We need to win football games to get into a P5. If we do, we will be a prime candidate as more changes occur. There is no reason for us to be in the AAC. We can schedule well as an independent and we can get paid for our success by improving our exclusive TV deal. In the meantime, we can recruit well in basketball from the Big East and contend for Final Fours, which will help paint a string overall picture. Same goes for the women
The issue we have is that we’ve been terrible in football. It isn’t that basketball doesn’t matter in realignment, it does, but only in conjunction with good football. Basketball is a huge bonus to go along with a solid football program.
There is not one good reason to think football needs the AAC for realignment. We have a good schedule, better TV coverage and we are just starting to pull in better recruits, which Edsall credited to our exclusive TV deal making all games available to the player’s families across the country.