UConn Officially Rejoins Big East Conference

One of the highlights from my conversation with Syracuse basketball legend Eric Devendorf was the 6OT game between ‘Cuse and UConn from the 2009 Big East Tournament. It’s one of the best college basketball games of all time, and part of that is because they were big-time rivals. A few years after the game, sadly, both teams would leave the conference in favor of leagues that made far less sense geographically (can you say UConn-Tulsa or Syracuse-Wake Forest!). Cuse’s move to the ACC was lateral, but UConn downgraded to the AAC.

On Wednesday, half of the problem was fixed as the Huskies officially rejoined the Big East after seven years away. It’s major news for the school’s basketball programs while their football program will now go independent. Unlike 2009, the “new Big East” no longer sponsors football. Going independent is a good move for the Huskies football program; they’ll have more freedom schedule-wise and it’s not like the brand is losing any cache by leaving the AAC.

The move back to the Big East has been known for sometime now but it just became official Wednesday. They were an original member of the conference, joining in 1979 until conference realignment in 2013. They went to the newly-formed AAC while seven basketball-focused private schools from the old Big East (DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova) and three up-and-coming basketball-focused schools (Butler, Creighton, Xavier) formed the new Big East.

The forming/downfall of the original Big East is outlined in a must-watch ESPN documentary from 2014, Requiem For The Big East.

“It’s just going to bring back a lot of great memories,” Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma told ESPN, “like driving over to Providence.”

UConn’s men’s and women’s basketball teams won 11 combined NCAA titles as members of the Big East Conference.

You can see UConn’s first-ever schedule as an FBS Independent here.