Being in the AAC definitely hurts basketball and football, not so much though for baseball. UConn will get an ACC invite next two or three years, especially if UConn football becomes less of a laughing stock and basketball starts camping out in the top 25 again. If Hurley signs Precious, and Edsall signs another couple recruiting classes, as well as top Juco and graduate transfers, like he just did, then UConn starts to achieve that. The other main reason P5 school presidents would want UConn, regardless of any athletic success, is for it's academics and it's ability to attract the smartest students. When you use that metric, UConn is light years ahead of other AAC schools. That being said, having a women's basketball coach who is the greatest coach ever in that sport AND a men's basketball coach who's father is in the basketball HOF and is also a de facto assistant coach, doesn't hurt either. If that ever happened and UConn left the AAC that league would become very unstable.