Speaking on WTIC "Sports Talk" Thursday night, UConn athletic director Warde Manuel referred to reports of the defections as "rumors" and said he has talked to his counterparts at other Big East schools.
"Talking through it and really trying to do what we can to ensure that as the conference moves forward we move forward together to strengthen the conference and to put us in a very good position," Manuel said. "I've talked to at least one other conference member who's at a basketball institution just to let them know my feelings and hear their thoughts about their concerns and the issues that are going on. But I can't control what they do. I want them, we want them at UConn, to stay a part of the league because we feel they bring the strength on the basketball side and the other Olympic sports and we want them to be a part of the league."
Manuel reiterated Thursday that he is confident the athletic programs will continue to thrive, no matter its conference home.
"My hope is stabilization for UConn and what we're doing going forward," Manuel said on WTIC. "Nobody likes to operate in a rocky environment, an unstable environment. And we're going to be committed and in this conference. So we want to make sure that the conference is stable for us to compete in all of our sports. And so my hope is, this goes away ... if they leave, we have to make sure that we're doing the right things to stabilize this environment that we're in and move forward, and control the things that we can control."
http://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-big-east-future-1214-20121213,0,2561546.story