NU Hoop Fan

It's good in HEA because they can take kids that don't meet the standards at NU, BU, BC, etc. They traditionally have a lot of French Canadians whose knowledge of English isn't strong - but they can get them in as a state school.

Tsongas has had some good crowds this year, but in the past they haven't supported the AHL all that well. The Spinners draw well because it's affordable high quality entertainment, and the parking is cheap - and next to the field, so you don't have to walk through the bowels of Lowell.

The parts of Lowell near Andover are gorgeous, but that's not all that close to UML.

__________________
Today is the first day of the next 86 years!

umainealum

Is this perfect? No. Does it make sense & give the conference some added stability? Yes. That's all I have been wanting this league to do is add someone and give us some stability.

When the SUNY-3 were added, I was against it because I really didn't know much about them and they were moving up from D-II. All 3 turned out to be great ads and are valuable members of this conference. I have a feeling Lowell will also turn out to be that as well.

__________________
UMaine - the epitome of mediocrity

Proud supporter of an AMERICA EAST team that made a coaching change...

ccd494

I like it.

UVM Hoop Cat

And also most players on the Boston Red Sox (Daisy's reference).

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

iBOsbu

Thank you! I suppose if they have good crowd for hockey games, it would be same for basketball games.

UVM Hoop Cat

This is the only reason I like it, with conference stability and potential tournament host at Tsongas following.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

Dane96

I have a great Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciaparra and moi story for you. We have to get a beer one day. Heck, I don't even know if NUHF knows this story...remind me to tell you about it as well.

Oh Daisy Buch's...how you have wet the whistle of many of a lad.

ccd494

Umm.... I think BU, UNH, and Maine have pretty conclusively disproved that.

Dane96

I think you are correct from one angle...and I will couch my disdain for the move by saying the following:

1) While many of you did not know the SUNY's (or our direction) I do know the past of Lowell from a resident viewpoint, a conference athletic mate view point, and a general conceptual viewpoint. That viewpoint is marred in years of nonsense in many of these areas(they used to have Police in the "Cage" because of violence towards players from fans).

2) Moving forward...maybe the new regime (and NUHF is really right about the poltico who runs this school being a poltical hack) will move the school in a great direction.

3) Part of my disdain is for what BU controlled...and also for my school and other schools allowing BU to run the direction of the league for FAR TOO LONG!

4) Part of my disdain is that I firmly believe if Dr. Hall didn't pass so untimely, a lot of the shennangins would have been cut off at the pass; that's how influential the guy was.

So...I will warmly welcome UM-L but I will do so with one hand on the release lever until they prove otherwise. We needed stability...this provides it...but unless there are major athletic and academic profile changes...this will be a warm body only.

farfromtheshow

Oh the memories I have of daisy's, where on a given night in the early 2000's you'd have the entire BU men's basketball team holding court at one end of the bar, and Derek Lowe and Kevin youkilis chasing around 17 year old girls with bad fake id's at the other... But they let me in when I was 17-20 so I'm not complaining lol.

UVM Hoop Cat

Definitely- I've got some Daisy Buch stories....one involving Lackey/Beckett, one involving Hazel Mae. That place is a $hit show. Haven't been in a long time.

__________________
"Let's win this game for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here"
- Hoosiers,
& UVM mens basketball NCAA's 2005

farfromtheshow

Dang it, I've been writing an op-Ed on this all morning and I have a "golf clap" reference in it...

Patman

I'll be quite happy to start an SUNY-Albany resume bonfire... As soon as we get one. It's not like we haven't heard that before from boston based folks... Always need to justify your existence on the school totem pole there... Then denigrate all others who you feel are beneath you.

As for NU... One NCAA trip based on the back of one goaltender is not the stuff legends are made of.

Edit: French Canadians?!? We have had maybe one hockey player from French Canada since I enrolled... We did have 3 from France proper... Two of them were in engineering. I wouldn't know about the bball team other than the couple of Israelis we had.
---

Looks like it may be a long day folks. I'll get to the academic points later but I will add that our athletic department has been piling up marketing awards before Meehan got here. Fact is, desire and ethic hasn't been the issue, it's political will and resources. The move to div 1 is more an evolution at this point. We aren't here just to show up and cash in a payday game against a BCS conference.

If it doesn't happen this week that's fine. This is a surprise to us... But we are getting there.

__________________
B.S. UMass-Lowell '04
Ph.D. UConn '09

Dane96

OOOOOOOOH....you had me at Hazel Mae!!!

Dane96

Welcome to the board Patman.

But know this: This isn't a pooh-poohing of UM-L from a Boston person; we were conference mates with you and I first hand saw the nonsense that came out of UM-L back then.

Now, this is almost 2 decades ago...so I will take the wait and see approach.

But I will say this; Don't even try to compare ANY of the SUNY's to UM-L on an academic level. It's not even close...TODAY AT LEAST. For Petesake the 4-year graduation rate at Lowell is something less than 30% from the last I heard from Beacon Hill.