Big East Basketball: 6 potential options to replace UConn if they leave for Big 12

Dayton

While current coach Anthony Grant hasn’t yet led the Flyers to the NCAA Tournament, this Dayton program is one of the most consistent in the A-10 in recent memory. The Flyers are regular contenders near the top of the conference, and have been ranked at some point in the Top 25 in eleven different seasons since the turn of the century. They are a model of consistency in mid-major basketball.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that Dayton ends up in the Big East someday, even if not in this upcoming and current round of conference realignment. They fit into the natural footprint of the program, playing in a non-football conference, and they’ve been successful on the basketball court in recent years. They’d form a geographic rivalry with nearby Xavier and are former conference rivals with those Musketeers.

Dayton is a private Catholic university and this alone makes them a perfect fit for the Big East. One point of hesitation is the recent Tournament drought mentioned earlier. The Flyers were one of the very best teams in the nation in 2020 before the Tournament was canceled, but would they be contending on a regular basis in the Big East? On paper, they’d look like potential contenders, but it hasn’t been that way for Butler in recent years.