wolfman61 wrote:
Uconn at 27,500 students is too small? Hockey has bee upgraded and is moving to Hockey east next year. Football has been played since 1895, state has no major league pro sports to compete with. Uconn may not be a perfect match for the B1G, but matchups between MSU vs Uconn or Indiana Vs Uconn, would be phenominal! (Basketball)
Storrs is definitely not 27.5K strong. More like 20-22K, with the other 6-8K spread across the other campuses and med school. UConn, the system, may be larger than UNL. Storrs, the campus that actually gets the Big Ten distinction, would be the smallest public member of the Big Ten.
UConn really does fit into the ACC. Size, athletics (basketball), academics, location...if they followed the same trajectory as Rutgers (meaning, stop scheduling small schools and start rubbing elbows with Syracuse, Penn State, Temple, BC, Army, and Navy in the 80's), maybe it's them, and not BC, who got the look from the ACC. Or, at the very least, not sue departing Big East schools and the ACC out of "feeling duped."
UConn's made enemies. I think it's made even more than just those in the ACC. And Maryland, by extension. Or Rutgers, if UConn pockets a dime of that exit money. UConn voted against Penn State's Big East application back in the 80's. I've read in a couple of forums where UConn fans admitted PSU may not be their biggest supporter for inclusion STILL because of that.
When you consider UConn would likely park itself into that eastern part of the Big Ten for football (regardless of solid basketball inventory with MSU, IU, Illinois, Purdue, and Michigan), you have to convince UMD, RU, and PSU to be totally fine with UConn being around them. I don't see that happening without a lot of humble pie. Not as much as they'd have to account for in the ACC, and probably surmountable, but still an uphill battle.