(03-20-2013 10:47 PM)nzmorange Wrote: Did UCONN actually get an invitation or are we 0-2 on the thread title?
No, of course they didn't.
I first read about UConn's plans to gain AAU membership about 18 years ago. I'm not joking. They're really not that much closer.
This noise just comes from their latest press releases about how their going to invest this much here or there to move their research numbers up in the world. Well, guess what? 100 other universities are doing the similar things, including those already in the AAU. Everyone is fighting over the same pot of federal research allocations, so essentially, to move up, you've got to take it from someone else. (and AAU membership confers zero benefits for obtaining it).
Yes, the state of Connecticut wants to invest more in UConn R&D, and that's nice. I'm not saying UConn won't ever be in the AAU, but it is far from being right around the corner based on prior precedent of membership invitations.
But, seriously, there aren't many actual tangible benefits for being in the AAU for a university. It is simply a prestige thing that now has been seriously overblown by message board fans, particularly those with a Big Ten agenda. UConn won't be any different of a school the year before they get a hypothetical AAU invite then they would be the year after. And let me emphasize this...the Big Ten likes to check off that box if possible, but Wisconsin and Michigan were leading the charge to kick out UNL at essentially the same time the BigTen was bringing them on board.