The University of Connecticut could be joining the Big East for basketball soon according to Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant.
BREAKING: UConn is on the verge of joining the Big East, football future in the AAC is unclearhttps://t.co/oZcBExyMi6
— UConn Insider (@UConn_Insider) June 22, 2019
The Athletic’s Dana O’Neil has confirmed that an announcement is coming this week of the news.
Connecticut was one of the founding schools of the Big East, but decided to leave the conference and join the American Athletic Conference when the football portion of the conference disbanded in 2013.
With the possible move to the Big East, UConn still has to figure out what to do with their football program. If they make the jump to a new conference for basketball, they likely won’t be welcomed to stay in the AAC for football.
UConn has struggled recently in basketball, but was the only school from the AAC to win the National Championship in men’s basketball. While the uncertainty for football will need to be figured out, UConn would be upgrading their basketball conference, as the Big East has outranked the AAC in conference RPI in every season since the AAC’s inception. The Big East has ranked anywhere from second to fifth in conference RPI, while the AAC has ranked anywhere from sixth to eighth.
The possible addition of UConn would give the Big East 11 teams, which would necessitate a restructured conference schedule and could lead to another team added to the conference to give them an even number at 12.
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from great TGH writers!