UConn, Huge 12 Focus on Huskies Becoming a member of Convention

UConn and the Huge 12 have been reportedly in talks early Friday morning concerning the Huskies doubtlessly becoming a member of the convention in all sports activities, in response to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

UConn athletic director David Benedict, board chair Daniel Toscano met with Huge 12 athletic administrators in particular person in Dallas

No vote has occurred for a possible Huskies membership, neither is one near occurring. 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 Huge 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 Huge 12, with ESPN sources saying there is a methods to go — and AD skepticism to beat — earlier than UConn might be added.

— 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 a way the Huskies could be ready to construct and spend cash on soccer like the present Huge 12 packages. The varsity additionally cited how shortly it turned aggressive within the Huge East soccer convention after becoming a member of in 2004.

A Huge 12 board name with the league’s presidents is on the agenda

A Huge 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 via NIL.

“I believe the phrase is ‘untimely,’” a high-ranking Huge 12 official mentioned. “There’s a far distance between conversations and something that might occur. The presidents haven’t seen the case but.”

The opposite sports activities could be added within the close to future. The varsity can both negotiate its departure or wait out the 27-month ready interval to exit the Huge East.

In keeping with ESPN’s report, a couple of faculties are in favor of including the Huskies. Although, a number of athletic administrators inside the Huge 12 have been outspoken in opposition to it. A lot of different packages are nonetheless undecided. The vote would come right 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 packages.

Huge 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is assured that UConn basketball will proceed to generate revenue

Huge 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 ladies’s basketball for the previous technology.

Moreover, UConn’s comeback in males’s basketball has come underneath coach Dan Hurley. The varsity additionally rejoined the Huge East for the 2020-21 season after enjoying within the American Athletic Convention (AAC) from 2013-14 via 2019-20.

For the reason that Huge 12 has persistently been one of many nation’s prime basketball conferences, including UConn would make the league much more aggressive. The 16-team Huge 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 faculty basketball group since 1901. The lads’s group 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 Huge East Convention in 1979. The UConn males’s faculty basketball group 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 Ultimate 4 in 2009. UConn has made 13 appearances within the Nationwide Invitation Match (NIT) as effectively, profitable it in 1988.

As for the UConn ladies’s faculty basketball program, it appeared in a report 14 consecutive Ultimate Fours from 2008 to 2022. The Huskies additionally gained 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 additional time resulted in a 66-64 loss to Mississippi State within the 2017 NCAA Match Ultimate 4.