(12-06-2017 03:08 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Interesting comments last night from Seth Greenberg (and also Dick Vitale) during the ESPN telecast of the Syracuse/UConn game.

Seth Greenberg: “If I was a UConn fan I’d do everything I can to make sure that UConn gets back in the Big East. UConn has got to get back to the Big East where they belong. No offense to the American Athletic conference but the Big East is a GREAT basketball conference."

Kind of odd to see ESPN commentators talk down one of their own properties. I can't remember seeing that before.

FTR, I don't think UConn is coming back to the Big East.

UConn is between a rock and a hard place. As long as there is even a tiny sliver of hope for a P5 invite down the road, then it simply cannot leave the AAC. P5 membership is based on football and independence simply isn't realistically viable for a school like UConn.

However, the money is simple: the Big East makes more TV money just based on basketball than the AAC (and every other G5 conference) makes on football and basketball *combined*. We can argue all day about whether the Big East would get the same contract again or the AAC will get a better contract in a few years and yada yada yada... but the fact is that the Big East completely CRUSHES the G5 conferences when it comes to TV money, which is essentially the entire crux of the conference realignment game. It says something that schools like DePaul and Seton Hall are making more TV money than schools like UConn outright... and when you consider that those Big East schools aren't having to deal with the costs of FBS football, the revenue/expense/P&L gap is a complete blowout.

I think that if UConn decided to drop FBS football, then they'd clearly want to be in the Big East (as it's simply the most desirable conference for *any* non-FBS Division I basketball school outside of the Ivy League). However, they're not dropping FBS football at any point soon, in which case it needs to do everything it can to do what's best for its FBS football program since that's the reality of today's college sports world. That means staying in the AAC and praying that there's a P5 invite in a few years.