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 line with ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
UConn athletic director David Benedict, board chair Daniel Toscano met with Huge 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 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 individual in Dallas final week to make their case.
“There is a far distance between conversations and something that may 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. 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 can be ready to construct and spend cash on soccer like the present Huge 12 applications. The college additionally cited how shortly it grew to become 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 by means of NIL.
“I feel the phrase is ‘untimely,’” a high-ranking Huge 12 official stated. “There’s a far distance between conversations and something that may 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 Huge East.
In accordance with ESPN’s report, a couple of faculties are in favor of including the Huskies. Although, a number of athletic administrators throughout the Huge 12 have been outspoken towards it. Plenty of different applications 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 girls’s basketball applications.
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 greatest model in girls’s basketball for the previous technology.
Moreover, UConn’s comeback in males’s basketball has come below coach Dan Hurley. The college additionally rejoined the Huge East for the 2020-21 season after enjoying within the American Athletic Convention (AAC) from 2013-14 by means of 2019-20.
Because the Huge 12 has persistently been one of many nation’s high 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 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 faculty basketball staff since 1901. The lads’s staff performed within the Athletic League of New England State Faculties 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 Huge East Convention in 1979. The UConn males’s faculty basketball staff has appeared within the NCAA Event 36 occasions. It gained the nationwide championship six occasions, in 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, and 2024.
The lads’s program additionally reached the Last 4 in 2009. UConn has made 13 appearances within the Nationwide Invitation Event (NIT) as nicely, successful it in 1988.
As for the UConn girls’s faculty basketball program, it appeared in a report 14 consecutive Last 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 time beyond regulation resulted in a 66-64 loss to Mississippi State within the 2017 NCAA Event Last 4.
