Hmm that changes my opinion slightly. The bad years are as bad if you didnât miss the tournament, and I kind of throw 2020 out.
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I donât think youâre right - there are plenty Hoo would. To be in the conversation as a potential Final 4 team every single year is huge.
Theyâve been ranked in the top 11 every year since 2012. Have been past the first weekend every time since 2014.
Personally I would be one that would take that ⌠it means you have a real chance every year.
Does anyone view UConn as a top 10 program?
They have 3 titles and 2 in the last 11 tourneys. But they are an afterthought when thinking of top programs. A lot of other fan bases view UVA the same way now ⌠I know. I live in NC and deal with Heel and Dookie fans all day. Every year farther from 2019 we get the more they donât even view UVA the same way.
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But the question is do you trade the sure thing? I agree prospectively you want to be the team with a chance every year, but would you really trade an actual natty for two (or three or four or more) failed chances? Of course not!
This is true. The UVa national (and regional) brand faded a lot the past three years. I hadnât really thought of it, but I think thatâs why, while I donât want to put too much stakes on it, adding Power/Gertrude to Blake would be big, b/c the âno wins in the tourney droughtâ seems decently likely to continue this next year (Iâd say 40% or so). So a good two-year recruiting haul will help quite a bit.
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Itâs a tough/trick question in some ways. If Virginia didnât have a Nati then yes, let me be Gonzaga prominent in the mix year in and year out. But the reality is for me as a fan that Championship meant the world to my fandom esp. coming off the 18 disaster. Obviously I want Virginia to get back to a top program and regularly contend but I wouldnât trade that nati in for anything.
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You would trade the national championship to have come close twice? Actually? If so thereâs a football team in upstate New York you should be a huge fan of. They also have some pretty rowdy tailgates so at least thatâll be fun.
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Winningest when? Regular season? Because itâs myopic to think UVA belongs with that group from a national perception. 1 Final 4 in 35 years just wonât do it. And neither will 3 total sweet 16âs in 27 years.
Total wins. Itâs not a thought or opinion. Itâs a tally they keep track of that was visible earlier in this thread. 27 and 35 years both include a ton of seasons that are irrelevant to this discussion of the last 10 seasons.
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If you look over last 4-5 years, Baylor emerges as someone you have to talk about. Last 7-9 years, add UVA.
But agree there are others that have done it longer/been more consistent/had more years of some post-season success
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Simple thought exercise: Would you trade winning the Syracuse game for losing the auburn or Texas tech game? Easy call (no) for me. Fredâs gonna Fred.
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Youâre changing the timeframe by 25 years.
Iâve decided to go back 60 years and I canât believe you didnât mention UCLA in your post.
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Youâre missing the point âŚIâm not looking backward. I look at it like this:
Would I rather:
We make the Sweet 16: 9 of the next 10 years and not know what happens from there each year
or
Make a Sweet 16, an Elite 8 and win a title over the next 10 years knowing the other 7 years we wonât make the 2nd weekend.
Iâll ask you all the question that way.
I wouldnât trade this for anything except more championships and selfishly might not even make that trade
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Dave, I donât think heâs missing the point. Boxley started with the question of how youâd measure looking back, not looking forward. And now youâre switching this to a forward-looking question.
Your point is a fair one looking prospectively, but not looking backwards.
(And yes, I do agree with you on the whole point of this subtweet, which is that Tony over-indexes on regular season. Thatâs one of the reasons why I got exiled here with you to begin with! 
)
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Both options are pretty damn good for me. Being guaranteed exactly one national title per decade is something I would not complain about.
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Yupp. Iâd sign up for either in a heartbeat
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What if you could win 1 Natty every 10 years, but the other 9 you finish last in the Conference?
Basically the last 10 years - rather be UConn or Gonzaga?
Only if you could tell me the natty year ahead of time so I could tune out the other 9 years 
No, I am not missing the point in the least, but the answer to this altered question is again simple. I would trade 50 consecutive sweet 16s for another title (since evidently we are allowed to change the premise at will in this thread I will ignore the open ended potential of maybe winning a title after making those sweet 16s).
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So if you force my hand if Iâd rather have Gonzaga or UVAâs results the last 10 years?
A winning record every year in the madness means great fantastic rides.
I lean toward every year rides vs the 2 weâve had.
Mainly because it elevates UVA status as a truly elite top 6 program every year and the exposure keeps us in front of talking heads and recruits eyes⌠believe we likely land our targets more often too which means we have more deep runs which means we are seen by recruits more which means more deep runsâŚ
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