I have no clue if a B1G invite is out there and unless someone has spoken to Manuel, Delany, Herbst about it, I doubt anyone knows.
That said, I'm OK with the basketball only schools doing what they are doing. They need to look out for themselves. It makes no sense for them to be in a conference where they are travelling across the US when the payout is going to be net-negative.
UConn is pretty screwed ATM, but a lot can change in a short time.
Really, right now there are three ways UConn is screwed long term:
- Every conference stops expanding and UConn is left with the NBE
- Every conference stops at 18 and UConn is left out of that expansion
- This whole thing takes too long to play out and UConn withers while it happens
I think we have heard enough from Delany that the B1G would like to expand past 14, he has said as much. Delany can only pull teams from two places: the NBE or the ACC.
If he raids the NBE, UConn is the team he would take (probable at best).
If he raids the ACC, they will likely be forced to add UConn and Cincy. Who else could they even target that would be better? BC is the huge issue here, if they are still a negative vote and two of UConn's "yes" votes are now in the B1G then UConn could end up in a situation where they are left out. However, I don't think even FSU would care at this point, because they would have to be angling for the SEC or B12.
Let's say the ACC implodes and the other three conferences that can pluck the ACC do so:
- B1G grabs GT/UVA
- SEC grabs UNC/Duke
- B12 grabs FSU/Clemson/VT/NCST/UL/XXX
Maybe it's not exactly like the above, but I assume those are the most likely candidates to be taken by some conference.
That would leave Miami, BC, Cuse, Pitt and Wake Forest left in the ACC (minus that 6th team the B12 takes). Add those to UConn, Cincy, Memphis, Houston, UCF, USF and Temple and that's a solid 11 teams. Add in Navy for football and ND for non-football then you have a decent 12 team league. It is basically the old BE + Conference USA. Pretty solid basketball, slight upgrade in football.
If the B1G, SEC and B12 go to 18, then I imagine UConn has a good shot at the B1G, though it would have to fight off one of BC/Cuse as the Northeast representative. ND is a huge wildcard of course.
If the B1G, SEC and B12 go to 20, I can't imagine UConn not being in one of those leagues.