Welcome Back, UConn Fans!

[GoldenWarrior11]

First of all, so happy to be here. Thank you to the Big East for inviting us back. Initially some of our football fans were reluctant, but most of them now see that we had to save basketball, and there may be a way to go independent and have success. Our basketball fans know this is a slam dunk.

I posted on the Boneyard that I have a source who says now that UConn is officially in the Big East for 2020-2021, and that the league will now have 20 conference games per team, that Fox will be sitting down with the conference to talk about adding more money to the TV deal. Have others heard this as well?

UConn will be a bubble team this year as Hurley transitions his recruits into the program. Word is that UConn may add a reclassify recruit in the next couple of weeks for this season, and are in good shape for a good 2020 class, especially since the Big East news has come up.

It is laughable how American fans think the leagues are on par with each other. There is no comparison.

The number thrown on Twitter when the announcement was made was that the new annual payout would be $6 million. For any conference to get an increase in pay, it needs to have the proven on-field/on-court success and it needs to be able to provide more premium content than before. Well, for the Big East and UConn, there is absolutely the success and brand for a true power basketball conference. They have won three of the past six national championships, have accumulated 34 tournament bids in six years, had 10/11 programs make the NCAA Tournament and averaged 10k per home game and 18k per game at MSG. In terms of providing additional new content, the league will now have an additional twenty conference games it can sell to Fox (as well as OOC games), as well as an extra BE Tournament game at MSG and additional matchups against both the Big Ten and Big 12. Most importantly, the Big East adds an elite men's basketball program that is capable of routinely and consistently competing for deep tournament runs and national championships, which is located in the NE and has an immensely strong presence in New York City.

IMO, I will guess that a new, amended, contract is announced on 7/1/20, to coincide the official addition of UConn to the Big East, as well as an extension/increase to the annual Gavitt Games.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Hello HuskyU. Nice to be here isn't it? Our American colleagues are not a huge fan of us right now lol.

December, 2012 - No one will care about or ever watch the C7 and the Little Sisters of the Poor Conference. They haven't done anything since the 80's.

March, 2013 - The Big East is a dead brand and will cease to be relevant without football. Football drives the bus. No recruit wants to go to a school without football. They won't be able to recruit at a high level.

April, 2014 - The AAC is a power conference, thanks to UConn winning the national championship and its national brand. They are an elite program will carry the league into the future. The AAC will be a much better conference than the Big East ever was.

March, 2015 - The AAC had under-performing year (2 bids) and the Big East (6 bids) got lucky. Clearly, this is an outlier.

March, 2016 - The AAC Conference Tournament is getting a bad rap. Orlando is a great venue for the conference. It's only getting a bad rap because the opening games featured ECU/USF and UCF/Tulane. The announced attendance was over 8k. Next year will be better.

April, 2016 - The Big East got lucky with Villanova's national championship victory. The Big East will never win another national championship.

March, 2017 - The Big East got 7 bids, but the seeds were all bad. The AAC bids (just two) are at least higher seeds.' They had the advantage.

March, 2017 - April, 2019 - UConn is no longer an elite program. They are a drain on the AAC. Their days are behind them.

April, 2017 - June, 2019 - UConn would never consider a return to the Big East. It is a football school. AAC Basketball can be as good as the Big East. The AAC is just unlucky. The AAC has more long-term potential.

April, 2018 - NBE is so lucky. They could have easily had another down year. They will never win a third basketball championship. Houston should have made a deep run if not for an odd ending.

March, 2019 - AAC gets a $1 billion TV deal. The 12-year commitment is a sign of faith from ESPN. Every will pay money for a streaming service to watch our product. UConn shouldn't get special privileges for its Tier 3 rights. They are no longer elite.

June, 2019 - No way does UConn return to NBE. The AAC TV deal is worth over a billion. It's on ESPN. It's a power conference. NBE gets awful ratings. They likely will be taking a paycut in their next deal.

July, 2019 - The AAC is better of without UConn. Football will be better. If the league invites VCU for basketball, it won't miss a beat. NBE fans are unbearable because they always put down the AAC.



For anyone that thinks there remains a debate between the strength, potential and value differentials between the Big East Conference and the American Athletic Conference,

[BFieldHusky]

Great post GoldenWarrior11. LOL.

I have found Memphis fans to be the worst. They keep going on and on about how we did nothing for the conference, and us finishing 6th, 9th, and 9th the last 3 years means we have no chance of being relevant going forward. I mean we did win a national championship in this league.

Ollie was two of those years, and this year injuries really derailed any chance of us having a good season. Hurley is bringing in a top 20 class, has a stud transfer sitting out, and now that we are in the Big East, I expect him to kill it in recruiting.

Meanwhile Memphis has missed the tournament the last 5 seasons, and hasn't won a tournament game since joining the American. I know Penny has them loaded this year...but the lack of intelligence from that fan base. Then again they basically are a commuter school.

[TheBasketballOpinion]

Stever and the rest of the AAAAC fans consistently argue that the bottom of the league is going to improve and that we haven't seen the true potential of the conference. At the same time they fail to realize that the biggest brand in the Big East, Georgetown, hasn't contributed anything since realignment.

It wasn't that long ago that the Hoyas were a consistent top 10 team and with Ewing steering the ship they are poised to be back where they belong.

[Husky_U]

Stever and the rest of the AAAAC fans consistently argue that the bottom of the league is going to improve and that we haven't seen the true potential of the conference. At the same time they fail to realize that the biggest brand in the Big East, Georgetown, hasn't contributed anything since realignment.

It wasn't that long ago that the Hoyas were a consistent top 10 team and with Ewing steering the ship they are poised to be back where they belong.

Akinjo is a baller. Was hoping Hurley could reel him back in. Wahab gonna be great too.

[BFieldHusky]

Stever and the rest of the AAAAC fans consistently argue that the bottom of the league is going to improve and that we haven't seen the true potential of the conference. At the same time they fail to realize that the biggest brand in the Big East, Georgetown, hasn't contributed anything since realignment.

It wasn't that long ago that the Hoyas were a consistent top 10 team and with Ewing steering the ship they are poised to be back where they belong.

Great point on Georgetown. They look to be solid going forward.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Great post GoldenWarrior11. LOL.

I have found Memphis fans to be the worst. They keep going on and on about how we did nothing for the conference, and us finishing 6th, 9th, and 9th the last 3 years means we have no chance of being relevant going forward. I mean we did win a national championship in this league.

Ollie was two of those years, and this year injuries really derailed any chance of us having a good season. Hurley is bringing in a top 20 class, has a stud transfer sitting out, and now that we are in the Big East, I expect him to kill it in recruiting.

Meanwhile Memphis has missed the tournament the last 5 seasons, and hasn't won a tournament game since joining the American. I know Penny has them loaded this year...but the lack of intelligence from that fan base. Then again they basically are a commuter school.

Memphis has more vacated seasons (six - 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 2008) than UConn does national championships (four - 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014). Let that sink in.

[scoscox]

Stever and the rest of the AAAAC fans consistently argue that the bottom of the league is going to improve and that we haven't seen the true potential of the conference. At the same time they fail to realize that the biggest brand in the Big East, Georgetown, hasn't contributed anything since realignment.

It wasn't that long ago that the Hoyas were a consistent top 10 team and with Ewing steering the ship they are poised to be back where they belong.

Not only has Georgetown been terrible, but Marquette has been pretty mediocre as well. Much more growth potential at the bottom of our league. Depaul, the worst team in the conference just had a top 30 recruiting class. That should tell you all you need to know about the differences in leagues

[GoldenWarrior11]

Stever and the rest of the AAAAC fans consistently argue that the bottom of the league is going to improve and that we haven't seen the true potential of the conference. At the same time they fail to realize that the biggest brand in the Big East, Georgetown, hasn't contributed anything since realignment.

It wasn't that long ago that the Hoyas were a consistent top 10 team and with Ewing steering the ship they are poised to be back where they belong.

B1G Basketball continually waits for Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State and Rutgers to improve; PAC Basketball is still waiting on Washington State and Oregon State; Big 12 Football still waits on Kansas. We have waited on DePaul.

The reality is that history and performance is a strong indicator of future potential and likelihood for success. If a program has been non-competitive for decades, it is likely to continue to do so for future years as well (with exception to a number of isolated and abnormal seasons). Programs like ECU, SMU, Tulane, UCF and USF all have little-to-no postseason success because they all have so few postseason appearances. Since 1970 - 50 years ago - those five programs have a combined 19 NCAA Tournament appearances. Fans can talk about potential all they want, but history says otherwise. The same declarations about certain programs being said today were given as reasons for hope and optimism when these programs were added in 2012.

The difference with a conference like the Big East is that all of its membership is firmly committed to men's basketball. Each program has had sustained and continued success through multiple coaches, so - in the inevitability a program is rebuilding (like a Georgetown, like a St. John's, like a Marquette, like a Xavier, etc.), it has other members that are already pulling its weight based on its past success and glory. While DePaul has finished in last in a majority of its seasons in the Big East, DePaul has a brand new arena, is located in a prime recruiting area and has an immensely strong basketball history to lean on. For them to have a season like they had last year was great for the conference to have advancing its metrics.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Stever and the rest of the AAAAC fans consistently argue that the bottom of the league is going to improve and that we haven't seen the true potential of the conference. At the same time they fail to realize that the biggest brand in the Big East, Georgetown, hasn't contributed anything since realignment.

It wasn't that long ago that the Hoyas were a consistent top 10 team and with Ewing steering the ship they are poised to be back where they belong.

Not only has Georgetown been terrible, but Marquette has been pretty mediocre as well. Much more growth potential at the bottom of our league. Depaul, the worst team in the conference just had a top 30 recruiting class. That should tell you all you need to know about the differences in leagues

Agreed, unfortunately. Hoping we can surprise some people this year.