Would you rather your university be known as a "football school" or a "basketball school"?

As Wisconsin's football season circles the drain, attention now turns to the basketball court. Yet we now fear -- are we changing from a football school to a basketball one? The horror!

Football powers: Ohio State, Miami ... and of yore: Penn State, Notre Dame ...

Basketball powers: Duke, Kansas, Kentucky ...

Err...Bucky, I'm a bit hesitant to think of Wisconsin as a football school. Until Barry Alvarez arrived, Wisconsin had some of the WORST football teams in the history of the Big Ten. Wisconsin and Northwestern habitually fought for the cellar. Their teams were SO bad that one of their coaches opened his postgame show in a coffin in an attempt to get their fans not to write them off, since "We're not dead yet" (though they truly were).

And being from a basketball school which is currently in the Top Ten in football, there are some perks to being a basketball school (a lot more games, the season's longer, and we don't have a National Champion voted on by sportswriters -- ours is a very real one).

Well Sparty, I look at it this way -- in the last ten years, Wisconsin has won three Rose Bowls, has a 7-1 bowl game record, a Heisman Trophy winner, always sells out their stadium, and has fans that travel very well. That to me is a football school (I will conveniently ignore the PA -- pre-Alvarez era -- when we were a ... hmmmm .. a cross country and hockey school! -- and the fact we still can't recruit a top notch QB!).

Just hope State beats Michigan this weekend!

btw -- can't wait for hoops season -- MSU was picked by the coaches and media to win the Big Ten this year. Izzo looks to have a great squad again.

If I had to choose one, I'd pick football, since it's the South's primary passion. But I'd prefer to be like Michigan, Florida or Oklahoma and field very competitive teams in both sports.

Frankly, both my school's basketball and football programs suck right now. I don't think Texas A&M has had a winning baskeball team in 15 years. This must be the worst football team in about 25 years. I wish I was a millionaire so that I could fund the creation of Division 1-A hockey team (it's currently only a club sport) for my school.

I went to IU ... need one even ask?

UW's had some good years in football, but before Alvarez, it had a lot of bad ones -- and my sports-obsessed dad (another reason it took me years to become anybody's fan) was so melodramatic about Badger defeats that my sister, who went to UW, went to friends' houses rather than suffer his histrionics. Like Wagner as performed by the tone-deaf. eek!

Actually, UW's best record (that I can think of) has been in hockey ... and it's a great school off the field/court/ice anyway. :cool:

[ October 31, 2003, 07:17 PM: Message edited by: danimal ]

Well, okay, I guess it's okay to ignore selective parts of a school's athletic record -- just remember that when I conveniently ignore \"Michigan State -- the Bobby Williams years.\"

You and me both -- I've been nervous about this game all day -- and I usually only get nervous in sporting events in which I'm playing!! I don't know if I could handle a Wolverine win two years in a row.

Hoops season is always what we look forward to -- okay in football USUALLY (last year notwithstanding), but football is often a filler to get us through to basketball season. As I see it, win or lose to Michigan tomorrow, the Spartan basketball team will still be ranked #3. Many, many publications pick them to get to the Final Four, which I'm hoping isn't a jinx.

Basketball school, naturally, since I went to Kentucky. Football season seems to just be counting down the weeks until hoops start up. Even in the years when UK's football program manages to somewhat compete in the SEC, like last year's 7-5 (but on probation) or Tim Couch's last season a few years back, nothing compares or comes close to the fervor of the home games at Rupp Arena. Monster tough non-conference schedule for the Cats this year, with the likes of UCLA, Michigan State, Indiana, U of L, North Carolina and Notre Dame. I can't wait!