CUSA has schools that are much closer to UMASS by far.
Of course the best choice for UMASS is the AAC,while the Sun Belt schools are much more distant and do not have much in common with UMASS.
Then one has to look at the outcome of the UMD/ACC lawsuit.
Does the ACC GOR last?
Do a lot of ACC stat schools in the south move to the B10,SEC and B12/
Does the ACC need to be replenished with the likes of UConn,Cinn,SFLA,CFLA?

CUSA is not looking for FB only members and is not expanding right now. The only opening is the
12th spot in the Sunbelt and the million dollar CF payout per team will ease the Sunbelt travel for
4 FB games a year until the AAC comes calling. They will have 4 SB games at home and can schedule
regionally with Buffalo, Army, BC, Syracuse, Rutgers, Temple, Navy, UConn, Pitt, Penn State (currently
on their schedule for a money game) and FCS schools to ease their FB travel budget. They are also on
ND's schedule for a money game in South Bend two.

The only other options for UMass at this time are to go independent for FB with scheduling agreements
with the MAC, AAC, and the remaining independents BYU and Army -or go back to the MAC with all sports
and hopefully James Madison to get the MAC to 14 teams with Eastern and Mid Atlantic exposure until the
AAC comes calling. The retreat to the MAC might not be so bad if the A-10 continues to crumble with the
NBE siphoning off 2 more teams to get to a 12 team conference. In the mean time UMass continues to draw
MAC conference money and has a safe haven in the MAC for 2 more years until things sort themselves out.
I would think that UMass has been tinkering with their options knowing that the MAC ultimatum was coming
down and already has a game plan for the post 2015 MAC era.

_________________
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS - SEC
RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS - BIG EAST / AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE / BIG TEN

As someone who was initially skeptical about the AAC, I have been fairly pleased with their performances this year in athletics. Hitting the bigger sports high notes (no offense to any sports I don't mention):

Football: 5 bowl teams (2-3) with a BCS victory (Fiesta Bowl - Central Florida) - other victory being Louisville over Miami (FL) [losses by Houston (to Vanderbilt), Cincinnati (to North Carolina), Rutgers (to Notre Dame)]
Volleyball: 1 tournament bid (Louisville), out in 1st round
Soccer (M): 3 tournament bid - Louisville (out in 2nd round), South Florida (out in 1st round), Connecticut (out in Elite 8)
Soccer (W): 3 tournament bid - Louisville, Central Florida, Rutgers - all out in 1st round
Basketball (M): 4 tournament bid - Louisville (out in Sweet 16), Memphis (out in "3rd" round), Cincinnati (out in "2nd" round), Connecticut (NCAA Champions) --- NIT: 1 invite: SMU (NIT Runner-Up)
Basketball (W): 2 tournament invites - Louisville (out in Elite 8), Connecticut (defending champion - championship game tonight) --- note: NIT: 3 invites - SMU (out in 1st round), South Florida (out in Final Four), Rutgers (NIT Champions)
Baseball: Louisville #10, Houston #11; Receiving Votes - Central Florida
Softball: no schools currently ranked; Receiving Votes - Houston, Louisville, South Florida
Lacrosse and Hockey are not sponsored by AAC

Schools mentioned above by occurrences in sports listed above:

Louisville: 8/8
Connecticut: 3/8
Houston: 3/8
Central Florida: 3/8
South Florida: 3/8
Rutgers: 3/8
SMU: 2/8
Cincinnati: 2/8
Memphis: 1/8
Temple: 0/8

Anyone notice anything interesting? (Other than the fact that the conference will lose a limb by the departure of Louisville)

And they are also losing Rutgers too.

So the Florida and Texas schools are doing well, and the should be Big 5 schools (UConn/Cincy) are doing well but Temple and Memphis are sucking. Wonder if Tulane, ECU or Tulsa will do any better next year.

_________________
Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

UConn winning the men's and women's NCAA bb tournament for the same year, AGAIN, has to mean a lot. And then AAC member Louisville won the men's thing last year and the women were there also to compete at the top.

It's a good plug for the AAC and Aresco given all the transitioning they've been through.

The ACC should just take UConn and be done with it. UConn is #1 in women's bball and is securely a men's basketball blueblood along with UK, KU, UNC, and Duke.

With UConn, the ACC would have 5 of the of top 10 best programs since 1985 (when the tourney went to 64) with Duke, UNC, UConn, Syracuse, and Lville...no other conference would have more than 2.

Generally, nobody cares about basketball in conference realignment, but as there are no other quality football schools in their footprint that could boost their conference's status and it would give the fb schools another gimme win on the schedule, while also being the only school not in a Big5 conference that could improve their already great bball.

Also it wouldn't hurt to double down on New England and the Northeast in general with the B1G inching their way into the ACC's footprint, ntm the B1G is the #2 conference with 7 in the top 25 (MSU, UM, UI, IU, tOSU, MD and Wisc) and will likely be gunning for an 8th or 9th (UNC, Duke, Syracuse, Kansas, Mizzou, Oklahoma, Texas, or UConn) in the next major round of realignment.

Top 25 BCS schools in bball since 1985 (just to put this on paper):
AAC: UConn, Memphis, Cincy (3)
ACC: Duke, UNC, Syracuse, LVille (4)
B1G: MSU, UM, UI, IU, tOSU, MD, Wisc (7)
Big 12: KU, OU, UT, OkSU (4)
Pac12: AZ, UCLA, Stanford (4)
SEC: UK, UF, Arky, Mizzou (4)

Would have made the top 30 list if they were BCS:
Big East: Georgetown (top 15), Villanova (top 20), Xavier (top 30), Butler (top 30)
MWC: UNLV (top 20)

_________________
Fan of the Big 12 Conference, the Mountain West Conference and...

As we enter the era of the playoffs, I'm not sure you want to add a team to the conference that is a gimmie win. UConn would be a solid add for men's hoops, but I don't think the ACC really needs to get better in hoops. Expanding just to expand might not be the best option. As much as it pains me to say this, I think Cincy is probably the better option for the ACC. Cincy is way better in football and they are pretty solid in men's hoops.

The ACC wants neither UConn or Cincy. No other P5 conference does either. It's done, boys.

It is only done until TV money or the rest of the B-12 can convince Texas to expand their conference to 12 to get back to a Championship Game. As far as the ACC is concerned they are done until ND joins for all sports with total inclusion of their FB schedule in the ACC. You have a better chance of the Texas option happening first.

_________________
SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS - SEC
RUTGERS SCARLET KNIGHTS - BIG EAST / AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE / BIG TEN

I can't close the door on either of them. The viability and long-term institutional impact the affiliation could lead to will certainly push both institutions to stay on the line. So, even if no major conference wants them, nothing's going to stop these guys from asking. From how it sounds, they haven't stopped, either.

Cincy's spending money to do that massive overhaul on its football stadium and Fifth Third is getting a substantial one, as well. You don't spend that kind of money ($135m between the two projects if they go the cheap route with 5/3) to just stick around on standby as a mid-major. Getting all nice and pretty for the likes of Tulsa, Tulane, SMU, and Temple isn't worth that much.

Hartford Biz Journal article discussing future of UCONN athletics at http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article ... /304249936

That speaks volumes. And not the good kind.

XL's getting a $35m updating, and they want to put 10K more seats into the Rent...sounds like they're going to be spending close to $100m up there, too.

AAC needs to improve football.

Needs to get a 5 game per year series with BYU.
Needs to add Army for football only.

AAC needs to improve its tv contract.

I think what Carstensen said about needing to be in one of the 4 major conferences is also telling. I don't know if he was just mistaken or if he believes that there are going to be 4 conferences, but maybe he knows something the rest of us don't know.

I noticed the same thing (4 major conferences ?)

Perhaps he is ruling out UConn joining the PAC-12.

More likely, he's not very "on top of things".....