I didn't argue hypotheticals, didn't know that was the discussion. Just pointed out the obvious and what Hurley said
Not sure how much any conference can help us with recruiting. We're already arguably the best program in the country. We can't get better on the basketball courts
I'm going to suggest Cuse and BC and Pitt and WVU and VT and Louisville and Miami all thought they were heading for greener pastures. To date, they have failed
More money would be nice, it would help the athletic department as a whole. But our basketball programs have nowhere to go but down. Although we may stay on the same plateau, nobody else has
UConn is well-positioned to compete effectively in NIL in the Big East. So are all the teams. Paying players is a different story. Not having a football program pulling out $20 million in payroll helps the basketball program, but we really could use a better TV deal.
Unfortunately, that door is closed unless there is some kind of major shock to the system. It is unlikely that any school is ever going to get full membership in a P4 league again without a major shock. Just look at what happened to the Pac 12 schools. So whenever someone says "why wouldn't we join the ACC", the answer is A) we would be at a permanent competitive disadvantage to the other schools by design because they would never give us full membership, and B) we will not be invited until the ACC is in such bad shape that there would be no point in joining.
There are three realistic "shock to the system" scenarios that may actually happen, and then a bunch of minor ones that are distant, distant possibilities. The ones that may happen:
1) Football breaks off - football is putting enormous pressure on the other parts of the athletic department, and with the House settlement, it is a massive cash drain at even many of the P4 schools. I could see football breaking off completely from the other sports, with separate conference affiliations and TV contracts.
2) Prestige schools split - I am surprised that Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Stanford, Cal, Rice and Duke continue to compete in leagues with some of the other schools they are with. Their alumni do not care at all about these schools, and with football suddenly more expensive, conference affiliation is not just free money anymore. If those 6 schools split off to form a new league, there would be 20-30 schools that would be desperate to claw their way into it. Notre Dame would probably give up football independence to join that league. There would be a backfill opportunity if this happened.
3) Big East/ACC merger - Conferences are just TV negotiating coops at this point, so who cares who is in a league with who, as long as all the schools have the resources to compete. If the ACC fanboys are looking for a way for UConn to get into the ACC, this is by far the most likely, because it would not cost the ACC much of anything since the Big East would bring its TV contracts with it.
If you want to get UConn into a P4, these are the ways it could realistically happen. Complaining about it endlessly is not one of the options likely to result in a successful outcome.