Syracuse, NY — Who would you rather be right now?
A Connecticut Huskies fan celebrating a fourth men’s basketball national title since Syracuse last clinched one in 2003 (and fifth overall since 1999) or a proud member of the Atlantic Coast Conference?
UConn is now a true blue blood in college basketball with five titles won without Power Five status.
Syracuse basketball hasn’t been featured on “One Shining Moment” for two years in a row and counting.
UConn tried to do it the conventional college sports way with football leading the way on yellow brick road.
The Huskies never found Oz.
UConn football peaked with an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl in 2010 and not much more is worth writing about since then. The program bottomed out with 10 straight losing seasons between 2011 and 2021, winning a single game in 2018 and 2021.
Fuck pigskin payments, Connecticut went back to its roots in 2020, left the AAC, came back to the great east and be independent in soccer.
It was a “Back to the Future” move that challenged the conventional wisdom of following the golden path that paves football in college sports and it has still paid off.
I’m not here to suggest that Syracuse shouldn’t have gone to the ACC a decade ago. It would have been a disastrous business decision.
Would UConn turn down an offer to join the Big 12 or ACC if you called today?
You also can’t convince me that a Syracuse fan isn’t furious to see what happened to their old Big East rival celebrating basketball titles, watching an infusion of talent and enjoying natural rivalries.
NIL and the transfer portal don’t just make the rich rich. They are equalizers that can nullify the advantages that great TV deals offer Power Five schools.
Syracuse basketball has reached one Final Four (2016) and two Sweet 16s (2018, 2021) since joining the ACC in 2013.
UConn has won two national titles (2014, 2023) under two different head coaches in that time frame.
Syracuse can hardly point to football as an advantage over the Huskies right now.
Yes, the Orange crushed UConn on the gridiron 48-14 last season.
That being said, SU, with all its ACC resources, finished 7-6 last season under a seventh-year head coach with a bowl loss.
UConn, an independent football, finished 6-7 with a bowl game loss under new head coach Jim Mora, Jr.
Given the choice, from top to bottom, I would still prefer Syracuse’s situation to UConn’s.
Resources are still important in the college sports landscape and being a member of the ACC will win in the long game.
It doesn’t change the fact that while Syracuse may be counting its ACC TV money, UConn is counting rings.
Who is really kissing better right now?
Contact Brent Axe: Email | Twitter
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