I think I agree with the first half of this hypothetical. If UConn played in the SWAC they’d get more rebounds. As for the second half, I doubt it. Yes, the SWAC is a weak conference with several undersized teams. But the BE isn’t much different in that regard.
JSU is a big team, and they take advantage of their size advantage in conference games. But they also box out and have good rebounding fundamentals. In this respect, they seem a bit like Providence. What they lack is offensive skills and their bigs are not very quick.
If we play with good energy and tenacity on defense, we should be able to turn them over a lot and score bunches in transition. Even our usual small ball lineup should be able to throttle their offense. But we could play Aaliyah and Ice together and negate much of their size advantage if that seems necessary. But either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up with more rebounds.
Also, on paper their depth looks like a problem for UConn. JSU’s rotation goes 10 deep or more, which means they’re not likely to get tired. On the other hand, they don’t bring quicker players off the bench so the advantage may be an illusion in a tournament setting. And to compound the problem, if they shorten their rotation for this game, they may not have the stamina for it. UConn’s core players are used to playing 30+ minutes, theirs aren’t. The primary advantage their depth provides is they don’t fear foul trouble and we do.