I am not sure why I actually read to the end of this thread, but I did.
1. Princeton is one of only 14 teams to enter the NCAA tournament during its 30+ year history with an undefeated record. That is very noteworthy! (NB Uconn has 6 of those 14.) And unlike other lower conference teams and a number of P5 teams, they tried to play up in their OOC - something that can be very difficult to do as most P5 teams do not want to do home-home series with lesser conferences. They should be celebrated, they should have been a higher seed, and celebrating their year does not in any way disparage Uconn or any other team.
2. In the P5 conferences there was one undefeated team in conference play (Maryland 18-0) and three 15-1 teams (TN, SC, ND) and three two loss teams in Baylor 16-2, FL St 14-2, and OrSt 16-2. After those 7 teams there was a lot of mediocrity. You might argue that a few other teams 'challenged' those leaders in conference play, but I think more a result of inconsistency in those 7 teams than actual competitiveness. That picture is not that different from what Uconn/USF experienced in the AAC and Uconn in any of those P5 conferences would likely have breezed and added two losses to the record of most of those 7. Whatever conference Uconn has played in OBE, Initial AAC, or Current AAC they have dominated and their consistency most years has hurt the reputation of most of their conference mates - ECU or Tulane would have looked a lot better had Uconn laid an egg in one of their games, like ND did at Miami, or Baylor did at OK or ISU for example.
3. The AAC is poor at the bottom (as was the OBE) and mediocre in the 3-6, USF has distanced itself a little from those but still has a mountain to climb. This is one of the best Uconn teams ever in terms of balanced scoring, defense, and team play, and the bench is one of the strongest in my memory which has all contributed to an outrageous 40+ point MOV. They will probably exceed their team and NCAA record in that category by around 5 points (2001-2 and nearly repeated in 2009-10.) Impressive, but not a significant difference and those teams played in the Old Big East. Uconn MOV is almost entirely driven by what happens in the final 10 minutes when reserves are playing and this year the reserves are good enough to maintain or increase. Add two competitive games against an ND/Baylor with a 5 point margin and the MOV would be right back to the 35-36 point range and people wouldn't be shaking their head quite so much about the AAC.
