I would be in favor of adding UMass to the Big East, and figuring out a home for both of our football programs, maybe as football only within the AAC.
The primary mission of UConn's athletic program should be to destroy BCU's and Syracuse's athletic programs. There is no way into a P-Whatever unless those two programs are annihilated. UConn can lock down Connecticut and market into New York, and Syracuse has major problems both athletically and academically. Landing a death blow on BCU is going to be tougher. We could use UMass' help, and to make that help worth something, we have to help them. UMass has a lot more alumni in Massachusetts than BCU does, and probably a lot more alumni in Boston too.
There is basically no down side to this strategy. First of all, the status quo may be death. UConn can continue to do everything right, and we will continue to be boxed out because BCU and Syracuse are deemed to own the northeast. If we align with UMass, one of three things will happen:
1) UConn and UMass will eat away at BCU's fanbase, which will be easily measurable in a streaming world, and BCU will be weaker and weaker, and UConn and UMass will emerge as the premier programs in New York and New England. UConn and UMass become more viable as conference additions.
2) UMass continues to not be great, and is not viable as a conference addition, but UConn does become the most popular program in New England, by far, on streaming in part because UMass eats into BCU's fan base.
3) BCU and Syracuse continue to be viable athletic programs and none of the major conferences are interested in UConn as an addition. We are no worse off than if we did nothing with UMass.