Is It Just Me or Is ESPN Wooing UConn?

The biggest victory for UConn in the past week did not take place in Storrs or Albany. It took place in Bristol.

ESPN loves UConn again. And that means UConn may not be long for the Big East.

For about a decade, ESPN has basically ignored or outwardly derided UConn. It started in 2012, when ESPN destroyed the original Big East when it plucked Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and eventually Louisville to join the ACC. There was no secret. ESPN set out to ruin the Big East when the Big East members turned down a TV deal extension, presumably to take offers from NBC.

The Big East famously added Boise State and TCU and neither would ever play a game in the conference. ESPN analysts went into overdrive bashing the conference, with one insane Mark May comment causing me to write my first blog post that went viral.

Even when UConn was still in the AAC, the cable channel only talked about football — promoting teams like Houston and UCF and Cincinnati — while ignoring UConn. It’s interesting to note that those three teams, along with another ESPN favorite BYU, are now joining the ESPN-aligned Big 12. Hmm…

So imagine my surprise over the past week, as UConn has been everywhere on ESPN. Several analysts picked UConn to make the Final Four and even win it all. Huh? What?