Basketball is better off even if Syracuse is in the ACC.
Football will do surprisingly the same maybe better.
U Mass has not had a run of success didn't have one in the MAC either.
Yet they have not folded and are growing their program.
For U Mass the A-10 and independence has not been a disaster .
Would MAC full membership have been a disaster for U Mass who knows.
The money difference A-10 vs MAC or Big East vs AAC about the same.

U Conn has the advantage of being in a P6 conference for basketball.
Being equal to the P5 programs with an independent football program.
Notre Dame has P6 membership with a scheduling agreement in football and ACC bowl access playoff access.
U Conn is far from the point of worrying about playoff access.
It could be a conference would look to add another power program before calling someone up.
Like C-USA taking a SBC team before and FCS call up.
U Conn like BYU counts as P5 for football scheduling that is big going forward.
I would not be surprised if independents get a better deal the next CFP contract.
U Conn, U Mass, NMSU, Army and BYU can argue for access to the Access Bowl. They compare favorably to the top of any G5 conference history wise and academically. Really NMSU could join the MVC and with a better CFP deal for independents and thrive.

The P5 make the rules treat the six independents as nearly equal to G5 makes sense.