UCONN to new Big East

[UConnNick]

Some website called Digital Sports Desk is reporting that we will be moving to the new Big East for basketball prior to the 2020-21 season. Many of us have never heard of this site, and there is already considerable discussion about it on the men's board, some of which is making it look plausible.

The NBE commissioner Val Ackerman has been asked about this in the past and said we would have to decide what we're going to do with football before they'd consider this. That means dropping it or likely downgrading to FBS. Either of those moves would kill whatever remote chance we'd have of ever joining a P5 league. Long term that would be the death of the UCONN AD as a whole. Staying in the AAC, although a negative for women's BB, is still our best option currently, money, media exposure and competition wise. I don't think the new Big East solves any of our women's BB competition problems, although other than DePaul and Marquette, I'll admit I don't know much about any of the other schools in NBE women's BB.

 

[hoopsdiva]

This might be the best we can do. We'll never be in a P5 conference with the albatross of the football program around our collective necks.

 

[Sky ball]

Not happening...click bait

 

[uconndogs]

This might be the best we can do. We'll never be in a P5 conference with the albatross of the football program around our collective necks.

And you think we’ll get into a P5 conference without an FBS football program?

 

[hoopsdiva]

And you think we’ll get into a P5 conference without an FBS football program?

No, I think we'd only have a chance at P5 with a decent football program. Which we do not have now, nor for the foreseeable future.

 

[mbr33ct]

From a basketball view only, IMO joining the BE games would be more competitive. Since the origins/creation of the AAC (2013-14) the conference has steadily declined in RPI. The initial year, the AAC finished 6th in conference RPI (WarrenNolan.com). Note, first year Louisville and Rutgers were in the AAC which may be the reason for the rank. As a footnote the NBE was 7th in conference RPI.

This past season (2018-19) the AAC was 9th in conference RPI, behind West Coast (7th) and Mid-American (8th). The NBE finished 6th. This topic has been talked and regurgitated over and over since 2013

I frankly don't know what UConn's plans are, I would imagine...as others have mentioned, football is the way to the "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow.

 

[ucbart]

The courant is reporting this....

 

[diggerfoot]

We are now in a Catch-22 where a good football program would help us get into a P5 conference, but a P5 conference would help us get a good football program. I don't know which one of those factors has to give; I don't know which one can give. I don't think any fan can know that. Multiple schools, including ours, have demonstrated that other sports besides football can do well without being in a P5 conference, but to me that is not the most pertinent factor. We are now in a conference with a huge geographic footprint. It would be much better for the student athlete, and for an AD budget, to have a smaller geographic footprint. It also would create better rivalries for the fan. I am for shrinking the footprint of conference as a first priority. I would prefer a P5 like the ACC (but certainly not something like the Big Twelve), but I would be fine with the NBE as well.

 

[navery12]

Not happening...click bait

 

[EricLA]

I would have said no way, never, but the article in the Hartford Courant basically implied that the invite is imminent. It seems that possibly the nail in the coffin was the AAC deal with ESPN which gives UCONN only $7 million or so. I guess it remains to be seen what will happen with football.

Not sure what the exit fees would be in getting out of the Big East, but unless the football program becomes relevant, we will likely never get an invite to a P5.

If the Big 10 ever expands, it seems like a few teams in the AAC would be ahead of UCONN. I recall reading at least Cinci and Houston. If the ACC expands, USF and UCF both have far superior football programs, and both universities are much larger than UCONN. So I'm thinking if the P5's ever expand, they would all need to go to 16 or more to have enough room to eventually add UCONN. We aren't at the top of anyone's list.

It's a bummer all the way around The Big East would be better for hoops, but does nothing for football nor does it position us well for the next round of P5 expansion, should it happen...

 

[RockyMTblue2]

"UConn is on the verge of joining the Big East for all sports that the conference sponsors, sources confirmed Saturday morning. Though the university is awaiting and fully expecting an official invitation from the Big East, an announcement of the Huskies' move is forthcoming. "

UConn on the verge of joining the Big East, football future in the AAC unclear

Nothing implied there! Oh frah lah frah lee.

 

[UConnNick]

I would have said no way, never, but the article in the Hartford Courant basically implied that the invite is imminent. It seems that possibly the nail in the coffin was the AAC deal with ESPN which gives UCONN only $7 million or so. I guess it remains to be seen what will happen with football.

Not sure what the exit fees would be in getting out of the Big East, but unless the football program becomes relevant, we will likely never get an invite to a P5.

If the Big 10 ever expands, it seems like a few teams in the AAC would be ahead of UCONN. I recall reading at least Cinci and Houston. If the ACC expands, USF and UCF both have far superior football programs, and both universities are much larger than UCONN. So I'm thinking if the P5's ever expand, they would all need to go to 16 or more to have enough room to eventually add UCONN. We aren't at the top of anyone's list.

It's a bummer all the way around The Big East would be better for hoops, but does nothing for football nor does it position us well for the next round of P5 expansion, should it happen...

The AAC media deal at 7 million is considerably more than we'll get in the Big East. We also lose the opportunity to make millions from payday games in football, and the bowl payout from the AAC. The AAC exit fee is 10 million.

It will eventually kill the AD, including women's BB. We'll be like UMASS, or worse.

 

[EricLA]

The AAC media deal at 7 million is considerably more than we'll get in the Big East. We also lose the opportunity to make millions from payday games in football, and the bowl payout from the AAC. It will eventually kill the AD, including women's BB. We'll be like UMASS, or worse.

I hope you are wrong but we will see. Hopefully the administration at UCONN has good foresight to weigh all the options and make the best decision for the university. I'm with you in that I'd rather stay in the AAC but I don't have a vote...

 

[UConnNick]

I hope you are wrong but we will see. Hopefully the administration at UCONN has good foresight to weigh all the options and make the best decision for the university. I'm with you in that I'd rather stay in the AAC but I don't have a vote...

They haven't made the right decisions for the past several years. I have grave doubts they're going to start now. We've hired awful ADs and football coaches at a time we could ill afford to. There had already been a curiously high number of transfers out of the football program in the past several weeks. Maybe those players knew something. Expect a lot more. This move is basically surrender. They will no longer be putting the money into athletics we've been used to and it's going to start to show.

 

[Dokey]

The AAC is a nothing conference. Sorry.

 

[CTrefugee]

The right move. Go to the NBE and let football go where it may. Connecticut is a BB state and until that changes, NBE is a good move.

 

[diggerfoot]

The AAC media deal at 7 million is considerably more than we'll get in the Big East. We also lose the opportunity to make millions from payday games in football, and the bowl payout from the AAC. The AAC exit fee is 10 million.

It will eventually kill the AD, including women's BB. We'll be like UMASS, or worse.

Or, rather than doomsday from your perspective, we could end up like Villanova, which does well in a number of sports, including Mens Basketball. I get your perspective, I used to be a fan of football myself. Yet I stopped being a football fan long ago, with ever more disturbing aspects of the sport coming out. I could be at the forefront of what will be a growing trend, in which case marginalizing football would prove to be a very smart financial move by an AD. I don't expect any current football fan to agree with that, but it is a possibility.

 

[pvdoggy]

Is the BE conf really that much of an improvement to AAC in WBB? A little bit, maybe, but not a lot.

 

[Plebe]

Is the BE conf really that much of an improvement to AAC in WBB? A little bit, maybe, but not a lot.

I think it's more than a little bit:

Massey:

43 UCF	16 Marquette
65 Cincinnati	23 DePaul
96 South Florida	56 Butler
117 Houston	57 Georgetown
145 Tulane	66 Villanova
157 Temple	72 Creighton
170 Tulsa	76 St. John's
179 East Carolina	85 Providence
196 SMU	102 Seton Hall
197 Wichita St	155 Xavier
206 Memphis
Mean: 143	Mean: 71

 

[mbr33ct]

If this would to take place..and it seems like it may very well happen, with UConn in the NBE...the conference should overtake the SEC for the 5th best conference RPI...it's all good.

 

[j66kicker]

ESPN running with it now...

Sources: UConn expected to rejoin Big East

UConn is expected to leave the American Athletic Conference and return to the Big East for basketball and other sports in 2020, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

I wonder if the plan is to just drop football (sounds like that's basically going to be the end result, regardless of the plan...)

 

[Sargassoc]

I could be at the forefront of what will be a growing trend, in which case marginalizing football would prove to be a very smart financial move by an AD. I don't expect any current football fan to agree with that, but it is a possibility.

I agree with this assessment. (And in the spirit of full disclosure, I am not a football fan.) I do not think that American football will survive the CTE evidence/lawsuits/financial risk. I do know that the number of young boys playing football is dropping and some colleges (smaller ones, Div-III and II) are no longer willing to pay for the sport (some because of revenue, I suspect-- and some because of liability).

 

[mbr33ct]

ESPN running with it now...

Sources: UConn expected to rejoin Big East

UConn is expected to leave the American Athletic Conference and return to the Big East for basketball and other sports in 2020, sources told ESPN.

www.espn.com

I wonder if the plan is to just drop football (sounds like that's basically going to be the end result, regardless of the plan...)

Might as well turn over Rentschler Field over to the Pee Wee Football programs.

 

[Bigpetunia]

I believe this will happen, and I'm all for it.
I'm from, and still reside partially in, the Deep South. There, football is the State Religion.
Whether or not UConn ever joins a P5 conference, this area, where I also partially reside, is never going to have a passion for football, at least not in the same way. Yes, big time football is where the big revenues are, but that's never going to characterize the sports profile here...this is basketball country. The more competitive a basketball conference in which they play, the better it is for UConn. From the perspective of AAC teams not named UConn, UConn's move out of the conference is a thing truly to be desired. One of the programs with which I am intimately familiar, being from New Orleans, is Tulane. Lisa Stockton is a great coach and her kids play a competitive level of basketball against typical AAC teams, despite being a non-factor in terms of national recruiting at the highest level. Why on earth should such a program of those student athletes compete against the likes of UConn? Makes no sense for them or for UConn.

 

[j66kicker]

Might as well turn over Rentschler Field over to the Pee Wee Football programs.

I thought that's what Pratt & Whitney did....?