I see, UConn was accepted over them? I missed that.
if I weren't, what would change in the fact pattern?
I will say exactly what I am. I am a grad school alum. I am a sports fan but I will pick and choose. I am not a particular fan of basketball and only went to one game over 3 years and two over 5. The first one for free in a snowstorm the second as an exhibition involving the undergrad. This despite living across from Gampel for 3 years. I am not going to lie about the state of nature and state of play out of some sort of chauvinism.
I admit I'm mostly in this for football but I'm a sports fan in general. I also won't lie to myself about the fact pattern that's emerging in sports writ large. It is quite ugly. I would be more bullish if I thought warranted it. I think the disintegration of the first big east has served virtually none of the schools. Maybe Virginia Tech at best. I think football would be better off in ANY conference temporarily. I think basketball is in the best situation that can be managed at the moment. I think a healthy northeast based conference would be in UConn's best interest but that ship sailed long long ago and even BE basketball is a phantom of its former self but a respectable quality phantom.
I think the power 5/4/3/2 are going to fork (as in split) what remains of the college landscape for their own financial ends. They will end the basketball scene because it will make money as soon as they can ensure the remaining splinters can't raise a credible competitor. Finito. Done. There is no special elf magic that's going to hold basketball together just because. That's a religious belief. Is it a shame? Absolutely. Will it happen. Yes, in the next 10 years. Why is this going to happen? Because the Big 10 and the SEC already told you it is going to happen. You are not special. You will not be saved. So I say "you" instead of "we"... ok, that changes nothing about the future.
Maybe we'll see each other at the DC alumni event if UConn MBB makes a deep run. That changes nothing in terms of UConn's position in the greater sports landscape. Maybe something happens in the ACC crackup. That's just a different type of moving backwards because the long goal is to separate out basketball into the Power 3/2 because the game is that the power conferences get all the money and UConn sits on the outside. Maybe there's a delusion here that UConn will be welcomed in if we dropped football? That would be an interesting theory. Want to run with that one "UConn fan"?
Appreciate your honesty and candidness. Perhaps you are right and in 5-10 years D1 athletics is down to just the B1G and SEC, I don't think it'll happen but stranger things have happened.
What I will say tho, and what I have the biggest disagreement with you and Zoo, is the assumption that what led to realignment in the past is what will lead to realignment in the future.
The media landscape is changing, Fox, ESPN et al are creating standalone streaming products. Cable boxes and markets no longer carry the weight they used to. Media deals will now be based on how many people are willing to pay $50 a month to watch their teams play. Schools like Kansas, Duke, and yes even UConn, have enough fans to move the needle.
