UCF football is the prime example of a team getting upgraded and running with it. USF fans must be in agony seeing them get upgraded to the B12. It would actually be much easier for UMASS to do the same thing in basketball if they were ever upgraded to the Big East, especially with the portal.
Houston basketball also did very well with their upgrade to the AAC. This is why UCONN (and Providence) will block UMASS if they can even though nobody likes to admit it.
If UCONN ever gets upgraded to a P5 conference then the Big East would be smart to backfill with UMASS.
UCF is the exception, not the rule. Houston basketball excelled because they happened to have made a home run hire of a candidate that was P5 quality but had been exiled for what now appears to be silly infractions. Otherwise, having watched some Houston games in recent years there are not many fans that fill that arena which follows my initial point that generally if there are no fans, there will continue to be few fans unless Kansas or Texas come to town in the case of Houston. Here are photos of their senior night where they celebrated 4 seniors graduating and winning the AAC regular season crown, no one is there. Terrible.
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The AAC has tried this and largely failed (SMU in Dallas, Tulane in New Orleans, Temple in Philly, Tulsa, and Memphis) and fields and gyms across the conference have and continue to remain mostly empty. CUSA tried this as outlined in the article below and now the conference is on life support. Bringing in UMass does 1) nothing to enhance the TV contract 2) nothing to improve recruiting base for revenue sports 3) nothing for 80% of Big East members as far as interest / attendance 4) nothing for Big East brand / reputation. #1 being the most important point in today's market.
For UMass to find itself even so much as a remote consideration in my opinion, they would have to complete the basketball equivalent of what UCF has done in the last decade which would be something like multiple Sweet Sixteen appearances, no down years, and consistently in NCAA Tournament, and a massive increase in investment in the program from facilities to staff to operations. You have to act like you are worthy of the next level before you get there as they say in Corporate America.
I doubt most if any if any of the above happen. I wouldn't mind playing UMass in general but as far as a conference mate? Out of the question and unlikely for that to change in the near or distance future.
Will American Athletic Conference’s Expansion Gamble Work For TV? — TVREV