It's an odd spot. They need to get more buy-in to stop messages that undercut the move from politicians, the media and the boosters, clarify what they are doing, why, and why it's good for basketball. That said, at the same time, they can't alienate their current partners or do anything that might signal to recruits that playing for UConn means playing at a "lesser" level (i.e. if that school doesn't want to be there, why would I?). This, of course, means you can't exactly come out with a public information campaign about why a different conference home is necessary to try to head-off those damaging messages should something leak early.
The leak (on both sides) was absolutely intentional and designed to head-off any momentum as Yormark & Endeavor tried to make their sales pitch to the Big XII presidents.