Here's my thought:
- Big 12 surely doesn't want football only - they surely want all 3 teams of value (FB, MBB, WBB), + the rest, sure why not who cares at that point.
- Big 12's future is murky at best - we should NOT give them our 3 best assets as a package, especially not M/WBB without a clearer picture on what conference re-alignment will look like when the dust settles. Personally i would not go to Big 12 ever.
- To that point, the dust has not settled at all on conference re-alignment. I believe that when it's all said and done, the prized ponies of each P5 conference will have moved to the P2 (B1G/SEC). Let's be frank - even with M/WBB, UConn has NO chance of getting into either of those conference. Not now, not tomorrow, not in 10 years. Maybe 20, but it's not happening anytime soon.
- That being said, once the poaching happens, a lot of schools will remain outside the P2 party, along with us. When that happens, we re-assess the landscape as it stands.
- By this point, football may be its own governing body anyway, and there won't really be a need to drag all sports to a conference. If the stars align, many other schools will find themselves in our current position and simply join forces, to form new conferences. Thinking schools like ACC leftovers (Louisville, Virginia Tech, WF, Duke, GA Tech, Syr, Pitt, BC), Pac 12 leftovers (UC Berkeley, WA State, OR State, Stanford, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, AZ State), Big 12 leftovers (Kansas, K-State, Iowa St, OK State, Baylor, Tx Tech, AAC wannabes) will need to find a home for their programs, while also protecting their basketball interests. Sound familiar???
- Thus, I'd love to see UConn form football-only regional alignments with schools in the same situation.
Until all the dust settles, we pay close attention to the landscape but we should only FOCUS on 3 things:
- Win football games; Make the best schedule you can make - right now let's not worry about where the opponent is Geographically, just WIN.
- protect MBB and keep its pedigree as high as possible - keep Coach Hurley happy and under contract.
- Protect WBB and keep its pedigree as high as possible - Ensure the transition plan to Geno's successor is solid and we don't allow Kevin Ollie 2.0 to happen on the women's side.
Until the dust settles, Big East + FB Indep it is, for us. it's a GREAT home, albeit not the most lucrative, but the matchups make sense and we can protect basketball until something better comes along, if ever.
My heart would shatter if we went to B12 just to see it turn into an AAC or worse, the WAC? Remember the WAC? 20 years ago it was on its way to becoming a prestigious/quality conference, with solid flagship western institutions (Nevada, Boise State, Hawaii, Fresno, etc) and a growing list of signature wins by its programs. Now, it's a mishmash of schools you've never heard of, from out west. Truly sad.