Rivalry Week? Not as Much so for the Orange

It's ESPN's rivalry week in college basketball. I've already watched Louisville v. Marquette, Kansas v. Missouri, and even Gonzaga v. St. Mary's (St. Mary's being ranked is a joke by the way... they've been rolled by any viable opponent they've played... no, i'm not counting Oregon as a viable opponent).

But every year I take a look at the Rivalry Week schedule. I scroll down until I see "Syracuse" and then over to see their opponent. And every year I'm disappointed. Every year I see "UConn" instead of "Georgetown" next to my beloved Orange.

And while UConn is a great opponent as well as a great team... they are NOT Georgetown. It's sad that just because Georgetown had a few down years, or because the Universitys aren't very close to each other at all, casual college basketball fans started considering UConn our common sense opponent during "Rivalry Week."

SU/UConn has Boeheim/Calhoun. Its got the back to back titles in 03/04. Its got Melo/Emeka. and who could forget when UConn was no. 1 and (all rise) Gerry put the Orange back and crushed the no. 1 out of the Huskies. But what was a bigger win?... the next one...







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Nope. UConn/Syracuse will never be Syracuse/Georgetown. Syracuse/Georgetown shaped the Big East Conference. Arguably, (look it up, if you can) their rivalry helped to push college basketball to the forefront of network sportscasting. The battles between Ewing and the Orange and "The Pearl" and the Hoyas are the building blocks of what is still, in my mind, the most competitive and exciting conference in the country.

"The Georgetown-Syracuse rivalry is something that is synonymous with the Big East. The specialness of that game was ingrained in me growing up." -- John Thompson III

Duke didn't stop hating North Carolina because NC had a few down years. And it never matters whether or not Ohio St. or Michigan are any good in a given year. They still hate each other. They still could each win on any given night in those rivalries just because of the mass hatred built upon each heartbreaking loss or nerverecking victory. Hell, Kansas beat the ever-livin' outta Mizzou last night and no one at ESPN is switching KU's biggest rival to Kansas State.

As John Thompson III put it after being asked why beating Syracuse was a bigger win than beating then top-ten ranked Duke a few years back, he said, "Because it was Syracuse."



And last year, the win on senior day would have been this special...

...no matter what G'town was ranked.


Rivalries are historic. They don't change because one team succeeds and the other fails. They aren't started because the coaches are battling each other for spot after spot on the all-time division-1 win list, or because one coach builds a team that can challenge the other's historical precense within the conference. And they certainly aren't created by network television stations. Nope, argue all you want. Believe what you want. But it won't be rivalry week for this Orange fan until Georgetown comes to town.