UConn To Rejoin Big East?

[Billy Dat]

I am no lover of UConn, but they belong in the Big East and Danny Hurley's going to have that program back on its feet in short order. This is a good move for college basketball, now all they have to do is take back BC, Syracuse and Pitt.

[subzero02]

I am no lover of UConn, but they belong in the Big East and Danny Hurley's going to have that program back on its feet in short order. This is a good move for college basketball, now all they have to do is take back BC, Syracuse and Pitt.

They can take back BC and Pitt; I like Cuse. It'll be interesting to see if UCONN is able to challenge Villanova for the top spot in the Big East within the next few years.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

I am no lover of UConn, but they belong in the Big East and Danny Hurley's going to have that program back on its feet in short order. This is a good move for college basketball, now all they have to do is take back BC, Syracuse and Pitt.

Are you saying you are in favor of the Big East taking BC, Cuse and Pitt back?

[OldPhiKap]

I am no lover of UConn, but they belong in the Big East and Danny Hurley's going to have that program back on its feet in short order. This is a good move for college basketball, now all they have to do is take back BC, Syracuse and Pitt.

Don’t forget VTech.

[AtlDuke72]

Don’t forget VTech.

Any chance it would take Miami too?

[OldPhiKap]

Any chance it would take Miami too?

Throw in Louisville too, and you have a deal.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Throw in Louisville too, and you have a deal.

Can we toss in UNC for good measure? Like, as a "thank you?"

[DarkstarWahoo]

Don’t forget VTech.

Your lips, God's ears, etc.

[Billy Dat]

Are you saying you are in favor of the Big East taking BC, Cuse and Pitt back?

I haven't analyzed it from a financial, football or any strategic perspective. I am saying that I grew up in Big East country and those schools are Big East schools to me. While I have enjoyed the Duke v Syracuse games, they mean more to Syracuse then they do to us. It won't happen, but I wouldn't mind it.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

I haven't analyzed it from a financial, football or any strategic perspective. I am saying that I grew up in Big East country and those schools are Big East schools to me. While I have enjoyed the Duke v Syracuse games, they mean more to Syracuse then they do to us. It won't happen, but I wouldn't mind it.

I agree with everything you say above, only adding that when you analyze it from a football/financia/strategic standpoint, this was necessary to keep the ACC top tier. The Big Ten, the SEC, the Big 12 and the PAC 12 were going to stay top tier...the fifth member was going to be whoever won the bidding war between the Big East and the ACC.

I don't love it, but this is the price of admission to the P5. And if we weren't P5, FSU, Clemson and VaT would've bolted. The ACC woulda been irrelevant except for the Duke Carolina hoops rivalry - but it's not a slam dunk those two programs wouldv'e stayed where they've stayed in a weak conference.

[luvdahops]

I agree with everything you say above, only adding that when you analyze it from a football/financia/strategic standpoint, this was necessary to keep the ACC top tier. The Big Ten, the SEC, the Big 12 and the PAC 12 were going to stay top tier...the fifth member was going to be whoever won the bidding war between the Big East and the ACC.

I don't love it, but this is the price of admission to the P5. And if we weren't P5, FSU, Clemson and VaT would've bolted. The ACC woulda been irrelevant except for the Duke Carolina hoops rivalry - but it's not a slam dunk those two programs wouldv'e stayed where they've stayed in a weak conference.

A few years ago there was a blog piece on, I believe, the Sporting News website (when that was still a thing) on a theoretical reversing of recent expansion, and realigning into conferences with no more than 10 teams to allow a full round robin in football and home and home schedule in hoops. I don't have it saved anywhere, so am doing this from memory, but the proposed Big East in that exercise was as follows:

BC
Syracuse
UConn
Rutgers
Pitt
Penn State
West Virginia
Virginia Tech
Miami
Notre Dame*

I recall the ACC being the 9 team league from the 90s plus South Carolina (along with Arkansas, Missouri and Texas A&M, a casualty of the SEC shrinking back to 10).

None of this will ever happen, of course, but it was interesting food for thought.

[DarkstarWahoo]

I love getting crazy into the weeds on this stuff, so here's some scattered thoughts:

- The academies are a non-starter for the American. The Mountain West is not going to let Air Force bail for football and remain in the conference for other sports. And Air Force is not going to leave the Mountain West and its decades-old regional rivals to fly 2,500 miles to play at East Carolina. Army's football resurgence has been tied to improved coaching and a softer schedule, which is possible because of its independent status. Its time in CUSA was a disaster. No need to change anything.
- My favorite AAC candidate...UAB. Respected academic university, long history with the old CUSA schools, solid facilities, attendance near top of conference, in a football-crazy area, in the footprint. Old Dominion and Charlotte also make sense - Charlotte would probably already be a member if they'd started football when USF did.
- Anyone know how much UConn owes on that money pit of a stadium? Their decision to chase Lord God Football has to be one of the worst in recent memory.
- Really looking forward to those 110-40 scorelines when the UConn women play the Xaviers and Seton Halls of the world.

[ChillinDuke]

I love getting crazy into the weeds on this stuff, so here's some scattered thoughts:

- The academies are a non-starter for the American. The Mountain West is not going to let Air Force bail for football and remain in the conference for other sports. And Air Force is not going to leave the Mountain West and its decades-old regional rivals to fly 2,500 miles to play at East Carolina. Army's football resurgence has been tied to improved coaching and a softer schedule, which is possible because of its independent status. Its time in CUSA was a disaster. No need to change anything.
- My favorite AAC candidate...UAB. Respected academic university, long history with the old CUSA schools, solid facilities, attendance near top of conference, in a football-crazy area, in the footprint. Old Dominion and Charlotte also make sense - Charlotte would probably already be a member if they'd started football when USF did.
- Anyone know how much UConn owes on that money pit of a stadium? Their decision to chase Lord God Football has to be one of the worst in recent memory.
- Really looking forward to those 110-40 scorelines when the UConn women play the Xaviers and Seton Halls of the world.

Yeah, I always find this stuff interesting. And your scattered thoughts are interesting as well.

The smartest thing Duke ever did in this whole Realignment Era is invest (heavily) in football. How quickly people forget that if the ACC crumbled back in ~2010 or whatever it was (a distinct possibility before we did the Grant of Rights and added Pitt and Syracuse and later added Notre Dame with a 4-game annual ACC schedule which effectively sealed our conference from poachers) Duke would have almost undoubtedly been on the outside looking in. There would not have been a chair for Duke when the Realignment music stopped. We were that bad in football, and football was (is) everything.

But no more! I think it's safe to say that Duke has easily distanced itself from the bottom feeders (in many leagues) and would be accepted someplace, somewhere in the Doomsday realignment scenario - although that risk is lessened at this point.

- Chillin

[Billy Dat]

Where is DBR's resident UConn fan, uh_no, when we need him, to weigh in on this topic?

[budwom]

Scathing article in USA TOday, i believe it was, saying UCONN has "thrown in the towel" on football...not sure if they see it that way, but they are in something of a fix...

[English]

Scathing article in USA TOday, i believe it was, saying UCONN has "thrown in the towel" on football...not sure if they see it that way, but they are in something of a fix...

Someone better tell UConn that because there are conflicting reports...like, directly from UConn (via Twitter), and from Andy Katz. Katz reports:

"The @UConnHuskies are not giving up on @UConnFootball (see below). Plan will be to go independent in ‘20-21 once rest of sports move to @BIGEAST. The hope is football can schedule regionally well, keep existing P5 H/H and a few one-way guarantees with goal being bowl eligible."

Now, whether they win enough of their games to actually become bowl eligible is another thing entirely.

[AustinDevil]

Someone better tell UConn that because there are conflicting reports...like, directly from UConn (via Twitter), and from Andy Katz. Katz reports:

"The @UConnHuskies are not giving up on @UConnFootball (see below). Plan will be to go independent in ‘20-21 once rest of sports move to @BIGEAST. The hope is football can schedule regionally well, keep existing P5 H/H and a few one-way guarantees with goal being bowl eligible."

Now, whether they win enough of their games to actually become bowl eligible is another thing entirely.

Translation: There's no realistic plan for football whatsoever, and they are just desperate to get some of their traditional basketball rivalries back. Meanwhile, the American has a new deal with ESPN that's about to start paying a lot more per school. (Not P5 money, but many times over what any other G5 league gets.) I love that UConn will miss out on that.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Translation: There's no realistic plan for football whatsoever, and they are just desperate to get some of their traditional basketball rivalries back. Meanwhile, the American has a new deal with ESPN that's about to start paying a lot more per school. (Not P5 money, but many times over what any other G5 league gets.) I love that UConn will miss out on that.

But with them rejoining the Big East for hoops - ESPN will give them millions in free adoring coverage every year.

[uh_no]

Where is DBR's resident UConn fan, uh_no, when we need him, to weigh in on this topic?

what do you want to know? the AAC had early success with UL's vacated title, and uconn's title with calhoun's last class. Kevin Ollie failed miserably as a coach.

Uconn had to make a bet, so far that didn't work. Villanova has won two titles since, and the league largely has gotten more respect than the AAC.

The risk here is that villanova doesn't maintain the success they've had over the past several years, and the league falls off.


UConn as a school lives and dies on M/W basketball...they don't have much else other than other than an olympic sport success here and there...it put them on the national radar. With the state (largely) in shambles, it was nice to have SOMETHING positive to attract students to the university. The women's program has continued to thrive with their OOC scheduling, but that's far harder on the men's side.

So i'm not sure what the take is, but people will be far more intersted in their playing nova, GT, and SJU than whoever the hell was in the AAC. There will ALWAYS be a soft spot for the 'old' big east (watch the 30/30 to get even a sliver of understanding about what it meant in the northeast) but it ain't comin' back...and the current BE is the closest thing. football is dead at uconn and the northeast in general. I don't resent that, it's just a fact...and personally, I think football will lose some of its dominance as the premier sport in this country...but that's all speculation.

Anyway, I'm happy to see them in the BE. I'll always miss the "old days," but times change. There's a lot I don't like about college sports anymore, and to some degree, duke and uconn both highlight parts of it.

[pfrduke]

But with them rejoining the Big East for hoops - ESPN will give them millions in free adoring coverage every year.

Big East has a broadcast contract with Fox now. Very few Big East games on the worldwide leader.