Come on. UConn didn't leave the Big East. The
by Fighting_Artichoke (2019-01-19 09:27:27)

In reply to: So UConn proves it doesn't belong in a power conference!  posted by Domerduck

Post Reply Return to McGraw's Bench

Catholic schools left to create a non-football conference after the ACC poached the Big teams with good (or historically good) football teams. That left UConn and a few other schools as the last teams in the conference. UConn would have gladly joined the ACC at that point (and still probably would if they received an invite). UConn and the remaining Big East teams did the best they could under the circumstances. They sold the Catholic schools the Big East name and then formed a new conference with the remaining BE football teams and some teams lured from Conference USA.

And now they sit in purgatory. Their football team is probably the worst in the American, making them an undesirable target for P5 conferences. They need to be P5 so they can finance their other sports programs. In men's basketball, they are in a tough conference (which is good for them). In football, it's not that bad. But in WBB, the conference is bad. If UConn wasn't in the conference, no one would even talk about the American Conference in WBB circles. It would just be an upper (not top) mid-major conference.

True but UConn was less than 10 years in D1 FB & the BigEast
by Domerduck  (2019-01-19 12:22:26)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

would have loved to have kept UConn if they would have focused on basketball (men's and women's) as well as the other sports they are great at (soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, etc.). They were one of the original members of the Big East who started with Catholic and non-Catholic schools (UConn, Cuse, Pitt). Currently they have Butler so you don't still need to be Catholic.

It's not like going back to the Big East doesn't make sense for UConn now. The attached article was written a day ago and a day after my post. (Maybe SBNation writers follow the Bench). They would have saved a lot of money if they had made that decision back then, although that certainly is hindsight. I do think they should consider it now and I am sure the Big East would take them.