONN says more about your awareness than it does about the university. Conflating an NHL team with a university 30 miles from Hartford is more than odd.
You so miss the point. I’m talking about how the rest of the nation views the school, thus since you live there, YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT what I am talking about. You see the trees….I am talking about the forest.
And outside the forest, the U of Connecticut had zero visibility - ZERO - until the confluence of ESPN, the Big East, and the national marketing of the word UCONN all combined. If you deny this, your are simply living in an ignorant parallel universe.
I never said what drug dealers in beautiful downtown Hartford thought about it….don’t care. And yes, the Whalers analogy is apt. And for your info, 30 miles outside Hartford is still greater Hartford. Perhaps you are stuck in 1955.
BTW, I know a lot about the state for someone not from there. Had relatives most of my life in Glastonbury, and visited numerous times. Spent a lot of time at Mystic.
Did a big report on the state in school. Spent many weeks in Hartford in the 80s related to the insurance industry….many full weeks….even became a regular at “Piggys” - a well known insurance related watering hole downtown. For a non resident, I know more than most…..but again, that’s almost not relevant, because my point was now the other 49 states viewed the school, and had little or nothing to do with how locals did.
First of all, I’m sorry you’re so paranoid as to think there was some kind of sinister point - some kind of way to try and detract from UConn. You should go back to bed for a couple more hours.
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All for asking you what your point was? Had you made your point clear in your initial post, you wouldn’t get these types of posts in return.
Consider it constructive feedback on your writing skills (apparently I wasnt the only one to fail to see your point).
Have a nice day, sir.
If you go to the UConn boards you will find that folks there think that ESPN doesn't like them and didn't help them.
Anyway ESPN was a big part of the growth of the Big East Basketball and college basketball in general. But know without its football teams the BE is down.
Now let's get the baseball to the world series, and the new hockey conference to the frozen four next year and Bob Darco, the new football coach, lets win the FBS.
You mean Football and Basketball Championships?
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