How long before frank pi$$es all over this?
Nice. I actually think that UConn would explore independence IF that was the only way to move up to "Division 4". Being independent for football and playing Big East basketball isn't entirely implausible. What doesn't jive in the OP's linked thread is the notion that UConn would be negotiating with the SEC and Pac-12 as
conferences to play games. That should be a tell-tale sign of how the story is bogus - the SEC can't even get its own members to play a 9th conference game because their schools value their non-conference scheduling autonomy so fiercely and the Pac-12 dropped an alliance with the Big Ten because many of its members didn't like the lack of non-conference scheduling flexibility, too. If the story hadn't gone that far and simply stated that some individual SEC and Pac-12 schools were interested in playing UConn, then that would at least been a bit more believable. Suggesting that the
conference offices would have anything to do with scheduling UConn, though, is fairly ridiculous (and I think most people here know that).
Much like ACC destruction stories spun out of West Virginia over the past year, the story takes an overarching scenario that's plausible ("The Big 12 wants to expand! UConn wants to go independent!") and fills it up with a web of details that are intoxicating for people that
need to see conference realignment moving again. Like I've said, I would actually expect UConn to explore the possibility of independence if that's the only way that they can play at the "Division 4" level. I just don't expect any power
conferences (emphasis on conference offices as opposed to individual power conference schools making individual scheduling choices) to help UConn do it.
