UConn escape plan - The Big East

[TheBall]

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-foo ... tml#page=1

This guy has always been one of the most staunch anti-uconn to big east scribes out there. But even he is changing his mind.

Like I keep saying, uconn is not in conference of americans for the long haul. Five years the divorce money is all paid out and they are free to leave. I think they eventually end up in the acc, but after the acc the big east is as good a bet as any other conference.

Most uconn fans I know want back in the big east. They can't stand their current set up.





From the article:

More than a few emails have come my way in the past two years advocating that UConn either go independent or drop football so the school can get back to Big East basketball. My response has always been the same: Pshaw!

I saw the talk as either overly basketball-centric or destructive to a necessary blueprint to fuel the athletic program. Now I see it as healthy discourse, something to be debated over months and years, not weeks and days, but something no longer to be dismissed in toto. If we are going to push the UConn hierarchy to do everything in its power to attract the Big Ten, ACC or even Big 12, we also should be promoting the idea for an escape plan if it never happens.



And here is the Boston globe article about umass needing to dump football that he mentions (although I don't think we take umass even if they dump football.)

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/edit ... story.html

[TheBasketballOpinion]

UConn won't give up on Football to join the BE. It's just not going to happen...it's their ticket to a P5 conference. Hoyas already have a home and home deal with them and that's good enough for me.

UMASS has had one relevant year in what seems like forever. No chance they join.

[BEhomer]

if uconn wants to join now then i would say yes. 2-3 more years in that conference they may not even look so attractive.

give football alliance more time, i bet there will be more dominoes to fall. when there's that much money to be made (billions in playoff payouts), there are sure to be more corruption and divide. throw in the stipends payout now in place and we will see some teams giving up football in the near future.

[TheBall]

Uconn is not going to join now. They are still holding out hope for a football five invite. And I think they will get one.

But I can't see them in conference if Americans by 2020. And the big east is as good as bet as any conference not named the acc.

[Xudash]

UConn won't give up on Football to join the BE. It's just not going to happen...it's their ticket to a P5 conference. Hoyas already have a home and home deal with them and that's good enough for me.

UMASS has had one relevant year in what seems like forever. No chance they join.

I love definitive statements about the future:

1. "This ship is unsinkable" (Titanic).

2. "Peace in our day" (Neville Chamberlain's Munich Peace Accord with Hitler's signature on it).

3. "Just some drinks and music" (Describing a Sinatra Rat Pack party to a young woman in Vegas).


There is no "ticket" or semblance of a clear path to the P5 for UCONN.

[Piratefan]

What F5 conference needs uconn? None. B12 may hold its nose and take uconn but that is rather unlikely. Today the BE would take uconn in a heartbeat but with each ensuing year that likely becomes less true. Uconn risks that its basketball brand becomes tarnished and that the BE thrives with 10 teams. If it is not careful, it could wind up stuck in the aac. Why would the B10 or ACC want them? If they wanted them, they would have taken uconn by now. Uconn has bad football facilities (relative), no football tradition, it is a small tv market, Conn has no football talent, and the NE is not a football college region-- other than that….. Why would the B10 or the acc want uconn? Don't say basketball as it is an irrelevancy to football conferences. What is the bull case for uconn to the B10 or acc? I have nothing against uconn and would be thrilled if they rejoined the BE but I can't espouse a credible argument on its behalf to those football conferences.

[TheBasketballOpinion]

UConn won't give up on Football to join the BE. It's just not going to happen...it's their ticket to a P5 conference. Hoyas already have a home and home deal with them and that's good enough for me.

UMASS has had one relevant year in what seems like forever. No chance they join.

I love definitive statements about the future:

1. "This ship is unsinkable" (Titanic).

2. "Peace in our day" (Neville Chamberlain's Munich Peace Accord with Hitler's signature on it).

3. "Just some drinks and music" (Describing a Sinatra Rat Pack party to a young woman in Vegas).


There is no "ticket" or semblance of a clear path to the P5 for UCONN.

The ONLY ticket that program has to join a P5 conference is Football. There is no argument against that. They need to produce a relevant FB team because that's whats holding them back currently. This flawed logic of parking football in the MAC while the Olympic sports are in the BE does nothing to help their potential value. Personally I would take them back in a second but I understand that will never happen in this current landscape.

[Xudash]

UConn won't give up on Football to join the BE. It's just not going to happen...it's their ticket to a P5 conference. Hoyas already have a home and home deal with them and that's good enough for me.

UMASS has had one relevant year in what seems like forever. No chance they join.

I love definitive statements about the future:

1. "This ship is unsinkable" (Titanic).

2. "Peace in our day" (Neville Chamberlain's Munich Peace Accord with Hitler's signature on it).

3. "Just some drinks and music" (Describing a Sinatra Rat Pack party to a young woman in Vegas).


There is no "ticket" or semblance of a clear path to the P5 for UCONN.

The ONLY ticket that program has to join a P5 conference is Football. There is no argument against that. They need to produce a relevant FB team because that's whats holding them back currently. This flawed logic of parking football in the MAC while the Olympic sports are in the BE does nothing to help their potential value. Personally I would take them back in a second but I understand that will never happen in this current landscape.

Agreed; no argument about football being the only ticket. But that's not the real narrative, IMHO.

The odds of them producing a relevant program are very low. And their financial position continues to erode with each passing year as the BE exit money dries up. Perhaps they have to try to do what they can do for P5 positioning given the investments already made, but it's good money after bad in my opinion.

[TheBall]

Let us all be thankful that we are not in the conference of americans. Could not imagine a worst place to be right now. Atlantic 10 is a better home for basketball.

[TheBall]

Xudash,

At this point, it is not good money after bad. They have so much invested in going for the goal, it is money already spent. And they have the divorce settlement to get them through the next few years.

But come 2018, if they are still burning on football, it is spending good money after bad.

My position on uconn: leave a light on, if they want to return, discuss the options. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but no hard feelings and we can discuss the options.