Big East/UConn in Discussions for Reunion

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Anyone question that "FanRagSports" is breaking this news and not like, a real news outlet?

It was reported over a week ago by multiple sources.

[MU82]

The problem with this analogy is that you're not breaking up with the super cute, super sweet girl for the smokeshow. You get to have both.

I think the more accurate comparison is the Big East is your standard average Joe. He is somehow given the chance to date Jennifer Lawrence (insert your own favorite celebrity crush). He knows there's a good chance they will break up after a few years, but what a few years those will be!

I've never gotten the fear of UConn joining and then leaving the Big East. We cash the checks for a few years and if they leave we are no worse for wear. As long as basketball only schools have the super majority there is no issue.

Also, I'm not convinced that UConn ever gets a P5 invite. I believe expansion is done for awhile and the B12 will get picked clean once their GoR is up. The B12 will either cease to exist or become the American 2.0 and get G5 money.

Real question is if fox ponies up the extra cash. If the answer is yes, you take them. If not, you don't.

Outstanding analysis, my friend.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

The problem with this analogy is that you're not breaking up with the super cute, super sweet girl for the smokeshow. You get to have both.

I think the more accurate comparison is the Big East is your standard average Joe. He is somehow given the chance to date Jennifer Lawrence (insert your own favorite celebrity crush). He knows there's a good chance they will break up after a few years, but what a few years those will be!

I've never gotten the fear of UConn joining and then leaving the Big East. We cash the checks for a few years and if they leave we are no worse for wear. As long as basketball only schools have the super majority there is no issue.

Also, I'm not convinced that UConn ever gets a P5 invite. I believe expansion is done for awhile and the B12 will get picked clean once their GoR is up. The B12 will either cease to exist or become the American 2.0 and get G5 money.

Real question is if fox ponies up the extra cash. If the answer is yes, you take them. If not, you don't.

I think this is spot on...would only add if Fox tells us to do it, you do it.

[Litehouse]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that UConn helps strengthen the BE's presence in NYC.  The ACC and Big 10 are both trying to claim the NYC market as their own and push the BE out of the way.  Adding UConn helps us keep MSG for the tournament (ACC and B10 both want MSG in their rotation), and increases our presence in that market.

If the buy-out is high enough ($50 Million+), I think it would be fine.

[wadesworld]

The problem with this analogy is that you're not breaking up with the super cute, super sweet girl for the smokeshow. You get to have both.

I think the more accurate comparison is the Big East is your standard average Joe. He is somehow given the chance to date Jennifer Lawrence (insert your own favorite celebrity crush). He knows there's a good chance they will break up after a few years, but what a few years those will be!

I've never gotten the fear of UConn joining and then leaving the Big East. We cash the checks for a few years and if they leave we are no worse for wear. As long as basketball only schools have the super majority there is no issue.

Also, I'm not convinced that UConn ever gets a P5 invite. I believe expansion is done for awhile and the B12 will get picked clean once their GoR is up. The B12 will either cease to exist or become the American 2.0 and get G5 money.

Real question is if fox ponies up the extra cash. If the answer is yes, you take them. If not, you don't.

The Big East isn't your Average Joe.  It's already someone that is dating Jennifer Lawrence, and worthy of that.

If we want to become Friend Zone Joe again, sure.  Let's just house any athletic program hoping to eventually make the move to a P5 conference until they raise their profile enough to get that invite.

The BE doesn't need more money, it doesn't need more members, it doesn't need to be a band aid for an athletic department that is in some real trouble.

There's no greater way to guarantee we become the mid-major conference "P5" conferences want to pretend we are than to look to build with schools that will bolt when "real" conferences come calling.

[mu03eng]

The only reason you do it is if each school gets more money as a result. You also make this a UConn only rule and make sure no other schools are allowed to have D1 football.

Under those conditions you'd be stupid not to do it. Increase the visibility and value of the conference, weaken another conference and should UConn decide to bolt, you go back to how you were with a little extra W.A.M (walking around money) with a UConn buy-out.

I would also expand for UConn and UConn allow, don't make this a 12 team conference because there is no value in that. Round Robin with a 20 games schedule is win-win-win.

[Litehouse]

Also, I'm not convinced that UConn ever gets a P5 invite. I believe expansion is done for awhile and the B12 will get picked clean once their GoR is up. The B12 will either cease to exist or become the American 2.0 and get G5 money.

When that happens we can add Kansas as our 12th team

[mu03eng]

The Big East isn't your Average Joe.  It's already someone that is dating Jennifer Lawrence, and worthy of that.

If we want to become Friend Zone Joe again, sure.  Let's just house any athletic program hoping to eventually make the move to a P5 conference until they raise their profile enough to get that invite.

The BE doesn't need more money, it doesn't need more members, it doesn't need to be a band aid for an athletic department that is in some real trouble.

There's no greater way to guarantee we become the mid-major conference "P5" conferences want to pretend we are than to look to build with schools that will bolt when "real" conferences come calling.

You seem to think there is some floodgate of programs that want to play in the Big East with a big name bball program but store their football programs else where. There are two, maybe (Notre Dame and UConn). How many conferences are willing to take just UConn's football program which sucks? UConn likely brings a lot more money with it(20 game schedule and program visibility) so you do it.

I don't think it happens cause I don't think anyone would take UConn football, but still....if someone asks you if you're a god, you say yes!

[SaveOD238]

There's no greater way to guarantee we become the mid-major conference "P5" conferences want to pretend we are than to look to build with schools that will bolt when "real" conferences come calling.

Normally I would agree, but the basketball cachet of UConn in the New York/ New England region and nationally, plus the school's previous affiliation with the Big East, is just too much to pass up. 

I've said many times that I sentimentally have an attachment to UConn, but there is no other team from the old conference I miss playing in the way I do Connecticut.  Sure we had some great games with Syracuse and Pitt and Louisville, and we had a nice Catholic rivalry with Notre Dame, but to me UConn IS the Big East.  It belongs here, even if it has football and even if it is a public school.

[muguru]

Litehouse nailed it...you cannot underestimate UCONN'S draw and what it would mean for the BE to keep MSG for their tournament. With the ACC and Big14 wanting to house theirs in NY as well, this can't be undersold. No downside to adding UCONN. No P5 conference is ever going to invite them, if they were, they'd have done it by now. Their FB just isn't strong enough to get that call and they know it, hence why they are wanting back into the BE and parking their FB wherever they can.

[Herman Cain]

Hartford Courant report

http://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-uconn-big-east-0216-20170215-story.html

[tower912]

Anti.  Stay with basketball only schools.  Also would cause scheduling issues as every team would get a weekend where they need to find an OOC game.  I'm not blind to the virtues.  But on balance, no.

[#UnleashSean]

It's like being the starting point guard of the high school basketball team and dating the smokeshow, who then leaves you for the quarterback of the football team, has an ugly breakup with the quarterback, dates around with the entire rest of the football roster while you settle down with the super cute, super sweet girl, and then having the serial dating smokeshow come crying back to you after her 10th ugly breakup in a year and being like "Sweet!  I'll break up with the girl I've settled in with that is perfect for me!"

This is beyond stupid.  We just got out of this situation.  The second UCONN gets an invite to a P5 conference they are gone, no matter what the buyout $$ is.  The absolute only way this should ever even be considered is if UCONN first drops from D1 football.  If not, don't even entertain the conversation.

But they didn't bail on the conference. They are still in the conference that everyone (Including us) jumped ship from.

and even if they did leave, so what? We go back to what we had before?

[avid1010]

You really think if the ACC or B1G came calling and UCONN was in the BE and had a giant buyout to leave the conference they would be scared away from leaving for those conferences?

My point is you have no clue how desperate UCONN is.  Without knowing what the buyout is, you have no clue if it's a good thing or not.  For the right amount of money I'm fine with UCONN being in the BEAST for a limited time.  Obviously the BEAST could also put a contract out that makes it impossible for them to leave.  I don't think the BEAST needs to do this...so they should move forward if they can get the deal they want.  UCONN is in a tough spot right now...

Those saying flat out "no" if they keep football are ridiculous....there's a price for everything. 

[brewcity77]

Give UConn an 80% share and they'll still clear more on basketball than they do in all AAC sports. Then give each existing member 1.5% of UConn's share and let the league take the other 5%. Whatever UConn does with the football revenue they can find is their business. Everyone wins.

[Babybluejeans]

UConn isn't a random school that happens to have a good bball program. This one of the founders of the very conference that we're in. UConn and ND are both outliers in the sense they have football programs but also have deep ties to many members of the current BE. The conference would be insane not to add one or both if they could and it means NOTHING about lack of stability in the future because we've already got the foundation without them. Throw in a big buyout and it's a no-brainer.

[mu03eng]

Anti.  Stay with basketball only schools.  Also would cause scheduling issues as every team would get a weekend where they need to find an OOC game.  I'm not blind to the virtues.  But on balance, no.

Other conferences do it, ACC is going to 20 game schedule, eliminating two buy games and getting two UConn games is worth way more than having to find a mid-conference OOC game.

This is a UConn and UConn only play that has to mean more money for all Big East teams. If it doesn't make the teams more money than we're out on the deal. If UConn joins and then gets poached 5 years from now, the 5 years of extra money we got as a result spends better than the 5 years of no extra money if we don't do it.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

The Big East isn't your Average Joe.  It's already someone that is dating Jennifer Lawrence, and worthy of that.

Average Joe might not have been the right term, we are pretty great. But the reality is, UConn is a better basketball program than any currently in the Big East. 33 tournament appearances (2nd behind NOVA), 59 tournament wins (more than any BE team), 5 final fours (tied for most w/ GTWN and Nova), and 4 national championships (more than any BE team) brings a lot of legitimacy. UConn would raise the Big East's profile. We are currently viewed as the 3rd or 4th best basketball conference. UConn could help change that. I would argue that we also raise UConn's profile because of their current situation, so its a win win.

If we want to become Friend Zone Joe again, sure.  Let's just house any athletic program hoping to eventually make the move to a P5 conference until they raise their profile enough to get that invite.

Why would we do that? We control who gets in the conference. UConn is the best candidate besides maybe Gonzaga or Notre Dame and they both have their issues too. Just because we take the best doesn't mean we're suddenly going to open it to everybody else. Basketball only schools will always keep their super majority.

The BE doesn't need more money, it doesn't need more members, it doesn't need to be a band aid for an athletic department that is in some real trouble.

Most people don't NEED more money. But why would you turn it down? But we do need another flagship program if we want to return to our spot as the best basketball conference. Right now we are behind the B12 because they have a blue blood in Kansas. UConn could even the scales for us and push us above the B12.

There's no greater way to guarantee we become the mid-major conference "P5" conferences want to pretend we are than to look to build with schools that will bolt when "real" conferences come calling.

I just can't follow this logic. So the ACC is mid-major because Maryland bolted for the B1G? The Old Big East was a mid-major? The B12 is a mid-major because TAMU, Mizzou, Nebraska, and Colorado all bolted? I just don't follow. Also, I really don't think UConn gets that P5 invite. We are heading towards four major conferences with the B12 getting left in the cold. No room for UConn unless they start growing to like 20 teams. I think it is more likely that the football conferences start taking basketball only members and poach the Big East.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

When that happens we can add Kansas as our 12th team

I have long had a dream where Kansas finally says "you know what, we suck at football and will always suck at football. We're dropping football and joining the Big East." Long shot at this point. But I can see a situation where the B12 is gobbled up and Kansas is left out like UConn was. Oh the possibilities.

[GGGG]

I just can't follow this logic. So the ACC is mid-major because Maryland bolted for the B1G? The Old Big East was a mid-major? The B12 is a mid-major because TAMU, Mizzou, Nebraska, and Colorado all bolted? I just don't follow. Also, I really don't think UConn gets that P5 invite. We are heading towards four major conferences with the B12 getting left in the cold. No room for UConn unless they start growing to like 20 teams. I think it is more likely that the football conferences start taking basketball only members and poach the Big East.

Essentially that means there are only three major conferences - SEC, P10 and B10.  And I'm sorry but that's just not accurate.

Conference memberships are fluid.  They don't need to be set in stone for time eternal. 

[GooooMarquette]

It's like being the starting point guard of the high school basketball team and dating the smokeshow, who then leaves you for the quarterback of the football team, has an ugly breakup with the quarterback, dates around with the entire rest of the football roster while you settle down with the super cute, super sweet girl, and then having the serial dating smokeshow come crying back to you after her 10th ugly breakup in a year and being like "Sweet!  I'll break up with the girl I've settled in with that is perfect for me!"

This is beyond stupid.  We just got out of this situation.  The second UCONN gets an invite to a P5 conference they are gone, no matter what the buyout $$ is.  The absolute only way this should ever even be considered is if UCONN first drops from D1 football.  If not, don't even entertain the conversation.

This.

[GooooMarquette]

A point that people seem to be ignoring - UConn's current RPI is 121.  That would put them eighth in the BE right now, just barely ahed of SJU.  And they have been dropping like a stone.  NC in '14, NIT one and done in '15, one NCAA win in '16, and not dancing this year barring a miracle.  Ollie did a great job for a couple of years, but the fact remains that UConn had sustained success under one coach...and he's gone now. 

UConn would have had great leverage a couple years back, but with where they are now, I'd sit back for a couple of years and see if they can actually be relevant again.  They're desperate.  The BE isn't.

[Golden Avalanche]

A point that people seem to be ignoring - UConn's current RPI is 121.  That would put them eighth in the BE right now, just barely ahed of SJU.  And they have been dropping like a stone.  NC in '14, NIT one and done in '15, one NCAA win in '16, and not dancing this year barring a miracle.  Ollie did a great job for a couple of years, but the fact remains that UConn had sustained success under one coach...and he's gone now. 

UConn would have had great leverage a couple years back, but with where they are now, I'd sit back for a couple of years and see if they can actually be relevant again.  They're desperate.  The BE isn't.

I am highly skeptical of Ollie long term (in fact, believe he bolts to the NBA in next three years) but you discuss their RPI without context. Yukon has been devastated by injuries this year. The fact that they are in the top half of their league (substandard as it is) speaks well of their resilience.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

UConn would have had great leverage a couple years back, but with where they are now, I'd sit back for a couple of years and see if they can actually be relevant again.  They're desperate.  The BE isn't.

Negotiating 101: The best time to make a deal is when the other party is desperate and you are not.

[bilsu]

I don't see why this is an issue. We go back to 10 teams and an 18 game conference schedule. We also take some money for them leaving, but I don't know that it needs to be a ridiculous amount unless UCONN is that desperate. As long as the money per school is equal or more, I think UCONN is a no brainer.

The only thing that can threaten this conference is if the P5 start plucking basketball-only schools or if our current members with football go up a level. I'm not too worried about the latter and think we'd be a team plucked in the former.

+1