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Message: [QUOTE="ninety-nine, post: 5065020, member: 5497"] I always cringe when I see the "available at any point" logic applied to UConn, and I think it's likely just as oversimplified to apply it to any other school. Programs that are competitive (or in UConn's case, outright dominant), but don't have access to the money of a power conference program, can only stay "available" for so long before the program declines and becomes less valuable due to a loss of program infrastructure. UConn, for example, can only circle the airport for so long as a football independent with great facilities before a decision has to be made to downscale the program (though I doubt it would be dropped completely, but hey, anything is possible). Putting it back together afterward would be much, much harder, and possibly impracticable. Meanwhile, the basketball programs (and possibly other sports) that are currently very successful will eventually stop being able to compete at the highest level unless a complete decoupling from football takes place, and will be worth less as acquisitions because they were allowed to deteriorate due to the ongoing financial imbalance. If you're the Big 12 or ACC and you think you're likely to want one of these schools later on, doesn't it make sense to make arrangements now, before the programs fall back due to underfunding? This especially applies to UConn basketball, which is outright incredible. Dynasties provide a unique "greater than the sum of its parts" value which can't be easily replaced if they fade, and UConn somehow has two of them. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach