I’ve come around on this. The NEWBIE is a really good regional league and outside Villanova, has no interest in being a major national conference, in anything really. In all the major sports it is basically not participating ( football) or not trying ( baseball, women’s basketball. Note UConn in the women’s equivalent of Villanova.). Most UConn fans and the athletic program are quite satisfied with being a “ regional” power. The AAC, whether it succeeds or not, wants to be the 6 th Power Conference. I don’t know if it will get there. Probably not. But that isn’t UConn’s goal any longer anyway. We are thrilled to get to the NCAA tournament. Get into the bottom of the top 25. Play a regional schedule of mostly like minded teams. Beat Seton Hall and Providence. The exceptions being Villanova at the high end, DePaul at the low end and Georgetown wishing for all the world that the Ivy League wanted a Catholic member si it didn’t have to hang with these trade schools. It is fine and it lets everyone get what they want while pretending to be important in the national scheme of things because the league takes the name of a once powerful national conference.