UConn to the Big East?

[ctchamps]

This is a really well thought out post. ^^^^^^

You've just got to recognize there is a small faction of the BY who is only concerned about UConn men's basketball. And, by "concerned" I mean what will help the UConn men's basketball program right now and which teams/games would the fans prefer to go see.

The problem with separating out the programs (men's basketball versus women's basketball versus men's football versus the rest of the UConn sports) is their individual short term best interests do not always coincide with the long term interests of the entire UConn AD.

The best place for UConn is to be in the P5 (this ain't a new concept). That is the only truly positive future for UConn athletics. There is still probably one more realignment wave coming..UConn needs to do everything to position itself for inclusion and that means making football a priority in the best G5 football league, the AAC. My first love is UConn men's basketball but I understand it is football that will decide UConn's athletic fate.

We may hate the AAC but there is a very strong likelihood the next P5 program will come out of the AAC. UConn men's basketball may be better served in the new BE next year but what about in 10 years? I know there are some posters who would say "I don't care about anything other than men's basketball so let's move to the new BE" but for those of us who cheer for all of UConn's sports, perseverance and improvement in the AAC are the best of the bad options.

We can't quit on the P5 till we know it is over...moving to the new BE is quitting on the P5.

Was surprised Rothstein brought it up. I expected the myopic in this forum to miss the B!G picture. But Rothstein knows what's at stake. He must be fishing for hits.

The NBE is not interested in taking any university that has a football program. The Catholic schools voted to separate from the OBE (other than Georgetown). They were fearful back then that a football school could be poached by the P5 and did not want to go through another unstable period. The recent Big12 search for teams, even though they didn't pull the trigger this round, would only reinforce this fear.

But from an academic point of view I'm with you and A10. Realignment is not out of the question. UConn needs to be strong if it goes another round. Separating the two major sports into two conferences weakens UConn.

As an aside: I think chances are pretty good that the P5 as currently configured will not survive. There is a good chance that a four conference structure will develop with a decent number of current P5 teams not included and some outside the P5 taken in.

 

[A10 fan]

Was surprised Rothstein brought it up. I expected the myopic in this forum to miss the B!G picture. But Rothstein knows what's at stake. He must be fishing for hits.

The NBE is not interested in taking any university that has a football program. The Catholic schools voted to separate from the OBE (other than Georgetown). They were fearful back then that a football school could be poached by the P5 and did not want to go through another unstable period. The recent Big12 search for teams, even though they didn't pull the trigger this round, would only reinforce this fear.

But from an academic point of view I'm with you and A10. Realignment is not out of the question. UConn needs to be strong if it goes another round. Separating the two major sports into two conferences weakens UConn.

As an aside: I think chances are pretty good that the P5 as currently configured will not survive. There is a good chance that a four conference structure will develop with a decent number of current P5 teams not included and some outside the P5 taken in.

I think many of the P5 schools would love to do this, but they won't because they fear congress getting involved. It's one thing to lock out schools that were never part of the club, but it's a whole different thing to kick schools out. I doubt these schools would go quietly, and I would expect congressmen from their states to start making noise. My guess is that there will end up being 80 teams at the big boy level. They could either go 4x20, or more likely 5x16, so that current rivalries will be less affected. The football playoff will be expanded to 8 teams. ND will likely be forced into the ACC. Since the big boys will still want to have G5 buy games on their schedule, and the lesser lights of the P5 won't want to be reduced to cupcake status, they won't want to totally crush the G5. They will still leave an opening for an exceptional G5 team to reach the playoff, or at least a major bowl.
If UConn ultimately fails to join the P5, and decides to deemphasize football, the BE will still be there for them.