UCF puts it to Georgia Tech

[Hoophound]

I wouldn't say a terrible basketball conference. Not great, but definitely much worse

It is a good basketball conference for most schools, but not ours. This is UConn, we have 4 national titles. We belong in an elite conference.

It is a good football conference too. However, you can see in our scheduling and ability to get a deal with CBS, even in football, we are better than that. We can do more than the AAC can allow for. We don’t fit with those schools, their mentality or their footprint.

People say, “Well, Temple and Cincy are pretty good”. That’s great for them, but for us, there is just more out there. They will never do what we’ve already done.

 

[Excalibur]

We weren’t trying in football, so why stay?

 

[Chief00]

OK AAC haters chime in but.... the AAC is a lot better than any of you are willing to admit. Should the Huskies have stayed? UConn's men's basketball and football play was so poor that the school had no bargaining power to demand a bigger slice of the pie. UConn women's basketball deserved a lot better than what was offered. The independent football schedule(pre-Covid) was much better than the fans anticipated it would be so no, UConn should not have stayed. But what a shame. AAC football is going places and sooner than later they'll have a team in the 4(or future 8) team playoffs. UConn's shot at that coveted goal took a huge step backwards going independent. Cie la vie. Still, it's always nice to see anyone, even the AAC put it to the, "Never UConn", over rated ACC.
Final: UCF 49 GT 21

It’s a really good football conference.

 

[Chief00]

It’s best not dwell on things that can’t be changed. The school wanted to resurrect basketball more than it wanted to compete in football or it would have stayed. They are achieving what they intended as their priority. Had they wanted to leverage the football program they would be out there competing and would have picked up some great national TV coverage and $$ over the past few weeks.

So true.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[seeya27]

This isn't that complicated. UConn wasn't a good fit for the AAC. Period.

We are a Northeast school and the kids we recruit, notably for men's basketball, don't view Tulsa, East Carolina, and Tulane, etc. as interesting rivals. Even the better MBB teams (Houston, SMU) don't inspire Northeast recruits. WBB and football are different for different reasons, but MBB could not recruit on an elite level in the AAC.

WBB thrives in any conference in America, so they were less consequential in the conference move.

We were the furthest outpost of the AAC and the travel was killer, both in performance and cost.

The AAC media contract hurt us financially and in the Northeast with the loss of SNY. WBB was punched in the gut as well.

Our breadwinning sport, MBB, needed the BE and the interest and recruiting since the move is already paying dividends. AAC football is pretty good, no doubt. But for UConn it was a no-win for MBB. The BE is the perfect move and quickly we are moving back to elite status, something that could never have happened in AAC.