What makes any of you think that the Big East would ever want Connecticut. It's a catholic school league with universities that all have generally the same mission. The league is filled out in terms of numbers. If they wanted to add, they could add St. Bonaventure, Holy Cross, La Salle, St. Joseph's, or even Duquesne and still retain their identity. Why would they add more schools and dilute the money they do get. The conference is tapped out with the number of members. Why would they possibly want to recreate the 18 member old Big East fiasco? Scheduling alone was a mess among other things.
Our problem is not the conference, although recruiting does take a hit because of it. Connecticut basketball was at best middle of the road before Calhoun took over. It was his personality that drove the success and championships. That's true of all 'blue blood' programs. UCLA declined after Wooden, Indiana after Knight, and Kentucky after Rupp. Fortunately for them, Kentucky went back to Pitino and recovered for a while, then sucked again, then went to the Squid. North Carolina was great under Smith, sucked for a while, then recovered under Williams. Programs are forged by the great coaches.
Before the Big East breakup, everyone here was complaining that Puke, Kansas, and Kentucky were getting all the blue chippers...why couldn't we get them. Answer: Calhoun could take next level guys and beat Puke, Kansas, and Kentucky through the power of his personality. He didn't need the Mickey D AAs to win.
We get another Calhoun, we win championships again.