It saw the fanbases’ indifference to AAC opponents, and the recruiting footprint was experiencing a similar lack of excitement. UConn didn’t want to close the door on the possibility of leaving if the Big Ten or AAC came calling, per Hearst CT’s Dave Borges.īut UConn slowly came to the realization that the “power five” invite wasn’t coming. Jon Rothstein reported that UConn and the Big East had discussions. It was around that time, in 2017, the rumblings began.
As we learned during the Big 12’s flirtation with expansion, every single school was looking for a way out. This left UConn, the only remaining original member of the Big East (1979-2013), with a bunch of brand new “rivals” in a conference centered on football with a geographic center in the midwest.ĭespite early success - men’s basketball won the national title in 2014 and women’s basketball cut down the nets in 2014, 20 - UConn and AAC were not destined to last long. They purchased the Big East’s name and records and the old conference became the AAC. Because this sacrificed its standard of quality for hoops, the Catholic Seven - a plucky group of basketball-only schools - jumped ship and created their own league, adding two new members who also fit the profile in Butler, Creighton and Xavier. In response, the Big East recruited from Conference USA to fill the void, with a focus on football and large markets. We didn’t know it then, but the power five window closed that day. The next year, Rutgers got a Big 10 invite while Louisville landed the coveted final spot in the ACC over the Huskies. First in 2011, Syracuse and Pitt bolted for the ACC.
When the last round of conference realignment happened, UConn was left out in the cold. In that time, the Huskies finished their last season in the AAC, figured out what to do with the football program and started building up excitement for a new era of UConn athletics. It’s been just over a year since news of the move became public.
UConn is now in a conference that puts basketball first, has geography that makes sense, and gives fans rivals they care about. When the clock struck midnight on July 1, 2020, the Huskies officially became members of the Big East Conference. After a seven-year sentence in the American Athletic Conference, UConn is finally back where it belongs.
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