Emptying the notebook on Thursday morning:
- Just wanted everyone to know that I reached out again to Tennessee on Wednesday to find out if its statement about not playing UConn again was in the “over my dead body” context or “who knows, maybe someday, but not now” context. I received no response. So I am going to assume the series is road kill. By the way, those of you who can’t or just refuse to grasp the significance of this, in relation to the health of the women’s game on a national level, do not sit in the press boxes and media rooms at NCAA Tournaments and Final Fours. Hardly anyone cares, folks. This is not about UConn and Tennessee as much as it is the promotion of a global game that is badly in need of it. And if it takes UConn-Tennessee to get it done, then it is necessary. I’m telling you, Baylor-Notre Dame did not excite the world.
- Geno Auriemma believes Mike Thibault’s decision to bring Renee Montgomery off the bench for the Connecticut Sun will be one of the best things that’s ever happened in her career. When Montgomery was cut from the World Championship team in 2010, Geno told his former All-American than she wasn’t good enough and she needed to grow up, mature more. Geno thinks this new role will help her.
- Look, I know there are many of you still flattened by the news that the UConn women will not be on CPTV for the next four years. Things happen in life. There’s is nothing you can do. But there is no free lunch, as they say. I would bet many of those complaining have watched the games for the last 18 years without EVER donating a dime to public television. Well, now you are going to have to pay the premium to watch the Huskies. It’s business. College basketball is BIG business. SNY will do a great job covering the team.
- As for CPTV, my advice is simple and formulaic- move on. A UConn source says the university is actively considering a plan to market its other sports teams on television; baseball, hockey and soccer, in particular. CPTV can still be in the game at UConn, just in another way. But for this to happen, people are going to have to calm down and stop taking things personally. If that happens, the connection between UConn and CPTV could regenerate, just to a different audience. Think about it.
- During their recent meetings in Florida, the Big East continued to discuss how to format the 2013-14 conference schedules for women’s basketball. With only 15 teams (no West Virginia, remember) each remaining program will be required to partner with two others for home-and-home games. In the past, it has been just one. But this is not a simple thing to do. The conference does not want to alter the already skewed competitive balance by simply sticking to geography, which could result in UConn being paired with Seton Hall or Providence (along with Notre Dame). What’s fair about that? It may have to do a little of its own bracketing and set up the pairings that way.
- The verbal commitment of Courtney Ekmark, the Phoenix sophomore guard, sounds and feels a lot like Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis’ situation. KML always wanted to play at UConn; same seems to be true for Ekmark. One day after she scored 28 points in the Division I title game for St. Mary’s, she and her father, St, Mary’s coach Curtis Ekmark, flew to UConn and was handed a scholarship offer from Auriemma – one she accepted verbally on Wednesday, “She really liked ASU and Charlie (Turner Thorne) and wanted to stay home, but to have an opportunity to play for UConn, that’s a one-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Curtis told the Arizona Republic. “It’s just tough to beat that atmosphere over there for women’s basketball,” said Curtis, who said Courtney plans to travel to Connecticut in June to play pick-up with her future team.
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22 Responses to This And That On A Thursday
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Regarding the Tennessee situation: Given how adamant Pat Summit was in her opposition to reinstituting the game, I can’t imagine that the first thing Tennessee would have done after she stepped down would be to reverse her decision. It just would have been seen as a slap in the face to Summitt.
And, of course, Summitt may have stepped down as head coach, but she’s still around, as coach emeritus, I believe, making resumption of the TN-UConn game even more impossible unless she herself gives the okay, which she obviously won’t do.
So, in my view, under she does a turnaround, it’ll be a few years before this game can be scheduled. It will have to be after Summitt has left and after it can’t be perceived that she’s being disrespected.
Or when Pat Summitt forgets what all the fuss was about anyway!
Not everybody is necessarily concerned about the overall health of this (or any other) sport. Just like most everything else in life.
You can only do what you can do…
Connecticut has certainly had its share of problems in the athletic programs, but you also see UT in a lot of headlines as well. Personally, I can’t see why one can be considered more righteous than the other. But, that’s just one opinion.
I know that you, John, have always supported SNY taking over the broadcast and you made that evident in your weekly chats but it is wrong in so many ways and it has nothing to do with whether I have to pay to see games. It also isn’t about whether CPTV made money on games or not.There are now many people in this state who will not be able to watch women’s games or can’t afford to. If you are a state supported institution then your teams should be available to all in the state whether I have cable or rabbit ear(digital equivalent) antennna.Sure there are going to be national games that the local station won’t be able to be the broadcaster of but all other games should be available to all in the state.
We are not NY or NJ and turning over rights for all UCONN to NY just isn’t right for the people in this state.
Get over it – if that was the correct answer think of where the world would be.
Maybe you get something out of this directly or you have something against CPTV but you are WRONG, WRONG about get over it SNY is “moving on”.
HARRY U R NUTS!!!!!!!!!
Harry you don’t see the big picture. UConn had to take this opportunity. No other women’s program in the country gets this exposure. Come on you can’t spend and extra $5 to $10 a month from November to March to watch Lady Huskies. It’s not about you, it’s about great exposure for UConn. You probably didn’t donate to CPTV like myself each year. Harry I bet you buy alot of lottery tickets each week with your fixed income. If you were a real UConn fan you would know this deal is good for the university. Get over it and move on old timer!
It isn’t the money for me. There are plenty of people in this state who don’t have cable or sat. Before they could get the games now they can’t. To allow NY and NJ people get the games they eliminated a lot of CT people who either can’t or can’t afford 10 more a month that you can.
What additional exposure? And what is that going to get them?
This was done strictly for a few additional bucks (very few) and a total lack of understanding of the fans.
If it isn’t about me, a season ticket holder, (and all the other UCONN fans) what is it about. Isn’t the team supposed to be for the fans? How is this going to fill seats – take away access for local people and give it to people hours away from Storrs? The heck with UCONN fans is what this says.
VERY GOOD DAVE!!!! U R “KOOL”
Not to poke – but why is it important for UConn to get more exposure?
That is being asked as a neutral question, because I want to understand, not challenge. (That might come later, who knows?)
There are 2 things I dream about that I would love not revisiting for a long time. There are no more mention by you John about Uconn playing Tenn. and that girl (‘the one whose name cannot be mentioned’) at Delaware. Regardless of what you say, you are the one trying to remotivate a (dead)dying signifier of women’s basketball.It’s you and the media that are interested and will hype it to make a lot of money. It’s not about the kids (that is …..), they have moved well beyond. Let us all get a life and look forward. While Uconn (hopefully) will contnue to be in the top tier, it will be looking eye-to-eye with NC, Duke AND its usual nemesis– ND, Stanford, etc. My guess is that if you were to ask the incoming classes here and elsewhere about what schools they would like to see play,it will be be Uconn- Tenn. And the Delaware girl, as Tenn, is just raw meat that are thrown out to cure the doldrums. What about Uconn – NC (and please not because of DD, but because they have put together a good class; Stanford? Can we really beat them? And ND. Are we not even with them. Would it not be a complete letdown were they to leave the Big E. These are rivalries. The Tenn people have moved on, let us stop harassing them over a game. Its not a class act.
BKDAD that’s how the game is played. If you don’t somebody else would. That’s how some programs stay stagnet. Somebody always gaining on you. If you don’t grab for more exposure another program will pass you buy and then you complain what happened to UConn. Ex. Yankee Conference/Big East/ACC ! The problem with CT folks including politicians they don’t see the BIG PICTURE
They just complain and say what happened? That’s why we are Ct.
Is this move primarily to expand the exposure of women’s team, the school, or something I’m not thinking of?
It’s hard to imagine that any kid who is involved with basketball at a level where she might be a recruited D1 player doesn’t know about UConn, but I suppose that could be.
UCONN WBB is still the measuring stick for everyone. If Tenn doesn’t want a series, it is very telling. Tenn has become a second tier team and hasn’t been a final 4 team for a few years anyway.
Funny how John A doesn’t mention the 2011 Final 4 which was uber competitive Texas A&M-Notre Dame, Texas A&M-Stanford, and UConn-Notre Dame games earned RAVE reviews from even non womens basketball fans. Baylor-Notre Dame this year and the Final 4 in Denver drew the first sellout of a Final 4 since 2008 and had higher TV ratings.
So what John A said above is not true. Sadly he plays fast and loose with reality. John A tried to make news this week randomly writing about the dead Tennessee series and based it on 1 unnamed UT source. Probably his imaginary friend. There is no news John A. Tennessee does not want to play us. UConn does not need Tennessee. Get over it. UConn has brand new rivalries with Notre Dame, Stanford, and Baylor. All these series have been fiercely competitive. I for one HATE the Notre Dame players more so than I ever did Tennessee. Tennessee is old news.
If John A is bored like he claims to be, than maybe he should be the next writer to walk the plank at the Courant and into the unemployment line. John A is already being beaten badly in coverage by the uber professional Jim Fuller and Rich Elliot.
Right..
Love,
John A
You HATE the ND players? Really?
Dave: I’ve agreed with much of what you have written this year. I guess like minds run on the same track (or gutter).
But CpTV was to many (not just seniors) the game. Hard loss, one that UConn Admin didn’t consider.
SNY will reach many of us out here in the hinter lands, and that’s good for us. But bad for Ct, Mass, Upstate NY viewers. Until you see the results in 3 years no one can say how this will impact Womens Basketball or UConn.
Tenn is dead and gone like EDD and Walker—but John likes beating dead horse.
Big time final 4′s are needed by the Womans game. Out side of Stanford, Uconn, Duke, NC, Tenn, Ohio–few Basketball fans care. Big time rivalry’s are needed for their hype. But Tenn is a fading flower.
BKDad—Hating ND players is good for the hype. It’s what keeps the world going round.
I for one dislike Novesel and how the refs allowed her to jump into players and not make the call against her.
Dislike the sulking of Peters and Diggins.
But there are few better players in the country, maybe world, than Diggins. Peters is a good rebounder–but her attitude hurts us. McBride and The Canadian Center are going to be big stars this coming season.
But I really want to beat them badly this coming season. I want to beat them big and often–hopefully 4 times this coming season. But I want to beat Baylor and Stanford too, but just twice each.
UCONN NEEDS THERE OWN STATION LIKE BYU……
GREAT POST JOHN U R “KOOL”
John – as always – YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!
Maybe the good to come out of this, other than a real telecast is, the few people who can’t get SNY will get off the couch and go to the games. Remember when every byline in the Courant on a Uconn Women’s game started with: 10,167 saw the Uconn Women defeat team xzy. They sold out every game. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen that, there were games the last 2-3 years when it looked like 5000 people were there. I’m excited to see the SNY telecasts. I shall never set eyes or ears upon Jerry Franklin, Larry Rifkin and Harriet & crew for a long long time, if ever.