The B1G has made it clear on this: CR is about making them money. And when you're a school like RU, who (apparently in their eyes) stands to make money for them through regional affiliation alone, so too goes the "too big to ignore football brand" stuff. RU has no real history in athletics, and MD, beyond their bball NC like 10+ years ago, hasn't done much of anything either in a very long time. None of the proposed schools, besides Mizzou who is apparently not even in the running anymore, have any kind of football program that you "can't ignore" like an Oklahoma or a Texas.
UConn is working its best at all the things it can control in light of our lack of a football brand that is too big to ignore. Our endowment is going to grow. The state just pumped a couple billion dollars in to UConn's science, math and engineering and general campus and faculty expansion, along with a few hundred million for our medical center, and we are getting close to AAU. We are already the flagship school of CT (and I argue potentially all of New England with the right B1G support). We are ranked ahead of most the the current B1G schools. We sit within and have strong fan bases in two major markets; more specifically, the B1G's main prize of NY. Our stadium is ready for expansion. The B1G has made it clear that they do still care about other sports, and there isn't an available school that would raise the conference's bball profile like UConn.
So, this "no interest" nonsense is, well, nonsense. There's no way the B1G can't be at least a little interested in UConn.