(04-10-2021 10:56 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  

(04-08-2021 02:37 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We have to remember how we got here.

We got here because, when faced with the option of adding Louisville or UConn, the ACC chose Louisville. The Cardinals and Huskies both had good pedigrees in basketball. UConn had better academics and fit closer to the ACC profile. Ultimately the Cardinals got picked because of football. Louisville and WVU were the two standard bearers of the 2005-2012 Big East football. Had UConn had better gate attendance and won more during that era we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

UConn’s basketball success and branding were always tied to their association with the other great northeastern basketball schools. With all those old familiar faces now in the ACC or New Big East, their performance and recruiting were suffering and their fans were in revolt.

Football was already suffering from what some might call neglect, or others might call abuse. Wounds were self inflicted with bad coaching hires. In a way, UConn’s how FBS experiment had been a disappointment for the fan base, and again the problem was the company they kept—they moved up expecting to play against the original line up sans Temple, before they could get there Miami, VT, and BC were plucked and by the time the ACC was deciding between UConn and Louisville, so were Pitt, Cuse, WVU, and Rutgers. Poor performance and the lack of attractive regional opponents was hurting UConn.

UConn couldn’t fix their association problem in football but they could in basketball, so that’s what they did. They sacrificed the long term success of one program to give the other program a fighting chance at success.

There’s also the terrible tv contract to consider.

Ultimately, UConn had to make a tough decision and I think they made the right one.

They probably aren’t ever going to get into the ACC and they know this and even if it did, it would be a weaker one than the one we had today.

Say what???

UC was the outright champ in '08 and '09 and co champs in '11 and '12.

They picked Louisville because BC hated UConn and Jurich hustled to get Louisville in while Greg Williams sat there with his thumb up his @$$ trying to keep the BE together.

Williams did have his thumb up his a$$ and UC was definitely the better football program over that span without question, but Louisville was still solid and they had the number 1 revenue generating bball program.

Add in the corps and Papa John guy behind them and Louisville was the clearly going to be the choice over UC.

Jurich was a boss.

(04-10-2021 10:56 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  

(04-08-2021 02:37 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We have to remember how we got here.

We got here because, when faced with the option of adding Louisville or UConn, the ACC chose Louisville. The Cardinals and Huskies both had good pedigrees in basketball. UConn had better academics and fit closer to the ACC profile. Ultimately the Cardinals got picked because of football. Louisville and WVU were the two standard bearers of the 2005-2012 Big East football. Had UConn had better gate attendance and won more during that era we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

UConn’s basketball success and branding were always tied to their association with the other great northeastern basketball schools. With all those old familiar faces now in the ACC or New Big East, their performance and recruiting were suffering and their fans were in revolt.

Football was already suffering from what some might call neglect, or others might call abuse. Wounds were self inflicted with bad coaching hires. In a way, UConn’s how FBS experiment had been a disappointment for the fan base, and again the problem was the company they kept—they moved up expecting to play against the original line up sans Temple, before they could get there Miami, VT, and BC were plucked and by the time the ACC was deciding between UConn and Louisville, so were Pitt, Cuse, WVU, and Rutgers. Poor performance and the lack of attractive regional opponents was hurting UConn.

UConn couldn’t fix their association problem in football but they could in basketball, so that’s what they did. They sacrificed the long term success of one program to give the other program a fighting chance at success.

There’s also the terrible tv contract to consider.

Ultimately, UConn had to make a tough decision and I think they made the right one.

They probably aren’t ever going to get into the ACC and they know this and even if it did, it would be a weaker one than the one we had today.

Say what???

UC was the outright champ in '08 and '09 and co champs in '11 and '12.

They picked Louisville because BC hated UConn and Jurich hustled to get Louisville in while Greg Williams sat there with his thumb up his @$$ trying to keep the BE together.

People that haven't around really need to understand some history.

Even when ACC expanded a long long time ago with Syracuse and Pitt, it was actually Syracuse and UCONN they wanted. They took Pitt because BCU AD at the time sits on the expansion committee, and actively blocked UCONN from the ACC. BCU AD confirmed all of this and was on record bragging about this. They took Pitt instead.

Second time around, it was down to UCONN and UL. UCONN fits the ACC profile way better than UL (academics, state school etc.) even today. Carolina schools wanted UCONN (academic schools: UNC, NCST, Duke, Wake, and Virgina) while southern schools (FSU, Clemson) etc thought ACC was controlled too much by Carolina schools did not want them gaining another ally. Also, southern schools didn't want to come up North (they already got BCU and Cuse) to play another football game.

It just happened UCONN football was not doing great at that time while UL was on the rise. Another major factor was B12 at the time was looking to add UL/WVU or UL and WVU, and the ACC didn't want B12 to expand further East encoaching their markets. They also thought UCONN was less appealing to the B12, and UCONN will be there for them to take in the future if they need to expand again. So, the ACC took UL instead of UCONN. It was hardly unanimous, but UL won in the end due to all those factors.

For UCONN to get into the ACC, ND will probably need to join full-time. UCONN also fits the B1G profile pretty well now that the conference added Maryland and RU. At this point, most UCONN fans don't even care about this anymore.

UCONN was waiting on the new AAC deal. Once it was announced, UCONN was not happy with the overall setup. AAC essentially threw UCONN women under the bus by putting its games on ESPN+, and UCONN women were one of the biggest media assets for the AAC. UCONN decided on its own destiny for its fans by joining the BE and be indy in football. For basketball, it is good for UCONN to play old BE rivals again.

Both basketball programs are definitely on the rise. I fully expect UCONN men basketball to make a run in the NCAA soon. For UCONN women, it is very possible it can win multiple championships in the next few years. UCONN indy football schedule is also much more appealing to most UCONN fans. Of course, UCONN needs to win on the football field to matter. No one knows if Edsall is the right coach at this point, but he will get a few more years to prove himself. The most important thing is UCONN has far more control over its media content on SNY (defacto UCONN channel) that covers the tri-state area reaching around 15M homes.

(04-10-2021 12:14 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  People that haven't around really need to understand some history.

Even when ACC expanded a long long time ago with Syracuse and Pitt, it was actually Syracuse and UCONN they wanted. They took Pitt because BCU AD at the time sits on the expansion committee, and actively blocked UCONN from the ACC. BCU AD confirmed all of this and was on record bragging about this. They took Pitt instead.

Second time around, it was down to UCONN and UL. UCONN fits the ACC profile way better than UL (academics, state school etc.) even today. Carolina schools wanted UCONN (academic schools: UNC, NCST, Duke, Wake, and Virgina) while southern schools (FSU, Clemson) etc thought ACC was controlled too much by Carolina schools did not want them gaining another ally. Also, southern schools didn't want to come up North (they already got BCU and Cuse) to play another football game.

It just happened UCONN football was not doing great at that time while UL was on the rise. Another major factor was B12 at the time was looking to add UL/WVU or UL and WVU, and the ACC didn't want B12 to expand further East encoaching their markets. They also thought UCONN was less appealing to the B12, and UCONN will be there for them to take in the future if they need to expand again. So, the ACC took UL instead of UCONN. It was hardly unanimous, but UL won in the end due to all those factors.

For UCONN to get into the ACC, ND will probably need to join full-time. UCONN also fits the B1G profile pretty well now that the conference added Maryland and RU. At this point, most UCONN fans don't even care about this anymore.

UCONN was waiting on the new AAC deal. Once it was announced, UCONN was not happy with the overall setup. AAC essentially threw UCONN women under the bus by putting its games on ESPN+, and UCONN women were one of the biggest media assets for the AAC. UCONN decided on its own destiny for its fans by joining the BE and be indy in football. For basketball, it is good for UCONN to play old BE rivals again.

Both basketball programs are definitely on the rise. I fully expect UCONN men basketball to make a run in the NCAA soon. For UCONN women, it is very possible it can win multiple championships in the next few years. UCONN indy football schedule is also much more appealing to most UCONN fans. Of course, UCONN needs to win on the football field to matter. No one knows if Edsall is the right coach at this point, but he will get a few more years to prove himself. The most important thing is UCONN has far more control over its media content on SNY (defacto UCONN channel) that covers the tri-state area reaching around 15M homes.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...

Oh, jeez,

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

The UConn Baylor Elite Eight game got ESPN 1.7 million viewers.
2 AAC football games in the 2020 regular season inventory got more viewers.
6 AAC football games in the 2019 regular season inventory got more viewers.
Regular season, and the stuff we're selling.

The UConn-Arizona Final Four game got 2.69 million viewers (most-watched semifinal since Mississippi State’s upset of UConn in 2017 (2.76 million)).
I guess only 2 of the regular season inventory games of the last two years were better. Half our football CCGs have been better. But you really want to compare AAC value to ESPN, the right comp to a Final Four game is a NY6 game: they've all been better. All. Like 3x and 4x the audience. So any ESPN-AAC gain of UConn WBB getting a couple million Final Four views is dwarfed by AAC teams being regular NY6 participants.

Edited to add:
I searched sportsmediawatch.com for UConn WBB ratings info - some samples of BIG UConn WBB regular season games:
Jan 2020 Baylor-UConn 518k
Jan 2019 a Thursday game UConn-Baylor 627k
Feb of 2019 Louisville-UConn 683k
2018 UConn-S.Carolina 669k

I count a dozen 2020 AAC regular season inventory (our games, the stuff we're selling to ESPN) bigger than 683k. 12 of 34 AAC inventory games bigger than a regular season best case for WBB.
---
As for the continued Husky revisionist history on the AAC-ESPN media deal...

WBB guarantees in the AAC-ESPN deal:
A minimum of 13 regular-season games per season on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, with a minimum of five on ESPN and ESPN2.
Conference Tournament Semifinals on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU and the Conference Final on ESPN or ESPN2.
Who do you think was going to be the lion's share of those ESPN/ESPN2 games? (Hint, it rhymes with "Yukon")

And the second question in the Aresco/ESPN VP Magnus press conference on the deal should have put some of the storytelling to rest:
Q: And if I could just come in with something that’s a little more granular and has to do with UConn women’s basketball which has had its own sort of separate platform, local distribution in the past, that has been obviously a big deal for folks in Connecticut, I’m wondering if there are any plans to farm out some of those games so they are available through more traditional platforms in the state of Connecticut, SNY, in the past, PBS, things along those lines?

BURKE MAGNUS: Obviously I think as this group — as the group on the phone understands, we still have an entire year, the 2019-20 season under the terms of the prior agreement, which gives us plenty of time to have conversations and have meetings with all interested parties about this content, and that’s what we intend to do.

So in the case of SNY specifically or CBS Sports Network, which sublicensed some content to us under the terms of the prior agreement, I’m certain we’ll sit down with both of those guys and see where they are in terms of their interest in continuing those kinds of relationships. And we have the time to do it.

That would be our intention.

(04-08-2021 01:44 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  For people that keep thinking UCONN will go to FCS, it is just wishful thinking. UCONN football is here to stay. The future schedule is a mixture of 4-5 P5 teams per year with some interesting opponents all over the country. I suspect UCONN will probably sign a long-term series with BYU at some point as well.

https://fbschedules.com/ncaa/uconn/

I really dont think anyone really gives a shite, even in Connecticut..

(04-10-2021 12:14 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  

(04-10-2021 10:56 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  

(04-08-2021 02:37 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We have to remember how we got here.

We got here because, when faced with the option of adding Louisville or UConn, the ACC chose Louisville. The Cardinals and Huskies both had good pedigrees in basketball. UConn had better academics and fit closer to the ACC profile. Ultimately the Cardinals got picked because of football. Louisville and WVU were the two standard bearers of the 2005-2012 Big East football. Had UConn had better gate attendance and won more during that era we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

UConn’s basketball success and branding were always tied to their association with the other great northeastern basketball schools. With all those old familiar faces now in the ACC or New Big East, their performance and recruiting were suffering and their fans were in revolt.

Football was already suffering from what some might call neglect, or others might call abuse. Wounds were self inflicted with bad coaching hires. In a way, UConn’s how FBS experiment had been a disappointment for the fan base, and again the problem was the company they kept—they moved up expecting to play against the original line up sans Temple, before they could get there Miami, VT, and BC were plucked and by the time the ACC was deciding between UConn and Louisville, so were Pitt, Cuse, WVU, and Rutgers. Poor performance and the lack of attractive regional opponents was hurting UConn.

UConn couldn’t fix their association problem in football but they could in basketball, so that’s what they did. They sacrificed the long term success of one program to give the other program a fighting chance at success.

There’s also the terrible tv contract to consider.

Ultimately, UConn had to make a tough decision and I think they made the right one.

They probably aren’t ever going to get into the ACC and they know this and even if it did, it would be a weaker one than the one we had today.

Say what???

UC was the outright champ in '08 and '09 and co champs in '11 and '12.

They picked Louisville because BC hated UConn and Jurich hustled to get Louisville in while Greg Williams sat there with his thumb up his @$$ trying to keep the BE together.

People that haven't around really need to understand some history.

Even when ACC expanded a long long time ago with Syracuse and Pitt, it was actually Syracuse and UCONN they wanted. They took Pitt because BCU AD at the time sits on the expansion committee, and actively blocked UCONN from the ACC. BCU AD confirmed all of this and was on record bragging about this. They took Pitt instead.

Second time around, it was down to UCONN and UL. UCONN fits the ACC profile way better than UL (academics, state school etc.) even today. Carolina schools wanted UCONN (academic schools: UNC, NCST, Duke, Wake, and Virgina) while southern schools (FSU, Clemson) etc thought ACC was controlled too much by Carolina schools did not want them gaining another ally. Also, southern schools didn't want to come up North (they already got BCU and Cuse) to play another football game.

It just happened UCONN football was not doing great at that time while UL was on the rise. Another major factor was B12 at the time was looking to add UL/WVU or UL and WVU, and the ACC didn't want B12 to expand further East encoaching their markets. They also thought UCONN was less appealing to the B12, and UCONN will be there for them to take in the future if they need to expand again. So, the ACC took UL instead of UCONN. It was hardly unanimous, but UL won in the end due to all those factors.

For UCONN to get into the ACC, ND will probably need to join full-time. UCONN also fits the B1G profile pretty well now that the conference added Maryland and RU. At this point, most UCONN fans don't even care about this anymore.

UCONN was waiting on the new AAC deal. Once it was announced, UCONN was not happy with the overall setup. AAC essentially threw UCONN women under the bus by putting its games on ESPN+, and UCONN women were one of the biggest media assets for the AAC. UCONN decided on its own destiny for its fans by joining the BE and be indy in football. For basketball, it is good for UCONN to play old BE rivals again.

Both basketball programs are definitely on the rise. I fully expect UCONN men basketball to make a run in the NCAA soon. For UCONN women, it is very possible it can win multiple championships in the next few years. UCONN indy football schedule is also much more appealing to most UCONN fans. Of course, UCONN needs to win on the football field to matter. No one knows if Edsall is the right coach at this point, but he will get a few more years to prove himself. The most important thing is UCONN has far more control over its media content on SNY (defacto UCONN channel) that covers the tri-state area reaching around 15M homes.

Uh... WHAT???

In 2002, the ACC wanted Syracuse and MIAMI. UConn's elevation of their FB program to FBS/D1A in 1999 was usually cited as the reason Miami, Boston College, and Syracuse wanted out of the BE...the "serious" football schools wanted a serious FB-first conference and the UConn solution was not viewed as a step towards that. So the ACC wanted Syracuse and Miami. But then the Virginia legislature got involved and the ACC revised their invitation to be to Miami and Virginia Tech. UConn was not on the list...anywhere.

Then Boston College left the next year. And UConn SUED them. Not only that, UConn led an unsuccessful movement for the remaining BE members to boycott playing Boston College. And memories are LONG. UConn made a permanent enemy of Boston College, and the general consensus was that BC would always mount a spirited opposition to adding UConn in the future. So, when the BE finally fell apart permanently in 2012, UConn was regarded as a "distant" third after the ACC took Pitt and Syracuse.

And then, when everybody was awaiting "ACC Armageddon," the ACC added Louisville...first because they were available (they had already given notice to the BE/AAC of their intent to leave), second because of their commitment to major athletics with Papa John's Stadium and the YUM! center and their winning coaches (Pitino and Petrino), and finally because of their history. Everybody had expected Louisville to get poached on the cheap by the Big XII along with three other ACC schools, but then the ACC pulled the coup by scooping UL and signing the GoR. Again, UConn was never seriously on the board, finishing again in 3rd behind Cincinnati.

Your "history" doesn't in the least resemble reality.

Neither BC, Pitt, Syracuse, or Louisville belong anywhere near the ACC. Recently the ACC brought in a new commissioner. He was talking about how far in revenue they had fallen behind the B10, SEC, and the Big12. They don’t understand that trashing old rivalries to chase TV market has hurt them big time.

(04-10-2021 09:08 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(04-10-2021 12:14 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  

(04-10-2021 10:56 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  

(04-08-2021 02:37 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We have to remember how we got here.

We got here because, when faced with the option of adding Louisville or UConn, the ACC chose Louisville. The Cardinals and Huskies both had good pedigrees in basketball. UConn had better academics and fit closer to the ACC profile. Ultimately the Cardinals got picked because of football. Louisville and WVU were the two standard bearers of the 2005-2012 Big East football. Had UConn had better gate attendance and won more during that era we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

UConn’s basketball success and branding were always tied to their association with the other great northeastern basketball schools. With all those old familiar faces now in the ACC or New Big East, their performance and recruiting were suffering and their fans were in revolt.

Football was already suffering from what some might call neglect, or others might call abuse. Wounds were self inflicted with bad coaching hires. In a way, UConn’s how FBS experiment had been a disappointment for the fan base, and again the problem was the company they kept—they moved up expecting to play against the original line up sans Temple, before they could get there Miami, VT, and BC were plucked and by the time the ACC was deciding between UConn and Louisville, so were Pitt, Cuse, WVU, and Rutgers. Poor performance and the lack of attractive regional opponents was hurting UConn.

UConn couldn’t fix their association problem in football but they could in basketball, so that’s what they did. They sacrificed the long term success of one program to give the other program a fighting chance at success.

There’s also the terrible tv contract to consider.

Ultimately, UConn had to make a tough decision and I think they made the right one.

They probably aren’t ever going to get into the ACC and they know this and even if it did, it would be a weaker one than the one we had today.

Say what???

UC was the outright champ in '08 and '09 and co champs in '11 and '12.

They picked Louisville because BC hated UConn and Jurich hustled to get Louisville in while Greg Williams sat there with his thumb up his @$$ trying to keep the BE together.

People that haven't around really need to understand some history.

Even when ACC expanded a long long time ago with Syracuse and Pitt, it was actually Syracuse and UCONN they wanted. They took Pitt because BCU AD at the time sits on the expansion committee, and actively blocked UCONN from the ACC. BCU AD confirmed all of this and was on record bragging about this. They took Pitt instead.

Second time around, it was down to UCONN and UL. UCONN fits the ACC profile way better than UL (academics, state school etc.) even today. Carolina schools wanted UCONN (academic schools: UNC, NCST, Duke, Wake, and Virgina) while southern schools (FSU, Clemson) etc thought ACC was controlled too much by Carolina schools did not want them gaining another ally. Also, southern schools didn't want to come up North (they already got BCU and Cuse) to play another football game.

It just happened UCONN football was not doing great at that time while UL was on the rise. Another major factor was B12 at the time was looking to add UL/WVU or UL and WVU, and the ACC didn't want B12 to expand further East encoaching their markets. They also thought UCONN was less appealing to the B12, and UCONN will be there for them to take in the future if they need to expand again. So, the ACC took UL instead of UCONN. It was hardly unanimous, but UL won in the end due to all those factors.

For UCONN to get into the ACC, ND will probably need to join full-time. UCONN also fits the B1G profile pretty well now that the conference added Maryland and RU. At this point, most UCONN fans don't even care about this anymore.

UCONN was waiting on the new AAC deal. Once it was announced, UCONN was not happy with the overall setup. AAC essentially threw UCONN women under the bus by putting its games on ESPN+, and UCONN women were one of the biggest media assets for the AAC. UCONN decided on its own destiny for its fans by joining the BE and be indy in football. For basketball, it is good for UCONN to play old BE rivals again.

Both basketball programs are definitely on the rise. I fully expect UCONN men basketball to make a run in the NCAA soon. For UCONN women, it is very possible it can win multiple championships in the next few years. UCONN indy football schedule is also much more appealing to most UCONN fans. Of course, UCONN needs to win on the football field to matter. No one knows if Edsall is the right coach at this point, but he will get a few more years to prove himself. The most important thing is UCONN has far more control over its media content on SNY (defacto UCONN channel) that covers the tri-state area reaching around 15M homes.

Uh... WHAT???

In 2002, the ACC wanted Syracuse and MIAMI. UConn's elevation of their FB program to FBS/D1A in 1999 was usually cited as the reason Miami, Boston College, and Syracuse wanted out of the BE...the "serious" football schools wanted a serious FB-first conference and the UConn solution was not viewed as a step towards that. So the ACC wanted Syracuse and Miami. But then the Virginia legislature got involved and the ACC revised their invitation to be to Miami and Virginia Tech. UConn was not on the list...anywhere.

Then Boston College left the next year. And UConn SUED them. Not only that, UConn led an unsuccessful movement for the remaining BE members to boycott playing Boston College. And memories are LONG. UConn made a permanent enemy of Boston College, and the general consensus was that BC would always mount a spirited opposition to adding UConn in the future. So, when the BE finally fell apart permanently in 2012, UConn was regarded as a "distant" third after the ACC took Pitt and Syracuse.

And then, when everybody was awaiting "ACC Armageddon," the ACC added Louisville...first because they were available (they had already given notice to the BE/AAC of their intent to leave), second because of their commitment to major athletics with Papa John's Stadium and the YUM! center and their winning coaches (Pitino and Petrino), and finally because of their history. Everybody had expected Louisville to get poached on the cheap by the Big XII along with three other ACC schools, but then the ACC pulled the coup by scooping UL and signing the GoR. Again, UConn was never seriously on the board, finishing again in 3rd behind Cincinnati.

Your "history" doesn't in the least resemble reality.

While you are correct about Syracuse and Miami and the Virginia Tech thing that's where your argument ends. Yes it was our illustrious moronic AG at the time Dick Blumenthal that filed suit Pitt was the main force behind that. BCU for years has stated that it wants to be New England's football team. Only problem is that nobody gives a rats behind about BC or college sports in Boston other than the Beanpot.

SF Husly is 100% correct with his assessment that Puke, UNC and Virginia wanted us and Clemson/FSU wanted Louisville CC. UConn was penciled in but then LCC came up with some hookers and blow and voila! they're the newest member. Susie and Ward were in the Bahamas with the basketball team when that all went down.

As I stated earlier in this thread, if the new contract would have been in the $11.5m range that was the last offer when the Big East was the Big East then UConn would have probably stayed. The money being back weighted and having to build/supply programming (like the ACC and others) plus putting the women's team behind a paywall was simply too much. For crying out loud they're still bitching about UConn women being on SNY and not public television. There's no-one on this thread outside Connecticut that understands that.

(04-10-2021 12:14 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  

(04-10-2021 10:56 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  

(04-08-2021 02:37 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We have to remember how we got here.

We got here because, when faced with the option of adding Louisville or UConn, the ACC chose Louisville. The Cardinals and Huskies both had good pedigrees in basketball. UConn had better academics and fit closer to the ACC profile. Ultimately the Cardinals got picked because of football. Louisville and WVU were the two standard bearers of the 2005-2012 Big East football. Had UConn had better gate attendance and won more during that era we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

UConn’s basketball success and branding were always tied to their association with the other great northeastern basketball schools. With all those old familiar faces now in the ACC or New Big East, their performance and recruiting were suffering and their fans were in revolt.

Football was already suffering from what some might call neglect, or others might call abuse. Wounds were self inflicted with bad coaching hires. In a way, UConn’s how FBS experiment had been a disappointment for the fan base, and again the problem was the company they kept—they moved up expecting to play against the original line up sans Temple, before they could get there Miami, VT, and BC were plucked and by the time the ACC was deciding between UConn and Louisville, so were Pitt, Cuse, WVU, and Rutgers. Poor performance and the lack of attractive regional opponents was hurting UConn.

UConn couldn’t fix their association problem in football but they could in basketball, so that’s what they did. They sacrificed the long term success of one program to give the other program a fighting chance at success.

There’s also the terrible tv contract to consider.

Ultimately, UConn had to make a tough decision and I think they made the right one.

They probably aren’t ever going to get into the ACC and they know this and even if it did, it would be a weaker one than the one we had today.

Say what???

UC was the outright champ in '08 and '09 and co champs in '11 and '12.

They picked Louisville because BC hated UConn and Jurich hustled to get Louisville in while Greg Williams sat there with his thumb up his @$$ trying to keep the BE together.

People that haven't around really need to understand some history.

Even when ACC expanded a long long time ago with Syracuse and Pitt, it was actually Syracuse and UCONN they wanted. They took Pitt because BCU AD at the time sits on the expansion committee, and actively blocked UCONN from the ACC. BCU AD confirmed all of this and was on record bragging about this. They took Pitt instead.

Second time around, it was down to UCONN and UL. UCONN fits the ACC profile way better than UL (academics, state school etc.) even today. Carolina schools wanted UCONN (academic schools: UNC, NCST, Duke, Wake, and Virgina) while southern schools (FSU, Clemson) etc thought ACC was controlled too much by Carolina schools did not want them gaining another ally. Also, southern schools didn't want to come up North (they already got BCU and Cuse) to play another football game.

It just happened UCONN football was not doing great at that time while UL was on the rise. Another major factor was B12 at the time was looking to add UL/WVU or UL and WVU, and the ACC didn't want B12 to expand further East encoaching their markets. They also thought UCONN was less appealing to the B12, and UCONN will be there for them to take in the future if they need to expand again. So, the ACC took UL instead of UCONN. It was hardly unanimous, but UL won in the end due to all those factors.

For UCONN to get into the ACC, ND will probably need to join full-time. UCONN also fits the B1G profile pretty well now that the conference added Maryland and RU. At this point, most UCONN fans don't even care about this anymore.

UCONN was waiting on the new AAC deal. Once it was announced, UCONN was not happy with the overall setup. AAC essentially threw UCONN women under the bus by putting its games on ESPN+, and UCONN women were one of the biggest media assets for the AAC. UCONN decided on its own destiny for its fans by joining the BE and be indy in football. For basketball, it is good for UCONN to play old BE rivals again.

Both basketball programs are definitely on the rise. I fully expect UCONN men basketball to make a run in the NCAA soon. For UCONN women, it is very possible it can win multiple championships in the next few years. UCONN indy football schedule is also much more appealing to most UCONN fans. Of course, UCONN needs to win on the football field to matter. No one knows if Edsall is the right coach at this point, but he will get a few more years to prove himself. The most important thing is UCONN has far more control over its media content on SNY (defacto UCONN channel) that covers the tri-state area reaching around 15M homes.

women's basketball is not the future of the AAC...it's football, to a lesser extent men's basketball, and then baseball.

I mean, UConn didn't even field a team in 2020-21...that's not OK for Memphis.

(04-10-2021 12:14 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  

(04-10-2021 10:56 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  

(04-08-2021 02:37 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We have to remember how we got here.

We got here because, when faced with the option of adding Louisville or UConn, the ACC chose Louisville. The Cardinals and Huskies both had good pedigrees in basketball. UConn had better academics and fit closer to the ACC profile. Ultimately the Cardinals got picked because of football. Louisville and WVU were the two standard bearers of the 2005-2012 Big East football. Had UConn had better gate attendance and won more during that era we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

UConn’s basketball success and branding were always tied to their association with the other great northeastern basketball schools. With all those old familiar faces now in the ACC or New Big East, their performance and recruiting were suffering and their fans were in revolt.

Football was already suffering from what some might call neglect, or others might call abuse. Wounds were self inflicted with bad coaching hires. In a way, UConn’s how FBS experiment had been a disappointment for the fan base, and again the problem was the company they kept—they moved up expecting to play against the original line up sans Temple, before they could get there Miami, VT, and BC were plucked and by the time the ACC was deciding between UConn and Louisville, so were Pitt, Cuse, WVU, and Rutgers. Poor performance and the lack of attractive regional opponents was hurting UConn.

UConn couldn’t fix their association problem in football but they could in basketball, so that’s what they did. They sacrificed the long term success of one program to give the other program a fighting chance at success.

There’s also the terrible tv contract to consider.

Ultimately, UConn had to make a tough decision and I think they made the right one.

They probably aren’t ever going to get into the ACC and they know this and even if it did, it would be a weaker one than the one we had today.

Say what???

UC was the outright champ in '08 and '09 and co champs in '11 and '12.

They picked Louisville because BC hated UConn and Jurich hustled to get Louisville in while Greg Williams sat there with his thumb up his @$$ trying to keep the BE together.

People that haven't around really need to understand some history.

Even when ACC expanded a long long time ago with Syracuse and Pitt, it was actually Syracuse and UCONN they wanted. They took Pitt because BCU AD at the time sits on the expansion committee, and actively blocked UCONN from the ACC. BCU AD confirmed all of this and was on record bragging about this. They took Pitt instead.

Second time around, it was down to UCONN and UL. UCONN fits the ACC profile way better than UL (academics, state school etc.) even today. Carolina schools wanted UCONN (academic schools: UNC, NCST, Duke, Wake, and Virgina) while southern schools (FSU, Clemson) etc thought ACC was controlled too much by Carolina schools did not want them gaining another ally. Also, southern schools didn't want to come up North (they already got BCU and Cuse) to play another football game.

It just happened UCONN football was not doing great at that time while UL was on the rise. Another major factor was B12 at the time was looking to add UL/WVU or UL and WVU, and the ACC didn't want B12 to expand further East encoaching their markets. They also thought UCONN was less appealing to the B12, and UCONN will be there for them to take in the future if they need to expand again. So, the ACC took UL instead of UCONN. It was hardly unanimous, but UL won in the end due to all those factors.

For UCONN to get into the ACC, ND will probably need to join full-time. UCONN also fits the B1G profile pretty well now that the conference added Maryland and RU. At this point, most UCONN fans don't even care about this anymore.

UCONN was waiting on the new AAC deal. Once it was announced, UCONN was not happy with the overall setup. AAC essentially threw UCONN women under the bus by putting its games on ESPN+, and UCONN women were one of the biggest media assets for the AAC. UCONN decided on its own destiny for its fans by joining the BE and be indy in football. For basketball, it is good for UCONN to play old BE rivals again.

Both basketball programs are definitely on the rise. I fully expect UCONN men basketball to make a run in the NCAA soon. For UCONN women, it is very possible it can win multiple championships in the next few years. UCONN indy football schedule is also much more appealing to most UCONN fans. Of course, UCONN needs to win on the football field to matter. No one knows if Edsall is the right coach at this point, but he will get a few more years to prove himself. The most important thing is UCONN has far more control over its media content on SNY (defacto UCONN channel) that covers the tri-state area reaching around 15M homes.

As far as the history of what happened is concerned, this may be the way things unfolded, but as far as the decisions to add Pitt and Louisville were concerned, it's hard to deny that the ACC came out ahead by adding Louisville. In addition, given the ACC's stature in basketball, their priority would have been to add a good FB school, which would have made Pitt (7 wins per year since 2013) the logical choice.

Q1: Will UConn's decision to join the Big East put their FB program in a long-term holding pattern, or was it part of an inscrutable long-term plan to pursue power conference status? If that's still their ultimate goal, how could joining the Big East move them in the right direction?

Q2: Would BC be ok with the idea of adding UConn at some future date, or would they veto the idea?

.

(04-10-2021 09:08 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(04-10-2021 12:14 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  

(04-10-2021 10:56 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  

(04-08-2021 02:37 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We have to remember how we got here.

We got here because, when faced with the option of adding Louisville or UConn, the ACC chose Louisville. The Cardinals and Huskies both had good pedigrees in basketball. UConn had better academics and fit closer to the ACC profile. Ultimately the Cardinals got picked because of football. Louisville and WVU were the two standard bearers of the 2005-2012 Big East football. Had UConn had better gate attendance and won more during that era we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

UConn’s basketball success and branding were always tied to their association with the other great northeastern basketball schools. With all those old familiar faces now in the ACC or New Big East, their performance and recruiting were suffering and their fans were in revolt.

Football was already suffering from what some might call neglect, or others might call abuse. Wounds were self inflicted with bad coaching hires. In a way, UConn’s how FBS experiment had been a disappointment for the fan base, and again the problem was the company they kept—they moved up expecting to play against the original line up sans Temple, before they could get there Miami, VT, and BC were plucked and by the time the ACC was deciding between UConn and Louisville, so were Pitt, Cuse, WVU, and Rutgers. Poor performance and the lack of attractive regional opponents was hurting UConn.

UConn couldn’t fix their association problem in football but they could in basketball, so that’s what they did. They sacrificed the long term success of one program to give the other program a fighting chance at success.

There’s also the terrible tv contract to consider.

Ultimately, UConn had to make a tough decision and I think they made the right one.

They probably aren’t ever going to get into the ACC and they know this and even if it did, it would be a weaker one than the one we had today.

Say what???

UC was the outright champ in '08 and '09 and co champs in '11 and '12.

They picked Louisville because BC hated UConn and Jurich hustled to get Louisville in while Greg Williams sat there with his thumb up his @$$ trying to keep the BE together.

People that haven't around really need to understand some history.

Even when ACC expanded a long long time ago with Syracuse and Pitt, it was actually Syracuse and UCONN they wanted. They took Pitt because BCU AD at the time sits on the expansion committee, and actively blocked UCONN from the ACC. BCU AD confirmed all of this and was on record bragging about this. They took Pitt instead.

Second time around, it was down to UCONN and UL. UCONN fits the ACC profile way better than UL (academics, state school etc.) even today. Carolina schools wanted UCONN (academic schools: UNC, NCST, Duke, Wake, and Virgina) while southern schools (FSU, Clemson) etc thought ACC was controlled too much by Carolina schools did not want them gaining another ally. Also, southern schools didn't want to come up North (they already got BCU and Cuse) to play another football game.

It just happened UCONN football was not doing great at that time while UL was on the rise. Another major factor was B12 at the time was looking to add UL/WVU or UL and WVU, and the ACC didn't want B12 to expand further East encoaching their markets. They also thought UCONN was less appealing to the B12, and UCONN will be there for them to take in the future if they need to expand again. So, the ACC took UL instead of UCONN. It was hardly unanimous, but UL won in the end due to all those factors.

For UCONN to get into the ACC, ND will probably need to join full-time. UCONN also fits the B1G profile pretty well now that the conference added Maryland and RU. At this point, most UCONN fans don't even care about this anymore.

UCONN was waiting on the new AAC deal. Once it was announced, UCONN was not happy with the overall setup. AAC essentially threw UCONN women under the bus by putting its games on ESPN+, and UCONN women were one of the biggest media assets for the AAC. UCONN decided on its own destiny for its fans by joining the BE and be indy in football. For basketball, it is good for UCONN to play old BE rivals again.

Both basketball programs are definitely on the rise. I fully expect UCONN men basketball to make a run in the NCAA soon. For UCONN women, it is very possible it can win multiple championships in the next few years. UCONN indy football schedule is also much more appealing to most UCONN fans. Of course, UCONN needs to win on the football field to matter. No one knows if Edsall is the right coach at this point, but he will get a few more years to prove himself. The most important thing is UCONN has far more control over its media content on SNY (defacto UCONN channel) that covers the tri-state area reaching around 15M homes.

Uh... WHAT???

In 2002, the ACC wanted Syracuse and MIAMI. UConn's elevation of their FB program to FBS/D1A in 1999 was usually cited as the reason Miami, Boston College, and Syracuse wanted out of the BE...the "serious" football schools wanted a serious FB-first conference and the UConn solution was not viewed as a step towards that. So the ACC wanted Syracuse and Miami. But then the Virginia legislature got involved and the ACC revised their invitation to be to Miami and Virginia Tech. UConn was not on the list...anywhere.

Then Boston College left the next year. And UConn SUED them. Not only that, UConn led an unsuccessful movement for the remaining BE members to boycott playing Boston College. And memories are LONG. UConn made a permanent enemy of Boston College, and the general consensus was that BC would always mount a spirited opposition to adding UConn in the future. So, when the BE finally fell apart permanently in 2012, UConn was regarded as a "distant" third after the ACC took Pitt and Syracuse.

And then, when everybody was awaiting "ACC Armageddon," the ACC added Louisville...first because they were available (they had already given notice to the BE/AAC of their intent to leave), second because of their commitment to major athletics with Papa John's Stadium and the YUM! center and their winning coaches (Pitino and Petrino), and finally because of their history. Everybody had expected Louisville to get poached on the cheap by the Big XII along with three other ACC schools, but then the ACC pulled the coup by scooping UL and signing the GoR. Again, UConn was never seriously on the board, finishing again in 3rd behind Cincinnati.

Your "history" doesn't in the least resemble reality.

You might want to study history a bit more.

https://www.ctpost.com/uconn/article/Rep...210485.php

Quotes from the article:

Quote:When the Atlantic Coast Conference decided to expand to 14 teams, going after the Big East specifically, Syracuse was the first target. The second target was UConn, which was part of the Northeast footprint the ACC wanted, and was coming off a BCS bid in football and its third championship in men's basketball, according to a story in Sunday's Boston Globe.

While Syracuse presented no problem, according to the Globe, UConn did -- to Boston College, which was still fuming over what it perceived to be vitriolic comments made when Boston College was finally invited to join the ACC and started competing in 2005. UConn and Pittsburgh filed a lawsuit against Boston College, and men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun made comments about never playing Boston College again.

Boston College athletics director Gene DeFilippo told the Globe that the school opposed the inclusion of UConn.

"We didn't want them in,'' he told the Globe. "It was a matter of turf. We wanted to be the New England team.''

(04-11-2021 06:05 AM)jedclampett Wrote:  As far as the history of what happened is concerned, this may be the way things unfolded, but as far as the decisions to add Pitt and Louisville were concerned, it's hard to deny that the ACC came out ahead by adding Louisville.

Q1: Will UConn's decision to join the Big East put their FB program in a long-term holding pattern, or was it part of an inscrutable long-term plan to pursue power conference status? If that's still their ultimate goal, how could joining the Big East move them in the right direction?

Q2: Would BC be ok with the idea of adding UConn at some future date, or would they veto the idea?

.

Except conference expansion is hardly ever about sports performance. Great conferences are made up of schools with similar academics, shared history, etc. Even today, UCONN is a far better fit profile-wise for the ACC than UL other than football. UL got added because ACC was weak in FB and the FSUs of the world didn't want Carolina schools controlling the conference. The timing was perfect for UL. Comparing to other ACC schools, UL's profile does not fit even today other than sports.

Answer to your first question: I honestly think this power conference thing might change in the future. It might even change in the next media negotiation. This Covid thing also got many athletic departments thinking as well. There are already grumbling from upper power schools thinking they are being left behind with B1G and SEC schools getting bigger and bigger deals. Schools like USC, Texas, OU, etc. might think of getting their own indy media deals with going with a conference. Of course, much of this depends on the next football playoff deal get negotiated as well. I do know many bigger schools aren't happy sharing revenue equally with smaller schools like Washington St, Oregon St, Kansas St, Iowa St etc. People might even see more deals like ND. Or maybe all the big power schools like USC, Texas, ND etc. get together and form their own FB-only conference just for TV money.

I think UCONN is fine where it is now. I believe it is back playing schools it wants to play for basketball. For football, being indy so far isn't so bad. UCONN just needs to win in FB. As for the power conference goes, of course UCONN would like to be in one if the current trend continues. UCONN fits the B1G profile other than being AAU. UCONN is also a natural fit for the ACC both academic wise and location. If ACC ever adds ND as a full-time member, UCONN would be a good fit. UCONN being the BE also allows UCONN to negotiate its own FB media deal. The potential is there is have a good deal provided UCONN can draw some eye balls. If UCONN can win, there is no doubt fans will come back.

Answer to Q2: BCU will always oppose UCONN. It is stupid, but they are small-minded and petty. Being in the ACC hasn't done much for BCU. They still suck in pretty much everything. They really haven't improved that much from their BE days. Yeah they are in P5 when UCONN is now in the BE, but UCONN has much more upside than BCU. At least now you know why many UCONN fans hate BCU.

Had things worked out without all the backroom dealings etc, here is what should have happened:

B12 would have added: Pitt, WVU, UL, and Cincy (vs. TCU). B12 would expanded its media markets east, and be at 12 today vs. adding another Texas school. TCU would probably be in the AAC. Those 4 schools would give B12 an Eastern front, and their school profiles would fit the B12 much better.

ACC would have added UCONN and ND or ACC would have just added UCONN while waiting for ND.

(04-10-2021 10:56 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  

(04-08-2021 02:37 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  We have to remember how we got here.

We got here because, when faced with the option of adding Louisville or UConn, the ACC chose Louisville. The Cardinals and Huskies both had good pedigrees in basketball. UConn had better academics and fit closer to the ACC profile. Ultimately the Cardinals got picked because of football. Louisville and WVU were the two standard bearers of the 2005-2012 Big East football. Had UConn had better gate attendance and won more during that era we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

UConn’s basketball success and branding were always tied to their association with the other great northeastern basketball schools. With all those old familiar faces now in the ACC or New Big East, their performance and recruiting were suffering and their fans were in revolt.

Football was already suffering from what some might call neglect, or others might call abuse. Wounds were self inflicted with bad coaching hires. In a way, UConn’s how FBS experiment had been a disappointment for the fan base, and again the problem was the company they kept—they moved up expecting to play against the original line up sans Temple, before they could get there Miami, VT, and BC were plucked and by the time the ACC was deciding between UConn and Louisville, so were Pitt, Cuse, WVU, and Rutgers. Poor performance and the lack of attractive regional opponents was hurting UConn.

UConn couldn’t fix their association problem in football but they could in basketball, so that’s what they did. They sacrificed the long term success of one program to give the other program a fighting chance at success.

There’s also the terrible tv contract to consider.

Ultimately, UConn had to make a tough decision and I think they made the right one.

They probably aren’t ever going to get into the ACC and they know this and even if it did, it would be a weaker one than the one we had today.

Say what???

UC was the outright champ in '08 and '09 and co champs in '11 and '12.

They picked Louisville because BC hated UConn and Jurich hustled to get Louisville in while Greg Williams sat there with his thumb up his @$$ trying to keep the BE together.

You can throw Cincinnati in there too.

If you’re looking at BCS berths, WVU had 3 and Louisville and Cincinnati each had 2.

(04-09-2021 09:50 PM)mustangxc Wrote:  I think some are looking too much into it. I really think that even if the American becomes a true P6 conference with the addition of BYU and/or Boise State, UConn would rather be in the Big East and independent in football than in the American. Whether or not SMU, Houston, Cincinnati, UCF, USF, Temple and Memphis are P6 or not they would rather face Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, Seton Hall, and St. John's in basketball. To them, not even a Houston team coming off a Final Four appearance is as appealing as facing a St. John's team that missed the NCAA tournament.

I'm gonna assume the "they" up there is UConn, and not each individual team listed in the subject of that sentence?

(04-11-2021 04:27 PM)geosnooker2000 Wrote:  

(04-09-2021 09:50 PM)mustangxc Wrote:  I think some are looking too much into it. I really think that even if the American becomes a true P6 conference with the addition of BYU and/or Boise State, UConn would rather be in the Big East and independent in football than in the American. Whether or not SMU, Houston, Cincinnati, UCF, USF, Temple and Memphis are P6 or not they would rather face Georgetown, Villanova, Providence, Seton Hall, and St. John's in basketball. To them, not even a Houston team coming off a Final Four appearance is as appealing as facing a St. John's team that missed the NCAA tournament.

I'm gonna assume the "they" up there is UConn, and not each individual team listed in the subject of that sentence?

Being silly of course but with the new transfer rule could UCONN football players transfer to Wichita State and (create the 12th AAC football team there) ?

.

Things sure do get wacky around here sometimes, with one of the top threads commandeered by Georgia St. & GSU fans, and another commandeered by UConn fans...

.

(04-11-2021 09:00 PM)jedclampett Wrote:  .

Things sure do get wacky around here sometimes, with one of the top threads commandeered by Georgia St. & GSU fans, and another commandeered by UConn fans...

.

This one was started by a UCONN fan. They miss us.

(04-11-2021 10:14 PM)Fishpro10987 Wrote:  

(04-11-2021 09:00 PM)jedclampett Wrote:  .

Things sure do get wacky around here sometimes, with one of the top threads commandeered by Georgia St. & GSU fans, and another commandeered by UConn fans...

.

This one was started by a UCONN fan. They miss us.

Must be a slow news day in the BE lacrosse and rowing threads...

(04-11-2021 10:29 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(04-11-2021 10:14 PM)Fishpro10987 Wrote:  

(04-11-2021 09:00 PM)jedclampett Wrote:  .

Things sure do get wacky around here sometimes, with one of the top threads commandeered by Georgia St. & GSU fans, and another commandeered by UConn fans...

.

This one was started by a UCONN fan. They miss us.

Must be a slow news day in the BE lacrosse and rowing threads...

Who knows anything about the NBE when its not BB season.

(04-11-2021 10:45 AM)SF Husky Wrote:  https://www.ctpost.com/uconn/article/Rep...210485.php

Quotes from the article:

Quote:When the Atlantic Coast Conference decided to expand to 14 teams, going after the Big East specifically, Syracuse was the first target. The second target was UConn, which was part of the Northeast footprint the ACC wanted, and was coming off a BCS bid in football and its third championship in men's basketball, according to a story in Sunday's Boston Globe.

While Syracuse presented no problem, according to the Globe, UConn did -- to Boston College, which was still fuming over what it perceived to be vitriolic comments made when Boston College was finally invited to join the ACC and started competing in 2005. UConn and Pittsburgh filed a lawsuit against Boston College, and men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun made comments about never playing Boston College again.

Boston College athletics director Gene DeFilippo told the Globe that the school opposed the inclusion of UConn.

"We didn't want them in,'' he told the Globe. "It was a matter of turf. We wanted to be the New England team.''

I came here to congratulate Houston and the AAC on a nice run, and to praise the future of American Athletic basketball... I didn't know I was going to run into a conspiracy theory worthy of Q-Anon!


1st, no surprise that a Connecticut-based web site says UConn was one of the ACC's top targets. What they (and so many others) don't seem to understand is that football counts 4X more than basketball. UConn was never preferred over Miami, VT, BC or Pitt, probably not over Syracuse or Louisville either. It's a football world, and the P5 conferences just let basketball live in it.

That said, great run, Houston! I feel like the AAC will eventually eclipse the Big East in basketball. Then you'll have to decide whether to let UConn back in...

(04-12-2021 09:44 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(04-11-2021 10:45 AM)SF Husky Wrote:  https://www.ctpost.com/uconn/article/Rep...210485.php

Quotes from the article:

Quote:When the Atlantic Coast Conference decided to expand to 14 teams, going after the Big East specifically, Syracuse was the first target. The second target was UConn, which was part of the Northeast footprint the ACC wanted, and was coming off a BCS bid in football and its third championship in men's basketball, according to a story in Sunday's Boston Globe.

While Syracuse presented no problem, according to the Globe, UConn did -- to Boston College, which was still fuming over what it perceived to be vitriolic comments made when Boston College was finally invited to join the ACC and started competing in 2005. UConn and Pittsburgh filed a lawsuit against Boston College, and men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun made comments about never playing Boston College again.

Boston College athletics director Gene DeFilippo told the Globe that the school opposed the inclusion of UConn.

"We didn't want them in,'' he told the Globe. "It was a matter of turf. We wanted to be the New England team.''

I came here to congratulate Houston and the AAC on a nice run, and to praise the future of American Athletic basketball... I didn't know I was going to run into a conspiracy theory worthy of Q-Anon!


1st, no surprise that a Connecticut-based web site says UConn was one of the ACC's top targets. What they (and so many others) don't seem to understand is that football counts 4X more than basketball. UConn was never preferred over Miami, VT, BC or Pitt, probably not over Syracuse or Louisville either. It's a football world, and the P5 conferences just let basketball live in it.

That said, great run, Houston! I feel like the AAC will eventually eclipse the Big East in basketball. Then you'll have to decide whether to let UConn back in...

Didn't want to keep going with this, but you are certainly clueless. The story wasn't from a CT newspaper, it was in the Boston Globe confirmed by BCU AD at the time Gene Deflippo.

It was in multiple newspapers at the time, so what theory are you talking about?

Here is another one: https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/boston-...dxme55abtm

Oh btw, ACC didn't want VT. The only reason your school got in was that VA governor twisted UVA's arm to force you guys into the ACC. I am sure you know that too...