UConn Basketball: 3 pros and cons for Huskies leaving Big East Conference

1. Team Success

You can take this from either angle and claim that UConn would suffer or prosper due to a move to another conference, but it is hard to see this as a great idea considering their recent success.

The Huskies usually sit at the top of the conference in most sports, whether that is winning the whole thing, or a top-three finish in both the regular season and the conference tournament.

Looking at Women’s Basketball, they are a shoo-in to win that crown every year due to how good they are, and while that would not change in the Big 12, it may just get a little bit tougher.

For Men’s Basketball, they have to face much tougher competition up and down the standings, and while that may help their resume, they still have to get into the tournament if they want to win it all.

In terms of recruiting. you lose some of the recruits that want to play Big East Basketball, and you lose the idea of being able to claim that you will be a consistent top dog and a consistent winner in your conference.

The biggest example of a team like this is Rutgers, who had a very solid and consistent bowl-making program in the original Big East but playing in Big Ten competition was a much higher state of competition, and they just could not keep up.

While they may not take that hit as badly in basketball, football will get pummeled by schools like Oklahoma State, Baylor, Kansas State, and even some of the new additions like UCF and BYU.

In basketball, those same schools are going to be much more challenging like Texas, Kansas, Baylor, Houston, and others compared to Big East play.

If UConn can out-recruit them and rise above, then this is a win, but if not, they may find themselves at the bottom of a conference in exchange for a few more dollars.