UConn and the Massive 12 have been reportedly in talks early Friday morning concerning the Huskies doubtlessly 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 individual 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 can 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 individual in Dallas final week to make their case.
“There is a far distance between conversations and something that will 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 might be added. https://t.co/kd5XSKVh37
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 23, 2024
The conversations have been targeted on soccer funding and the way UConn might be aggressive upon becoming a member of the league in 2031, sources knowledgeable Thamel.
UConn made its case for the way the Huskies could be ready to construct and spend cash on soccer like the present Massive 12 applications. The college additionally cited how shortly it grew to become 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 by way of funding and a expertise improve by way of NIL.
“I believe the phrase is ‘untimely,’” a high-ranking Massive 12 official stated. “There’s a far distance between conversations and something that will occur. The presidents haven’t seen the case but.”
The opposite sports activities could 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 response to ESPN’s report, a number of faculties are in favor of including the Huskies. Although, a number of athletic administrators throughout the Massive 12 have been outspoken in opposition to 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 ladies’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 finest model in girls’s basketball for the previous era.
Moreover, UConn’s comeback in males’s basketball has come below 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 persistently been one of many nation’s high 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 yr and can welcome Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State this yr.
UConn males’s basketball has existed since 1901
UConn has fielded a males’s school basketball staff since 1901. The lads’s staff 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 grew to become a founding member of the unique Massive East Convention in 1979. The UConn males’s school basketball staff has appeared within the NCAA Event 36 occasions. It received the nationwide championship six occasions, in 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, and 2024.
The lads’s program additionally reached the Remaining 4 in 2009. UConn has made 13 appearances within the Nationwide Invitation Event (NIT) as effectively, profitable it in 1988.
As for the UConn girls’s school basketball program, it appeared in a report 14 consecutive Remaining Fours from 2008 to 2022. The Huskies additionally received 111 straight video games.
It began with a win in opposition to 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 Event Remaining 4.
