(01-06-2020 03:38 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(01-06-2020 02:22 PM)panite Wrote:  

(12-28-2019 06:04 AM)RutgersGuy Wrote:  

(12-27-2019 07:34 AM)panite Wrote:  

(12-22-2019 09:36 AM)esayem Wrote:  Um, I support UConn’s move and always have. I’m saying there is still a lot of butthurt AAC fans out there.

...and no, that will not happen.

Wouldn't be discussing this butthurt if UConn had originally left with the C7 teams. If they had the AAC would have kept their FB no questions asked as a FB only to match the incoming Navy FB only entrance into the league. It would have given the AAC the 12 teams they needed for the Championship Game the conference wanted in place to match the other P5 and G5 conferences.

I don't think the C7 would have gone for that though. I think they were done with the will they/wont they leave drama of FB schools. Now they know UConn isn't leaving for a P5 conference so UConn today is a much safer bet for the Big East than when the initial split occurred.

I'd keep an eye on how many ACC teams UConn eventually schedules for football once they get a few years out in their future schedules before cancelling UConn's behind the scene aspirations.

There's no question that UConn would leave for the ACC, Big Ten or any other P5 conference in a heartbeat. The Big East knows that for sure.

However, I do think what has changed is UConn's place in the perceived conference realignment pecking order. When conference realignment movement was at its peak in the early-2010s, there was a perception that UConn was "next in line" for a P5 spot. That seemed to change drastically over the past few years, partially because the Big 12 seemed to be the only P5 league even considering further expansion and UConn wouldn't be the same type of fit as it would theoretically be in the ACC or Big Ten.

As a result, the Big East knows that UConn is always going to be a flight risk on paper, but it's not the same *immediate* flight risk that it was when the Catholic 7 originally spit off to form the new Big East. At the same time, the Big East has established enough credibility and stability both on-the-court and branding-wise that it can take on that risk and be perfectly fine even if UConn ultimately leaves (as the Big East is perfectly fine in its current 10-team state without UConn). No one is going to "blame" the Big East as being unstable if UConn ends up getting a P5 invite going forward - everyone knows that could happen and are at peace with it as of now. That's a whole lot different than 7 years ago when the new league was formed and there was still an air of total instability around all of the remnants of the old Big East conference. No one was trusting each other at that time... and for good reason.

Very well put, Frank. I have posted in the past that there is a fundamental difference between, in general, a "power basketball conference" (which the Big East clearly is) and, more specifically, the P5 (of which, as we know, there are only five all-sports leagues and the BE is not one).

So — and much of this is perception — the Big East is a "different type of power" than the leagues in the P5. This is not a slap at the BE. There are only six "power hoops leagues" and the BE is one of those. But, as noted, it's not a conventional "power conference." I have cheered for DePaul (often with a cold Old Style beer in hand when I lived in Chicago) since late 1987, and I also have a soft spot for Georgetown (due to a dramatic family member illness from the past few years and how I made a personal connection with GU afterward). So I strongly admire the Big East and follow it. I want the BE to do well.

But the fact that UConn would immediately leave the BE for either the Big Ten or the ACC (and understandably so) is important to note.