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Yes, they DID play in the Big Dance. You do understand that they won the lower rated Yankee Conference regular season championship in those days. The league champion got the automatic bid. The Elite 8 was not what it is today. UC upset Temple, then beat Princeton, with Bill Bradley, then got waxed by a much more powerful Duke team. New England basketball in that era was HC, BC, and PC. As I will continue to state, UC, was the weak sister that got in because they won the Yankee Conference. Their appearances in the "Dance" were regularly 1 and done, being beaten by much better teams like West Virginia, NYU, and BC., St. Joseph's (PA). From 1960-1969 they were in the dance.
PC didn't play UC, that's true. They didn't need to. PC, was an Independent, playing powerhouses like St. John's, Villanova, Holy Cross, Boston College, St. Bonaventure, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Niagra, Creighton, Canisius. They also did win, the NIT 2 times, when the NIT was considered the bigger draw in college hoops. UC, for their part, turned down the NIT offer, AFTER losing a one game playoff to URI for the right to go to the NCAA. This action led, then coach Fred Shabel to bolt UCONN for a job at Penn. So, with all that said, yes, one could say that UC, in those days, WAS an after thought in New England basketball, playing only the weak sisters of the Yankee Conference, and occasionally a regional team.