In reply to: The Poor Rich posted by BabaGhanouj
It was more than the loss to Notre Dame ending the 88-game winning streak. That could have been considered an anomaly... ND scoring the last 12 points to win by one point; but UCLA lost again in February that year, to both Oregon State and Oregon on the same road trip and to NC State in the national semi-finals.
UCLA won the championship again in 1975, but the Bruins lost three times during the regular season including at Notre Dame to make the previous loss seem a little less fluky. Then John Wooden retired.
Gene Bartow made the Final Four in his first season as Wooden's replacement. Larry Brown took a nine loss team to the national championship game in 1980. UCLA didn't see the Final Four again until the 1995 championship season. Then came a Final Four drought until 2007.
All it took was a couple of teams to pierce the veil of invincibility. That didn't make UCLA a bad program, but it became a lot more like other good programs than its formerly dominant self.
As long as Geno Auriemma is the coach, UConn will be a formidable opponent just like Tennessee was with Pat Summit once its veil of invincibility was pierced; but I don't think we're going to see 50-game winning streaks anymore. There are too many good programs that are no longer defeated when they walk on the court to play the Huskies.
I also think playing in the AAC is starting to catch up to UConn. Auriemma wisely schedules as many top teams as possible in his non-conference schedule; but once the conference season starts, UConn has to play a lot of weak teams in nearly empty arenas. UConn averaged 9,558 tickets sold per game. The rest of the conference averaged 1,343 tickets sold per game. Five teams averaged less than 1,000 per game. Given the AAC's geographical footprint, that's a lot of 1,000+ mile trips for crap games in front of opponents' friends and families. Not very exciting.
at least a minor recruiting advantage for the Irish. It is rare that UND plays in venues that draw less than 2k fans.
If these women want to play exciting, fan involved games, go to South Bend vs. Storrs.
Have been thinking about this as well. It has got to weigh on the minds of recruits too. Does an AAC regular season or conference title really mean anything in? UConn's starting 5 could easily be the All-AAC First Team each year. There just isn't much talent in those programs.
My belief is that you need two really good players per year. That's been the pattern for the last several years at ND.
Here's ND's McDonald's All-Americans by recruiting class year since 2012 (and assuming Peoples and Brunelle earn that recognition):
2012: Loyd, Mabrey
2013: Reimer, Allen
2014: Turner, Westbeld
2015: Arike, Marina, Patberg
2016: Young, Boley
2017: Patterson (but we know Vaughn has McD's level talent)
2018: Gilbert, Nixon
2019: Peoples, Brunelle
My concern with 2019 is that ND is just short on numbers overall. But with Peoples and Brunelle we've got the top end talent covered.
As for UConn, I think they'll get either Jones or Boston and very possibly both. But I do understand the anxiety. Especially after two straight years of no NC (the horror!)
UConn and ND are very much in similar spots. Neither program is willing to lower its standards to accommodate talented kids who don't fit their culture or have the appropriate skill sets (notice that almost every player in either program is an above-average passer).
This approach results in the occasional thin recruiting class but the results are undeniable.
is all that is needed. As long as they are our coaching staff's choices, I'm happy. It is awfully tough to do, however. Nevertheless, I'd also love to have our recruits' ratings creep up to UConn's rarefied levels.