If we were in the ACC, this isn't a problem. But, as upstater noted, we're likely going to have two non-conference games on CBS. Since CBS only owns the rights to UConn home games, and is going to want to have us play games of national interest, that means we're likely going to need 4 home-and-homes (2 home one year for CBS, the other 2 home the next). While I would like to watch UConn-PC, I don't think that's big enough for one of those 4 home-and-homes (not a national game).
You get 27 games (?), tournaments counting as 1. We have 18 league games (stupid). We play a tournament, 4 home and homes, and a one-off game against a team like Maryland (or MSU, or Gonzaga, etc.). That's 24 games. You do need money from the gates. Everyone does.
So that's 3-6 games (depending on whether I was wrong and it was 29/30 games) for teams like Stony Brook. You need to fill a full slate to sell season tickets, and 9 league games, 2 hopefully very good OOC, is not enough.
It's math, not cowardice. And this is coming from someone who really wants to find a way to schedule PC.