When you really think about this whole thing its pretty clear that Notre Dame is very happy with these new additions. They love the idea of playing basketball games in Houston and Dallas, in addition to the large markets they already have in New York, DC, Philly, Chicago, Orlando, and Tampa. Even Louisville, Milwaukee, Hartford, Cincinnati, and Providence are decent markets. This expansion should make the Big East game plan crystal clear. They basically just want schools that represent large metropolitan markets. It's basically a pro type alignment. No other conference will give them this ability to play in large markets throughout the country, in many cases in NBA arenas. They are not leaving until something drastically changes on the college football landscape that forces their hand. I don't think we are even close to that scenario playing out yet.
UConn needs to think about our basketball product in these same terms, at least until we get out of here. Embrace this for it's ability to spread the UConn basketball brand to pretty much every inch of this country. I think that if Navy doesn't come and with Air Force already out we are looking at adding UNLV and Memphis as full members next based on this pattern. I also think that Boise and SDSU will be in as full members eventually as well.