UConn and the Massive 12 had been reportedly in talks early Friday morning concerning the Huskies probably becoming a member of the convention in all sports activities, in line with ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
UConn athletic director David Benedict, board chair Daniel Toscano met with Massive 12 athletic administrators in particular person in Dallas
No vote has occurred for a possible Huskies membership, neither is one near taking place. There was pushback amongst a number of members that may complicate the method.
Nevertheless, the talks have superior to the purpose the place UConn athletic director David Benedict and board chair Daniel Toscano met with Massive 12 athletic administrators in particular person in Dallas final week to make their case.
“There is a far distance between conversations and something that might occur.” Story on UConn and the Massive 12, with ESPN sources saying there is a methods to go — and AD skepticism to beat — earlier than UConn may very well be added. https://t.co/kd5XSKVh37
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 23, 2024
The conversations had been centered on soccer funding and the way UConn may very well be aggressive upon becoming a member of the league in 2031, sources knowledgeable Thamel.
UConn made its case for the way the Huskies can be ready to construct and spend cash on soccer like the present Massive 12 applications. The college additionally cited how rapidly it turned aggressive within the Massive East soccer convention after becoming a member of in 2004.
A Massive 12 board name with the league’s presidents is on the agenda
A Massive 12 board name is being deliberate for subsequent week with the league’s presidents for particular particulars. The delay to 2031 in soccer would give UConn an opportunity to catch up when it comes to funding and a expertise improve by way of NIL.
“I feel the phrase is ‘untimely,’” a high-ranking Massive 12 official stated. “There’s a far distance between conversations and something that might occur. The presidents haven’t seen the case but.”
The opposite sports activities can be added within the close to future. The college can both negotiate its departure or wait out the 27-month ready interval to exit the Massive East.
In line with ESPN’s report, a number of colleges are in favor of including the Huskies. Although, a number of athletic administrators inside the Massive 12 have been outspoken towards it. A variety of different applications are nonetheless undecided. The vote would come all the way down to 12 of 16 of the league’s presidents.
Moreover, questions stay about how a lot the transfer would profit the convention in soccer. UConn is most acknowledged for its males’s and girls’s basketball applications.
Massive 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is assured that UConn basketball will proceed to generate revenue
Massive 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has been optimistic on basketball being extra of a monetary driver for the league’s tv contracts in upcoming years.
UConn is coming off back-to-back nationwide titles in males’s basketball. The Huskies have additionally showcased the NCAA’s greatest model in ladies’s basketball for the previous technology.
Moreover, UConn’s comeback in males’s basketball has come beneath coach Dan Hurley. The college additionally rejoined the Massive East for the 2020-21 season after taking part in within the American Athletic Convention (AAC) from 2013-14 by way of 2019-20.
Because the Massive 12 has constantly been one of many nation’s prime basketball conferences, including UConn would make the league much more aggressive. The 16-team Massive 12 added 4 new members — Houston, BYU, Cincinnati, and UCF — final 12 months and can welcome Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State this 12 months.
UConn males’s basketball has existed since 1901
UConn has fielded a males’s school basketball workforce since 1901. The lads’s workforce performed within the Athletic League of New England State Schools from 1900 to 1923. It additionally performed within the New England Convention from 1923 to 1946, after which within the Yankee Convention from 1946 to 1976.
As an unbiased from 1976 to 1979, UConn then turned a founding member of the unique Massive East Convention in 1979. The UConn males’s school basketball workforce has appeared within the NCAA Match 36 instances. It gained the nationwide championship six instances, in 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, and 2024.
The lads’s program additionally reached the Closing 4 in 2009. UConn has made 13 appearances within the Nationwide Invitation Match (NIT) as properly, profitable it in 1988.
As for the UConn ladies’s school basketball program, it appeared in a document 14 consecutive Closing Fours from 2008 to 2022. The Huskies additionally gained 111 straight video games.
It began with a win towards Creighton College on Nov. 23, 2014, and ended on March 31, 2017. That was the day when a buzzer-beater on the finish of extra time resulted in a 66-64 loss to Mississippi State within the 2017 NCAA Match Closing 4.
