College basketball has taken a bit of a backseat in the basketball world with Kwahi delivering Toronto an NBA Title, Anthony Davis teaming up with LeBron James and Zion Williamson finally having an NBA team. That changed a little bit this weekend when it was announced that UConn is set to rejoin the Big East Conference for basketball and other sports in the 2020-2021.
Roth you’re a legend and all and I know you want to be a professional journalist but this is all but a done deal. Many Friar fans felt betrayed by Huskie Nation when conference realignment occurred at the end of 2012 and you have the right to feel that way but bringing UConn back just makes way to much sense.
Your Big East Bias is blinding you if you don’t think the conference took a bit of a step back last year after strong seasons prior. This past year saw the conference only send 4 teams to the NCAA tournament and none of them made it out of the second round. While UConn hasn’t done anything special in a decent AAC their brand, history and second-year coach Danny Hurley make them an attractive addition. Another positive with adding the Huskies is the fact that Huskie Nation packs MSG and that’s the most important part because the conference’s number one priority should be keeping their conference tournament in the World’s Most Famous Arena. Also with the conference being midway through their television deal with Fox adding a brand like UConn only further helps to extend the television deal. I don’t know about you but I enjoy being able to watch the majority of the Friar games on cable even if I am a season ticket holder. Those with the argument that we shouldn’t add UConn because they’re a public university and not a Catholic school our out of their minds. It’s that kind of thinking that landed Holy Cross where they are when they declined an invitation to the Big East. Do you want to be like Holy Cross? Didn’t think so!
The UConn fan base were being pretentious dicks when conference realignment was going on I am not disputing that but we just need to move on because like a Jon Taffer Butt Funnel adding UConn basketball back to the Big East just makes good business sense. In the winter of my freshman year of college, my brother came to visit me and we went to a bar to watch PC take on a #2 ranked Connecticut team in Storrs. Hasheem Thabeet asserted his dominance and we got routed by 31 points. Fast forward 10 years and its UConn crawling back to the Big East and our program is in better shape than theirs, I say bring it on and let’s kick their ass! Also, UConn returning only means we get to see this twice a year, which will only be fun.
-The Crier