Recently, there have been rumors swirling around that UConn would be rejoining the Big East for basketball. According to reporting from the Hartford Courant’s Mike Anthony, UConn  is “awaiting and fully expecting” an invitation from the conference and an announcement is “likely this week”.

UConn was previously a member of the Big East until the conference realignment of 2010-13. That same realignment saw the Big East as it was known to be radically changed, with Big East stalwarts like Syracuse, Pitt, and more all leaving the conference and causing a dramatic reconfiguration of the conference. It’s pretty complicated, but the big idea is that the current Big East is much more basketball focused, and it doesn’t sponsor football.

If UConn did move to the Big East, the conference would increase to 11 members and would probably increase the schedule to 20 conference games in an effort to keep the round-robin format.

It’s important to note that UConn to the Big East is far from a done deal.

While there’s been no official invitation, from the reporting it seems that there has indeed been “talks at [the] highest level at UConn” about doing such a move.

However, it seems likelier that this will indeed happen. When Anthony reached out to the Big East for comment, they declined to comment instead of just shooting down the rumors. There’s smoke here, the fire just remains yet to be seen.

UConn and Georgetown

If you’ve ever heard old Georgetown fans yearn nostalgically for the days of the “old Big East”, realignment is why. With realignment, Georgetown lost a lot of its old conference rivalries (particularly Syracuse) as many of the Hoyas’  rivals joined new conferences.

Georgetown and UConn were conference rivals in the old Big East, during a span that saw both programs win the Big East Tournament 7 times apiece. The last meeting the two programs had was in January of 2017 in Washington DC, with the Hoyas winning 72-69.

Both sides have numerous highlights from the rivalry. For the Hoyas, a highlight from the rivalry include Roy Hibbert’s game-winning three-pointer in 2008.

For UConn, it’d have to be the game-winning shot by Ray Allen in the 1996 Big East championship game.

UConn rejoining the conference would give the conference an overall boost in athletics and exposure. In addition, this move rekindles old rivalries from the days of the old Big East before realignment. UConn’s been languishing in the mid-major AAC, which hasn’t served anyone well.

If these reports are indeed true, welcome back home UConn.