Seeing New Mexico State And UConn Play Each Other In The March Madness Tournament Makes Me Remember How Bad The Good Basketball Programs Are At Football
THIS. IS. MARCH.
I do believe that when Andy Williams sang “It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” he was singing about March, not Christmas because March truly is a great time of the year if you’re a sports fan. And what makes this March even better is that UConn is back in the tournament.
The matchup that UConn has pulled is a 5 vs 12 against the 26-6 New Mexico State Aggies who have just won the WAC. UConn came up short in the Big East semifinals, losing to Villanova and finishing third in the conference, but because of their 23-9 record and wins against Auburn, Marquette, and Villanova, they earned a 5 seed.
While I think UConns going to win this game by 15 plus, I am excited to see the guard dual between Teddy Allen and RJ Cole. But what I’m really writing about is how wild it is that both programs have good basketball teams, but HORRENDOUS football teams. And this kind of goes for all of March Madness.
Both schools are in conferences for all other major sports (New Mexico State in the WAC and UConn in the Big East) except for football. Both independent programs combined for an abysmal record of 3-21 in 2021. I can’t really speak to the success of New Mexico State in the past few seasons other than the fact that they’ve gone 4-20 in the past 2 seasons, but I can go all day on UConn.
UConns last winning season came in 2010 when they got dogged in the Fiesta Bowl by Oklahoma and have never even come close to reaching that pinnacle again. Just disappointing.
Circling back, I mentioned how it’s wild that bad football programs have teams in the NCAA Tournament with winning records. Look at the top 8 teams. In the west, Gonzaga doesn’t have a team so they don’t really help my point, but Duke is considered a blue blood basketball program, but hasn’t had a winning football season since 2018. In 2021 they went 3-9.
In the East, Kentucky and Baylor run contrary to my argument after the seasons they just had, but since 2010 Kentuckys football team has gone 72-77 while their hoops team has won a National Title, played in 2, and won the SEC 6 times. Baylor is in the same boat.
The top 2 seeds in the West are Arizona and Villanova and things have been far from fruitful on the gridiron for both Wildcats. Since 2010, Arizona has a record of 64-75 while the basketball team has won the Pac-12 four times and made the Elite Eight three times. Villanova’s D1-AA football squad has been better, but when comparing into their basketball team they don’t stand a chance. Nova football holds an 82-56 which is good, but since 2010, Jay Wrights squad has won the Big East 5 times, made the tournament 8 times, and won 2 National Titles.
In the Midwest it gets worse when you think of Kansas. The Rock Chalk, Jay Hawk football team is 23-118 since 2010. Makes you just want to vomit thinking about it. And now when you compare it to what they do on the hardwood, it’s even worse. Since 2010, they’ve won the Big 12 6 times, made 5 Final Fours, and appeared in a National Championship game.
I do wonder why this is the case where historically great basketball teams have poor football programs. It maybe that they focus a lot of time, effort, and resources into there basketball programs because they see them as the universities “breed winners” and will completely neglect their football teams. As a football guy, I absolutely hate to see that, but there is something funny about Kansas just being piss poor at football.
Baker Mayfield was right. Go cheer on basketball.