I'd really like to see more Yale, CCSU, Sacred Heart, Quinnipiac and Fairfield in the ooc, make those the extent of the "cupcakes", all local and building up CT basketball.
I usually write something like this every year, and it gets little response.
To me, it seems like an obvious good idea to promote statewide basketball interest and boost economic activity by likely bringing fans of other D-1 programs to Storrs or Hartford, whether as single game ticket buyers, companions of UConn season ticket holders, or receivers of gifted tickets from friends who root for UConn.
I'd even favor a neutral site game at Bridgeport or Mohegan Sun if it would make financial sense. And games against multiple in-state competition would fit with UConn's current in-game TV commercial that promotes UConn as a multi-campus institution that benefits the entire state.
I imagined that the lack of response to this idea has some obvious/sound basis that eludes me, but I've never heard it.
Playing former Yankee Conference teams might hold a sentimental appeal, and build a regional identity, but I'm not as enthused about that angle. I'm mostly looking at schools that would bring more meaning to the buy-in portion of the schedule