Next season UConn basketball will be back in the Big East and we should be excited. UConn was originally a member of the Big East in 1979 before moving to the American Athletic Conference in 2013 to find a home for their football program.
For six years in the AAC, the men’s program has not been the same. The team did win a national championship in 2014 while in the conference but since then their program has only made the tournament twice. Lack of recruiting and competition have been contributing factors to the unimpressive run by UConn.
Competition in the conference has been mediocre and considered a step-down for the prominent program. Once the program moved to the AAC, they seemed to be an outlier looking for an identity within the conference.
The team struggled to even have a rival in their new conference. Regional rivalries were non-existent. Most teams in it are far away from each other making it difficult to find definitive rivals. As a result, attendance numbers dropped significantly since joining the AAC.
UConn being back in the Big East benefits everyone except their football program. The Huskies are 18-55 in the AAC. The program will be searching for a new conference or choose to be independent.
📽️ "You dream of playing in the @BIGEAST! The history. The lineage. The rivalries."#ThisIsBIG pic.twitter.com/Gf9ICowMiS
— UConn Huskies (@UConnHuskies) June 28, 2019
The state of competition for the Big East will get better with the return of UConn even though their level of play will be difficult to predict in the first few years back. The classic UConn rivalries will make a positive impact in attendance and revenue. They will have a tough challenge ahead of them as four of the 10 teams in the Big East made the NCAA tournament last season.
UConn will face historic rivals from the old Big East like Georgetown, Seton Hall, Villanova, Providence, and St. Johns. Against Seton Hall, the Huskies have a 44-18 record. New rivalries will forge with Marquette, DePaul, and Xavier who have a history of competitiveness against UConn. The Huskies will also be rivals with Butler, whom they beat in 2011 NCAA final before the Bulldogs joined the Big East.
Next season will also include a reunion for UConn Head Coach Dan Hurley and the Big East. Hurley grew up in New Jersey and played for Seton Hall from 1991 to 1996. Now that his team is in the conference, Hurley’s plan for recruiting just got better. Many of his targets will be recruits from the Eastern seaboard. Hurley and his staff will be working hard for Class of 2020 recruits.
This also means that the Big East itself will get stronger because more recruits will want to play in the heightened competitive atmosphere. Big East coaches know that the return of UConn will mean having to push even harder for recruits.
UConn will surely benefit in all aspects of the game in the Big East than what they had in the AAC. Huskies fans, players and coaches should feel excited for the seasons to come. Returning to Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament is a plus too!