Syracuse was as much to blame as anyone else because they had a football program, but continued to align themselves with the "basketball first, basketball only" faction within the Big East.

Still think even after PSU had departed for much greener pastures, the Big Least could have been an excellent "all sports" conference if they would have just made a decision to split when Miami & VT were still members. Kick out the small BB only schools, add Louisville & Cincy, and you have a solid conference. But they decided to keep pushing BB first, and drove VT, Miami into the arms of the ACC.

Heck, the Big Least was probably a slightly better football conference before we left, but it was a horribly run conference with really whacked out priorities.

What happened in the end? The little BB only schools packed up their toys and split to form a little "BB only" conference, which will continue to decline in relevance with every passing year. With only Conference USA to choose from, the new Big Least (AAC) had fewer and fewer "big draw" schools to choose from.

As for UCONN, they made a huge mistake by not moving up to "big boy" football when the Big Least first added football. They should have been mixing it up with Miami, WVU, VT, Syracuse & Pitt from the beginning to build their brand. But they punted, only to start playing Div-1A football after the marquee teams had left for better conferences. It was too late to show they had any football relevance. (BC demonstrating there is zero "football fan base" in New England doesn't help.) That's why they are now on the outside looking in. Without a football fan base, they will be a drag on any P4/P5 conference that decides to take them in.

The ACC seems to love to add "takers" over "providers" if they play BB, but even that may have reached it's limit. How much further can you dilute the most important sport in your conference by adding "BB first" schools? Conferences need schools that will send fans to other stadiums, as well as putting butts in seats at bowl games. WF doesn't do it, BC doesn't do it, Syracuse doesn't do it very well, and it's highly unlikely that UCONN will ever do it. If UCONN was a hot commodity, the Big-10 would have been courting them with MDU & Rutsgers. Personally I think the Big-10 is hoping the ACC invites them in order to further dilute our football brand.