(12-06-2017 04:24 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  All of the Big East schools would love to play games on-the-court against UConn in a vacuum, but that instability that would be invited back in is what could (and I think would) hold the Big East back from inviting UConn even if UConn was willing to make the move (and I don't think they're willing, anyway).

I think a UConn situation would be very different. The unstable situation was "half the league", and frankly in a then-modern (20 year) context the better half--Syracuse, UConn, Louisville, plus Pitt Notre Dame West Virginia Cincinnati. Adding UConn to the current Big East doesn't create the same instability--it creates one unstable outlier.

The hybrid Big East was unstable on a tectonic scale--there was a fault line running through the heart of the conference, that could trigger a massive rupture at any time. Bringing in UConn adds a major ornament to the Big East, but UConn leaving doesn't put us in the same dire situation that the 2011-13 realignment did (and the 2003-05 manuevering that led to the hybrid.)

UConn as #11 would be an unstable situation, but I think could be looked at like a college steady girlfriend--it's not forever, but it's fun while it lasts. This is a change from even five years ago--the risk of losing UConn is one we can much more easily afford now that the FBS-less Big East is an established entity.