You may be right, but the fact remains that the B1G's recent strategy has been to dominate the major population centers of the east coast. They have one large gap remaining, the 7-state New England/New York region with 35 million people, and UConn is the only B1G like school in those 7 states. It would complete their strategy to claim us. Also, Fox, their TV partner, has a limited East Coast presence and is said to want more East Coast penetration. UConn adds more to Fox than (say) Kansas or Oklahoma.
There's no question that UVa, UNC, Ga Tech, and others will score higher on many B1G metrics than UConn, especially the academic ones. But they are less available than UConn, and it may be favorable to move soon and start building a presence in our markets.